Abrazos London

This is normally on Saturday afternoons, organised by Jenny Surelia at a place called Goodenough Hall, which belongs to Goodenough College, which seems to be named after its founder. There's another milonga on Wednesday in a different room at the same place, but I haven't tried that one yet as I'm generally busy on Wednesdays. There's one on this Bank Holiday Monday as well, so this is a great time to try it, and check the website for other Bank Holidays.

The Class: Jenny usually gives a basic to general-level class before the milonga for those who want it.

Layout and Atmosphere: The hall is absolutely beautiful. To find your way in, you have to buzz the bell or shoulder-surf to get into reception, which is on the left side of the entrance, and they will direct you to the Great Hall. You just go out of the door that's behind you as you face the reception desk, turn left, go into another door which is right there and follow the music up the stairs. The hall looks as though it was built some time between, say, 1890 and 1914, with the aim to imitate and surpass the halls of Oxford and Cambridge colleges (generally built much earlier and with less light). The roof is very high, the walls are wood-panelled half way up, and above this are wide, tall, bright windows letting in the sky. Above that is a white plaster curve magnificently embellished with coloured and gilded coats of arms, and a creamy plaster cieling. Beto told me that it reminded him of a place in Buenos Aires that I don't remember the name of. The heavy wooden chairs and tables are pushed to the four sides for the milonga. If it was crowded, there wouldn't be enough room to get between the chairs, which are very substantial - but there's plenty of room for a milonga of 180 people or so.

The sound is good, the wooden walls flattering it even with small speakers. It might be more of a struggle if it were full. And the wooden floor is absolutely gorgeous - not just smooth and soft on the feet, but also quiet, sucking away the sounds of your toes.

The only problem with the hall is that the windows have been incorrectly maintained and can't be opened at the moment. The room is designed for openable windows, and on a warm day it gets hot. Dress, or bring whatever you need, accordingly.

Look for the Empire Clock at the far end of the room. There's some information in a glass case on the wall to the left of it. It is an ingenious little memorial to that short-lived seaborne empire on which the sun never set; and once you spot the silver fern you realise it's telling you what time it is in New Zealand.

Hospitality: Good, slightly overwhelmed if more people turn up than expected. A table at one end has water, plastic cups, fruit, sweets, miscellaneous cakes and chocolate-brownie-like things, all included. If there's no one at the desk when you come in, it's probably because Jenny is busy DJing - just sort yourself out and either someone will come and find you later, or you can go over and just offer them money. If the jugs run out of water, you might have to attract someone's attention to refill them. As for the loos, they are clean, roomy, and very well lit, but allow an entire tanda to get there and back. It's a rather long way. Go out of the door at the other end, down the stairs on the right, and follow signs. Don't be alarmed by surprise violinists or hot steamy laundry machines. You'll get there in the end. On the bank holiday Monday when I went, it was also possible to get a substantial student lunch and a beer in the canteen next door, and several people did.

Anyone or anything interesting that turned up or happened: Just social dancing.

What I thought of the DJing: The first time I went, Beto DJd; he's a totally reliable DJ and a favourite of mine. The second time, Jenny DJd, and she did a perfectly reasonable job. It was all nice danceable tango music played in an orderly manner. She made one mistake (dancing) and had to run back to fix it but it was all nice music and the cortinas made me happy.

Getting in: £10. Market rate for London. The class is £5 extra, if there is one.

Getting there and getting home: It's a few minutes' walk from Russell Square and doesn't end late enough for getting home to be a problem. The address is Goodenough College, London House,  Mecklenburgh Square, London WC1N 2AB. I turned right from Russell Square and more or less followed my nose until I reached a fence, then turned right again and followed the walls on my left till I got there - which results in walking round three sides of Mecklenburgh Square - and that might not actually be necessary. But I couldn't at the time see a way of getting round the other way. Try it.

The website: http://abrazosmilonga.blogspot.co.uk/. Scroll down for the little calendar thingie. Does the job.

