06/01/2025
𝗔 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗮 𝗲𝗻 𝗲𝗹 𝗔𝗹𝗺𝗮
In response to a social media post complaining about tango organizers, John Miller of Denver sarcastically replied:
“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰 𝘋𝘑, 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵.”
There are three main elements to a milonga: the music, the space, and the dancers. Take away any of those and you won’t have a milonga.
𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙈𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙘
When I started dancing tango in the 90s, Argentine tango music was impossible to find. The local indie record shop only carried Gardel and Piazzolla. Amazon still sold mostly books, YouTube and Facebook had yet to be conceived, and Apple was still a few years away from releasing iTunes. I started buying tango music CDs from a Buenos Aires bookstore named Zival’s. They had a pretty rudimentary website with no previewing, so I was buying most of my music blindly.
The Argentine peso and US dollar were 1:1 then (can you even imagine?) and CDs cost $30 each. Shipping started at $35, so discs were bought in batches. I soon had a sizable, and expensive, collection of music. I did not plan on being a DJ, but not that many people had enough music to do it, so it fell to the handful of us who did. I DJed off of CDs for a couple years until laptops got large enough hard drives.
𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙚
In early 2000, Rebecca Trost leased the old Ballet of the Dolls space and renamed it Four Seasons Dance Studio. The new studio was one of first in Minneapolis to offer Argentine Tango as a regularly taught class. It had a doorway to Hennepin, the small room was still cement, and the main floor (since replaced) was well worn. The dirt and broken asphalt alley hadn’t yet been repaved with brick, and on Saturday evenings you could faintly hear the sax player on the next door roof of the Loring Café. In the early morning hours, the empty parking spaces would fill with those cruising Loring Park. Four Seasons was a funky space in a funky neighborhood and perfect for a new milonga.
In 2001, there were two monthly milongas in Minneapolis, and a “mini-milonga” on Sundays. Another DJ approached me about starting a milonga on first Saturdays, with each of us switching off every month. He soon tired of the late nights required, and I took over sole DJ/hosting duties in February 2002, and have continued ever since.
In May 2010, Gretchen Larson joined me as cohost, bringing her distinctive laugh and general joie de vivre to Milonga en el Alma.
𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘿𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙧𝙨
Tango got off to slow start in Minneapolis, but with the movies “Tango” and “The Tango Lesson”, along with “Forever Tango” playing at the State Theatre, interest soon swelled.
Milonga en el Alma “officially” ran from 9 o’clock to one in the morning, but the afterparty was often the best part. I would put on a mix of music and let the party continue for those who just couldn’t get enough while I cleaned up and the UTango kids polished off what was left of the food. Stragglers would then head to Little Tijuana, if we could get there before the kitchen closed at 3am, or else Perkin’s if we didn’t.
𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙁𝙪𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚
And then we had a pandemic. Was it over for tango? It certainly felt bleak. But after starting up again in June 2021, tango has slowly come back to life in Minneapolis.
Mitra Martin once described tango as a “do-over” for the less socially inclined. For newer generations of dancers, tango may not be just a do-over, but their first chance to connect with new acquaintances in an intimate setting. After 23 years, I hope to be around at least a few more to welcome them to our dance.
Gretchen and I have missed out on marathons and festivals that conflict with our milonga. But after every one, once the floor is swept and lights are flicked out, I think “yeah, I’ll do this again next month.”
