Myths about Tango Milonguero: Shedding Light on Common Misconceptions

People have misconceptions about tango milonguero not because they don’t know how to dance milonguero, but because they don’t learn about its background, the culture, the history… or, they just don’t care. It’s their choice, but I think they miss a great opportunity because knowing helps you do it better.

To be honest, I have no idea how people get their ideas about what tango milonguero is and what it is not. I just know that I did it by reading and watching, mostly because I tried to understand the mindset of milongueros from the Golden Age – because to this day I strongly believe that good dancing starts in your head.

As we all know, social tango luckily is not a standardized dance, so there is no one ultimate prototype or a definition. I often tell my students that what they learn are guidelines, not strict rules. So the purpose of this article is to just share my observations, based on the level of my understanding and experience.

It started as an article about the definition of what tango milonguero is. It was more difficult than I thought it would be, so I first focused on what is not “tango milonguero”. Then the article got so long that I had to split the topic into two pieces. Consider this as the first part – the second one is coming soon.

So what is not tango milonguero? What are the myths that people believe about tango milonguero?

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Myth 1: “Milonguero is when you dance in close embrace”

In the last couple of years, after COVID, I visited a couple of events branded as “milonguero” and advertised as events “for close embrace lovers”. It’s nothing new, and you can see it all around the world. However, I also visited non-milonguero events (marathons and festivals) with the vast majority of “close embrace” dancers. Does that mean those were also milonguero events and those dancers are milongueros? I don’t think so.

There are milongueros from the Golden Age who dance in open position, or who sometimes during the dance open to perform certain movements. And somehow, I can still say that’s milonguero.

In this video, “El Chino” maintains the embrace almost all the time, but around the 1 minute and 22-second mark, he opens and begins executing some complicated steps. Nevertheless, you can still classify his dancing as milonguero.

Milonguero can sometimes be danced in an open position.

“Close embrace” and “milonguero” dancing are not the same thing. Milonguero is often danced in embrace, yes, but not all embrace dancers are dancing milonguero. Some people do not consider themselves milonguero dancers, yet they consistently dance in embrace. They rarely or never open, but their dancing is still not milonguero.

So, that’s not it. The embrace is an important part of dancing milonguero, and I personally dance exclusively in embrace, but one can’t say that it is what defines milonguero.

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Myth 2: “Milonguero is for old people only”

Yes, it’s true. I confirm that’s my impression as well – the overall age of people visiting milonguero events is higher than festivals or marathons. Even so, I don’t agree with the conclusion that milonguero is the style of the old people. I’ve met very young people dancing milonguero, and I’ve also met very old people dancing with crazy acrobatics or even nuevo.

For example, Santiago in this video is quite young, but his dancing is still no different from other milongueros who danced in the Golden Age.

On the other hand, I doubt you’ve never seen an older person dancing nuevo or running and kicking around the dance floor like they are on a stage performing.

If it’s not the age, then what is it? In my opinion, it’s maturity! It takes some emotional wisdom and life experience to be able to dance elegantly and respectfully. I also believe it’s about choice and character – a decision to dance without showing off and finding beauty in small things.

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Myth 3: “Milonguero is when you’re dancing in apilado”

This happens so often that sometimes “milonguero” and “apilado” are used interchangeably. For those of my readers who don’t know what “apilado” means, it’s when dancers share their axis during the dance and lean on each other.

Not every milonguero I know about dances in apilado. For example, look how Miguel Angel Balbi stays upright all the time during his dance:

On the other hand, Gavito is respected all around the milonguero world, but his apilado dancing is often a performance – an exaggerated version of the subtle leaning that happens during the dance. You can even see apilado in the dance of Carlitos and Noelia, for example – which doesn’t mean that they are dancing milonguero.

Let me be clear. When I dance, I often prefer to use subtle apilado, depending on the music and the partner. Not always, but I appreciate the expression of trust she puts in me, believing that I’ll take care of her axis and movements.

So, apilado is not the defining trait of tango milonguero – it can be just a good supplement.

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Myth 4: “Tango milonguero is too simple and too easy”

Is that so? Just wait until you see El Nene’s moves!

I can show you tons of videos like this one where milonguero dancing can be quite complicated and way above the level of most of the dancers.

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Ivica

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Myth 5: “Milonguero is how tango was danced in the past”

A few months ago, a group of my students attended a milonga in a neighboring country. They danced but were dissatisfied with the level of dancing, particularly the treatment of women. They disliked being invited without cabeceo, partners insisting on dancing regardless of space, leading with hands, and, most importantly, executing flashy moves, despite being beyond the men’s skill level.

When they mentioned dancing milonguero, they were told, ‘Who dances like that today? That’s the old way of dancing.'”

Well, we do… as well as thousands of people worldwide…

Another example of this is the comment in the description on this video of Osvaldo and Coca:

“Tango as it once was…”!? Nothing can be further from the truth: tango is still being danced like this.

The fact that not many people know about milonguero events and schools, and that it’s not quite flashy and attractive to be pushed by Youtube algorithms, creates a wrong perception that today no one dances milonguero.

Up until about 15 years ago, almost all of the tango being taught was stage tango. It was taught by professional performers who used the time between shows to give classes. Then in 1990s there was a tango boom, and people in Argentina began to rediscover the milongas—but the opportunity to learn tango in the traditional way was almost gone. Social tango had gone to sleep, and for the previous 35 years tango had existed mostly in the form of exaggerated street performances and stage shows for tourists. The old ways of slowly learning how to dance were almost gone. There just weren’t enough people left who could carry on the traditions of practicing at home with family members, playing with tango on the street corners, and serving apprenticeships in neighborhood clubs. So a few people began to try something new. They decided to teach the social tango of the milongas by giving classes.

The new classes were based on responding to the cadences of the music, connecting closely with a partner, and moving smoothly around a crowded floor. Admittedly they only scratched the surface—but they did cover basic technique, and because they were so different from the dramatic figures and complex choreography being taught by the performers, the new teachers needed a way to make a clear distinction between their social tango, and the classes that already existed. The problem was that many of the performers already used the label “tango salon” to advertise their classes—so some of the new instructors decided to call their classes “tango milonguero“. They simply replaced the word “salon” with “milonguero“. “Tango salon” means tango for dancing socially in a dance salon (which is a milonga), and “tango milonguero” means the kind of tango danced in a milonga. Technically they are exactly the same thing. But since the stage teachers had already grabbed the “tango salon” label, the new teachers had to come up with a new name.

This is probably where the confusion began—but the important thing to remember is that “tango milonguero” is not some separate “style” of tango danced by the old milongueros.

Tango and Chaos in Buenos Aires

As I understand, from what I’ve read and from my experience today we have two types of dancing: the so-called “tango salon” which is a grounded version of show dancing, and tango milonguero – which is the actual development of the tango salon.

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Tango milonguero goes beyond what your eyes can see. You must go deep and explore the nuances beneath the surface. By debunking common myths, you can truly understand what you do on the dance floor, and more importantly WHY and HOW you do it?

Milonguero is not a style of dancing – I strongly believe it’s the essence of tango. Tango lives at milongas, so it should be developed to fit milongas.