How it went: I went twice before writing, once for the regular Saturday matinee and once for a Bank Holiday Special. It was very quiet on the Saturday, but I'd arranged for a friend to go as well, so it didn't matter. On the bank holiday there were quite a few people there, after a while, including some excellent choices, and I'd definitely do that again. It was still quietish, but it'll probably become more popular. It's so nice and so convenient that it's hard to see how it wouldn't. You might try something like this group to coordinate with a few friends; but it'll be ok either way. On the bank holiday Monday, it was a little wierd at first because some of the students of Goodenough Hall were still having their lunch; they did so very quietly, but totally fascinated by our activities, and it always feels a bit bizarre having an audience. A friend mistakenly invited one of the students to dance; but he's very good at dancing with beginners and actually she did totally fine, as true total absolute beginners sometimes do in response to a good lead. The dancing was very civilised; the floor wasn't full, but it was very orderly and I think the quietness and the style of the hall is really conducive to a good milonga. I had a lovely time, and it ends at just the right moment to have dinner nearby afterwards. Give it a try on Monday, if you're in town.

The Light Temple

The Light Temple - Saturdays in Shoreditch, 9pm - 2am. Sorry I haven't got around to this one before, it's quite popular, it's just that I can rarely do Saturdays.


The Class: They usually have an beginner or improver-level class with Pablo and Naomi beforehand. Sometimes they have a class with guest teachers.

Layout and Atmosphere: It's dark. There are coloured lights, in a quite large white-walled cuboid space that seems to have been some sort of church, although of an odd shape and orientation. You come in at one side of a large uncurtained stage, and you can sit, or rather nest, on there, with cushions. But you'll be very close to the speakers. The DJ booth is on the other side of that. The opposite side has a gallery, with chairs underneath it, in two pockets, with a closed part between them fronted by small tables and chairs. There are some benches right at the back. There are a few small round tables, and more chairs, along the other two walls. What light there is, varies between blue and red. Cabeceo is feasible if you sit in the right place, know the person fairly well, and have good eyesight, but generally you are more likely to get verbal requests. It has a youngish, excited sort of vibe, and it's not at all difficult for a non-regular to get dances. The floor is good, if slightly sloping towards one corner, and large.

Hospitality: Good. There's a table up in the gallery that serves as a bar. They don't do gin-and-tonic, but a small glass of wine is £4. Water was available at no charge. Sometimes they also have food beforehand, especially in summer. The loos are roomy, well-lit and in good condition - entrance under the gallery.

Anyone or anything interesting that turned up or happened: A couple abandoned the ample space behind me and my partner, cut the corner, and made their way into the very small space between us and the couple in front. After about half a minute, they found that the space so made was insufficient. So he executed a sort of giant soltada without the turn, and gestured in the direction of dance. The couple divided, passed on either side of my friends in front and two other couples, and rejoined each other in the corner beyond, where they remained for some time. I thought that was quite interesting. I don't go there often enough to say for sure how unusual it is.

What I thought of the DJing: Pablo, the regular DJ, plays tandas of 4, with 3s for milonga and vals, and the cortinas are long enough. The DJing is appropriate for the tastes and dance style of most of the regulars. If you like the modern cover versions of things like El Huracán better than the originals, you'll love it; it's not my thing at all. There was a lovely Biagi tanda near the start, and I think a couple of really nice Canaro ones. And a lot of what I classify broadly as Pugliese knockoffs with high sound quality that don't make me want to dance even slightly; but there is a school of thought that really likes this stuff. If you can deduce from my description that that's you, try this venue.

The sound is mainly from two big speakers on the stage, so it is louder when you're close to them, but I had no problems hearing it anywhere, and I think the long curtains hanging from the gallery limit the interference of voice noise.

Getting in: £10 for the class and milonga, £4 for the milonga only. I came in just before the end of the class and I don't actually remember which I was charged. £4 is very cheap for London.

Getting there and getting home: It takes me 12 minutes to walk there from Liverpool Street, or you can hop on a bus for a couple of stops. It's more or less next door to Shoreditch Church. From Liverpool Street, come out of the Bishopsgate exit and walk left. Just follow the road. You'll pass the Light Bar, which is where they have the milonga on Tuesdays, after about six minutes. The place to cross the road is just after you get to the Majestic wine warehouse. Keep following the road till you get to Shoreditch Church, and follow the fence right around. As you do so, you'll make your way through the crowd spilling out from the George and Dragon on the corner, and you'll see a sign on the church fence - follow the arrow down the little street and the entrance is on the left, currently half-concealed by boarded scaffolding, before you get to the residential bit. I'm told parking can be a bit difficult, so you might want to plan for your space if you're driving. But on this evening my friends who were driving had no problems.

Many trains run from Liverpool Street till about 1am, but since this milonga starts rather late, if you like it you will probably want to stay till the end. In that case there are many buses, but keep in mind that a LOT of people try to leave Shoreditch on buses between about half past one and 2am. You may have to wait for an hour or more before one goes past that has space for you. Consider walking back to the bus station at Liverpool Street, which is what I should have done both times this happened to me.

The website: http://www.tangothelight.com/ is 100% Flash, but once you get in, it has the information you need. Or use the Facebook Thing for announcements.

How it went: I really like the young cheerful vibe that it has. On all my (few) visits there's been plenty of space, which most of the dancers were keen to make use of. The level of bumps has varied so widely that I can't really say what's normal. It may well depend on the class and the crowd. It is very dark, though. Consider light-coloured or shiny clothing. If you're under the gallery and not in the front row or along the side, you can't really be seen from anywhere else. If you are there, you're very exposed.

If you're inexperienced and you need to get some dances in, then I think it would be fun and fine, especially if you took the class beforehand. You might also be interested in the "L-Plate" milonga specially for beginners in a second room, off the entrance hall. It looked quite nice in there, when I came in - I forgot about it and regretted not investigating further. More experienced dancers have a very good chance of finding agreeable partners if the other aspects suit them.

I'm unlikely to become a regular here because the DJing style doesn't suit me at all, and I'm not crazy about the Shoreditch night bus experience. But I like the youthful feel and the hospitality and the space itself. It's also cheap and accessible. In this case I was there with some friends and stayed to the end, having a very enjoyable evening.

Milonga 8

EDIT January 2012: This milonga lost its venue over Christmas and has now MOVED to a new venue near London Bridge. I haven't tried this yet.

This is an under-new-management version of a milonga that already existed but I never got around to trying. It's at 8 Hop Gardens, off St Martin's Lane, near Leicester Square, WC2N 4EH. It's now running every Friday from 21:30 to 02:00, organised by Grant.

Update: on second and third visits, I found much better lighting, which made it much easier to get dances, and I also found more of them there to get.

The Class: There isn't always a class before the milonga. On this occasion there was, but I didn't attend it. Classes at various levels are listed on the website.

Layout and Atmosphere: You come in through a corridor and down some steps, and it's just what it says on the door, a Quaker meeting hall. It's a very nice rectangular space, fairly small, with seating along two sides, one side being a low, long platform with small tables and red tablecloths, and the other a long broad bench. I think it's nearly the ideal size and shape for a small milonga; if you were having a meeting you'd be able to discuss things across the room without needing to raise your voice, but it's not cramped. Beyond the tablecloths, I don't think anything else had been done to the room to make it more milonga-ish. There's a quite beautiful big window at the end where the DJ is, with what looks rather like some sort of giant grass outside, and the refreshment and chillout room, actually a library, is at the other end. The floor is very nice, wooden, smooth, and not slippery or sticky. It's too dark for getting dances to be easy, but not extreme or darker than is usual for London. The Quaker pamphlets in the library are quite intriguing if you feel like having a nose around; I noticed that, for Quakers, "advice" is a countable noun with a plural, "advices". I've never ever heard a native English speaker use that - it must be a sixteenth-century survival, how interesting.

Hospitality: Very good. A selection of teas, coffees and soft drinks is laid out in the refreshment room with proper mugs, and included in the price, so you help yourself. The loos are roomy, clean and well-lit and have rather spiritual notices about living in peace with the world and switching off the lights. The venue doesn't allow alcohol to be served. At the entrance to the hall, where the desk is, there's a nice long line of coathooks where you can leave your stuff, and because refreshments are included you don't need to take anything inside and have it be on the floor getting in the way. So I left my bag there, zipped inside my coat.

Anyone or anything interesting that turned up or happened: Just social dancing. And there don't seem to be any plans for performances, which is a major plus as far as I'm concerned, your preference may vary.

What I thought of the DJing: DJs vary, check the schedule. This time it was Mehmet, who played 100% traditional in tandas with cortinas. I was fine with most of the tandas. The cortinas were too short to really clear the floor, and people didn't, which added to the difficulty of getting dances and the tendency to stick with fixed partners. They also use Ewa Zbrezska, whose music I get on with fine. Under the previous management there was a lot of later music, like there is for the Thursday practica - that seems to have changed.

Getting in: £8, or an even more reasonble £7 if you join as a member (you also get a login to the website, but I don't know what's on the other side of logging in).

Getting there and getting home: Take Exit 1 from Leicester Square tube. Turn left, so you are passing the Garrick Theatre, and take the second left (which is a street of bookshops and art shops). When you come out at the other end, you'll see Hop Gardens is just a little to your right across the road, with a Gym Box on the corner. Cross carefully - watch out for near-silent bicycle rickshaws, drunk pedestrians and, at the time of writing, a huge hole in the road. The building you want is the Quaker Meeting House, which is on your left. Press the labelled bell, and wait for someone to come and open the door. Trains go from Leicester Square till about half past midnight, but it's open later and doesn't start to fill up till about 11. There are numerous night buses nearby, and if you already know the way home from Carablanca or Negracha, you are pretty close to there anyway. The only problem is the buses can get full at 2am, so dress warmly if you're going to do this, you might have to wait a while.

The website: http://www.thetangoclub.com/ - nicely presented, does the job and gives you a nice, accessible list of events, practicas and classes at the same venue, as well as the milonga. Well-written and includes an accurate, properly-configured embedded Google map.

How it went: I'd gone there specifically to meet two people I really love dancing with, so I can't really assess how well it would have gone under other conditions. It's small. The crowd was rather young. Most of the dancing was not really my style, and required a lot of space in proportion to the size of the room. But that was by no means true of all of it, and at least some of it was high quality, especially after 11pm. The floor was pretty orderly if you took space requirements into account. Because it's small, I'd want to arrange for at least one or two likely partners to be there. However, it might be a good choice for the more experienced visitor, especially if you can live with a wide range of styles.

It's easy for me to reach, with a straightforward route home even if I stay till 2am. I really liked the room, I was ok with the music, and I liked the price, especially with the bonus of no performance and a cup of tea included. I think I'd find it difficult to get the dances I wanted, because of the darkness and people not clearing the floor, but I can adapt to that, given the small size of the room. I will definitely consider it as an alternative to my usual place on occasions when it has a better DJ or my usual place has a performance, especially if I can overcome the style problem by persuading one or two regular partners to join me despite the absence of beer.

The Dome

This is an updated version of my previous review - I don't go there very often.

There are classes and a milonga every Wednesday organised by Zero Hour. The milonga normally goes till midnight, it's occasionally open later.

The Class: There are usually beginners' and intermediate classes running - check the monthly programme on the website for times and teachers. The regular teachers are René and Hiba, but they also have guests.

Layout and Atmosphere: The main part of the room has been completely refurbished and looks good. The bar is on the left and behind you as you come in, with the bar area divided from the main part by pillars, chairs and tables with tablecloths. There are mixed chairs, tables, and sofas, along the other long side of the dance floor, and the short end on the left where the DJ has a sort of hatch or window. They've got rid of the platform that used to be there, and the dancefloor is now a much better size and shape. The new floor itself is also of much better quality, wooden and very smooth; it might have been newly polished, as I and one of my partners found it very slippery in a couple of spots near the corners. The lighting is very low, too low in my opinion to get a dance from across the room unless you both have good eyesight, are both light-skinned, and know each other fairly well. If you want to cross the room, it's no use waiting for the cortina - they don't play any - so you have to pick your way around or stay in the same place, but that's do-able as long as it's not crowded.

Hospitality: Good. My single G&T with ice and lemon was £3.40. There was a jug of water on the bar with plastic cups so you could serve yourself whenever you wanted it.  The bar staff were pleasant. The loos are supplied and working, and even have good lighting and large mirrors on the outsides of the doors in the ladies' at the far corner (not the one off the stairs before you go in, which is fine, but cramped). However, the floor in there was extremely dirty on this particular night. The tables near the bar are close together, but it's not too cramped as you can approach them from the bar side as well. There is a rail for hanging your things up just on the left by the entrance, and there are pretty much enough chairs for most people to sit down so there's also scope for hanging your things on the back of one and putting your bag under a table.

Anyone or anything interesting: They sell NeoTango shoes at the desk.

What I thought of the DJing: The DJs play mainly but not exclusively traditional music, it was in tandas, but no cortinas. I have to leave by 23:30 as it's a weekday, and I wouldn't be surprised if they got a bit more non-traditional by midnight. It is not always the same DJ, check the website to find out who it is on your night.

Getting in: £6. I think you can get a loyalty discount - ask the person at the desk, if you plan to be a regular.

Getting there and getting home: From Tufnell Park tube, cross at the crossing and walk down the left hand wall of the corner pub; you will see the lit sign for the Dome. Just walk up the stairs. If you stay till midnight you may not be able to Tube it all the way, but there are buses from the intersection outside: the website shows the location correctly.

The website: Simple, does the job. Look at 'milonga' and 'monthly programme'. The milonga is usually referred to as "The Dome" but the website uses its intended name so is at http://www.zerohour.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/.

How it went: Quite well. I had nice dances with people I know and people I don't see very often. I'd guess most of the people who go there are probably regulars, which is nice in many ways but may also mean it can take a while to get dances if nobody knows you, most of all if you are relatively choosy. The flow on the floor felt ok and I didn't have a lot of bumps. I'm unlikely to become a regular because it's in an awkward location for me and the no-cortinas policy and darkness do my head in. Plus it's probably hitting its stride around the time I have to leave. But it's an attractive space, it's very reasonably priced, and the music is good if you don't mind the format. If you like your milongas non-traditional this is definitely the one for you, and you're likely to find suitable partners here.

Pavadita

This is a weekly, evening milonga on Sundays just at the north end of Hammersmith Bridge. Nikki is an energetic organiser and currently has three milongas going - the Crypt on alternate Saturdays, the diddy  one in Vino Latino's wine bar on Tuesdays, and this one every Sunday from 20:00 to 23:30.

The Class: Beginner and intermediate classes are given between 6pm and 8pm by Beto Ortiz and Asta Moro. They tend to stick to the basics and I've enjoyed dancing with some of their students. On some Sundays, when they are organising their own tea dance out in Aldenham, Nikki gives the classes instead; occasionally she has other guest teachers.

Layout and Atmosphere: it's a really nice room. Basically it's a church hall/concert hall/school hall sort of space. The floor is the right shape and good quality, and there's plenty of chairs with big, restaurant-style tables along the two long sides. The furniture is bulky and a bit crowded together, making it tricky to get into and out of the seats. You come in at the end where there's a stage (on which is the DJ box), and at the far end of the rectangular floor is a mezzanine with a staffed bar underneath. The lighting is quite good, and the space is pretty, with ornate upper walls. It doesn't get elaborated for the tango, except by projecting coloured light from the mezzanine. I suggest going up the stairs to the mezzanine to hang up your coat and change your shoes - there's much more room than there is on the rail downstairs, where your coat can end up blocking the door to the Ladies, and from up there you get an interesting view of the floor. I think your stuff would be perfectly safe. One time there was an elderly man sitting up there and looking lugubriously towards the stage, paying no attention to the dancers or anything else.

Hospitality: Good. There's a reasonably priced bar. Water is provided with a smile. My single G&T with ice and lemon was £4.40. No food. The loos are rickety - very cheaply maintained and cramped, with water tending to splash on the floor - and once you've managed to work the lock, you may have to yank on the top or bottom of the door to get out again. But it's clean, working, and properly supplied by the building's staff. You'll always get a smile and a friendly greeting from Asta or Nikki or an assistant on the desk when you come in.

Anyone or anything interesting that turned up or happened: Just social dancing, yay!

What I thought of the DJing: The first time I went, Beto Ortiz DJ'd and did, I think, a perfectly reasonable job delivering the basics, just as he does at his own milonga. I was happy to dance any tanda. The second time, Nikki DJ'd in between being on the door. She plays tandas and cortinas in the traditional format, but it can't have her full attention. Sometimes other DJ's are employed; you can check on the website. The week of writing [sorry, drafting - Chris Jordan is DJing the week of publication], Asta will be DJing.

Getting in: £8, or £10 if you take the class.

Getting there and getting home: It really is a short walk from Hammersmith Tube - IF you know the way. If you don't know the way, it's scary. This is just about the most pedestrian-hostile bit of scenery I've yet encountered in London, even worse than the what-were-they-thinking tunnels around the Waterloo IMAX. So here's what you need to do. When you come up the escalators, you're in a baffling shopping centre. Bear right - how far you have to go depends which escalator you came up. You want the exit from the shopping centre that has a statue of some nudes standing on a box. At this point, turn left. As you go around, you will see a large church on the other side of the road. You want to be going down the road that the church is on, and for now it's easier to stay on the side where the church is, i.e. the left hand side. Use the crossings to get there and keep the church on your left. After a while, you'll see the tall lights of Hammersmith Bridge in front of you, and on the other side of the road you'll see a pub with Oxford in the name. There's a crossing right in front of it. Cross, continue briefly in the same direction you were going, i.e. towards the bridge, turn right and you're on Rutland Grove, you'll see a sign for the tango. From what I gather, it's also pretty difficult for drivers - there are directions on the website.

The website: Tells you where, when, how much, who's giving the class and who's DJing. No fancy annoying javascript or flash or noises or anything.  http://www.dancetango.co.uk/Website/PavPage0100.htm 

How it went: Very well. I had a very nice evening on each visit in a comfortable, pretty space with a nice atmosphere. On the first visit I felt the flow was rather good, at any rate much better than average for London. There were plenty of people I wanted to dance with, and it was civilised and not at all bumpy; nobody even kicked the teenage professional couple dancing like an arse with six legs. On the second visit I still had a pleasant evening with minimal bumps, and so did the friend I had brought, but with less dancing and less flow. Although it's a long way for me, it's accessible, there are tandas and cortinas and traditional music, and it's a nice place.

Bernhard Gehberger

Bernhard Gehberger was exceptional at Carablanca last night. Super strong music, it engaged everyone and did a great job of delivering beautiful tandas, pacing the evening, and demanding and keeping the dancers' attention. I think it was brilliantly calculated for the crowd, which is always very mixed and can be difficult. It helped a lot that it wasn't too crowded (despite the large size of the hall, this milonga has problems when crowded). But there were some seriously good dancers there, and they were the loudest in the standing ovation he got at the end.

A friend who goes there told me he was also excellent at the Dome on Wednesday.


Here's a thought:

A change of priorities towards excellent DJing (like spending a lot more money on it) is the next step London needs to take. And I think there's a payoff lying on the table for the first milonga to deliver a consistently high level of competence, and take a big step up from there.

La Milonga de La Luna

I believe this is intended to turn into a monthly milonga for 2011, but at the time of writing it's irregular and you'll need to check the website or the Facebook group to keep up. This occasion was an end-of-year party. It's organised by Eleonora Simoes. At ULU (University of London Union), Malet St, WC1E 7HY. 21:00-02:00.

The Class: There wasn't one.

Layout and Atmosphere: Once you get past the bouncers making sure you don't stage a sit-in, there's a nice lady doing the money and sitting in front of a coat rack, next to which are some chairs for your pupation into butterfly. It was a cold night, so this took me a while. The room's a theatre, with stage, big sound sytem, and a mezzanine or circle above. The DJ is tucked in below the stage, and tables with chairs behind them are laid out close to the wall, so you can sit behind but not walk, on the other three sides. There's a second row of bar-style tables along the open side under the mezzanine.You can reserve a table if there are four or more of you. It wasn't that full so there seemed to be enough seating for everyone. The bar is in the lobby under the mezzanine, and there's a large low platform, also with chairs, where the shoe shop and the cakes were. So there's plenty of room to sit out or socialise if you want to. The walls and ceiling are painted a very beautiful dark blue, the chairs are blue, and the silver velvet tablecloths looked very pretty and made me smile. I had no problems with the floor, which was perfectly smooth without being slippery. The room was fairly cool when I came in, but not cold.

Hospitality: Good. Coat racks for your stuff behind the desk, adequate seating. My single G&T was £3.50, tap water and bottled water appeared to be available from the bar. Actually someone got the water for me, so I didn't try to ask for tap water myself and can't vouch for it. On this occasion there were also some cakes on the platform in the lobby. The loos (ladies' by the bar) are clean and very well lit and in good condition, if a little rickety, pretty much what you'd expect from a university building. The coat rack was already near full when I arrived so your stuff might be a bit squashed if you come at 23:30.

Anyone or anything interesting that turned up or happened: German Salvatierra gave a performance entitled "The Man With Four Legs". I didn't have a good view, but it's nice to see intentional comedy on a dance floor. Also, Coleccion La Recoleta were there with their Comme Il Faut tango shoe collection.

What I thought of the DJing: I'm actually not sure whether German Salvatierra was DJing, or Diego Doigenau (who's also the usual DJ at Negracha). Tandas, cortinas, 90% traditional from when I came in. There was one dodgy milonga that that didn't go in the tanda and about half the floor assumed to be a cortina, but I don't know who played it, it might have been an accident. Otherwise it was all strong music, mostly familiar, I had no problems with any of it.

Getting in: £13, well over the London norm of £10. Non-dancers and ULU members pay £10.

Getting there and getting home: Russell Square is, marginally, nearest. When you come out of Russell Square, walk left, crossing the street; turn right at the lights. You're now on Woburn Place. Take the first left, next lights, just after the big "International" hotel. Carry on past various university buildings till you get to the corner of Malet street. There is a red door on the street you're on, but this time a sign directed me round the corner to the brightly-lit main entrance. There were a lot of bouncers, who may be there all the time or might have been there in case we started looking like we wanted to stage a sit-in. Or a dance-in, or something. Go in, go upstairs (on your right) to the first floor. It's a few minutes' walk, but under ten.

If you returned to Woburn Place and went back past Russell Square you'd come to Southampton Row, Theobald's Road, and the Holborn area where lots of night buses go from. If you went in the opposite direction you'd very soon get to Euston station, where there are more. Last Tubes are between 00:25 and 00:45 on Saturdays.


The website: is at www.tangology.org, but you're better off with the Facebook group.

How it went: I had a really nice time and I went home in a better mood than I arrived. It had a good atmosphere, which is often the case with Eleonora's events. When she had the same room as Negracha, but on Sundays, it was very striking how she managed to create a nice atmosphere with just a bit of embellishment and changing where the tables were. I thought about staying to the end, but quit while I was winning and took a train. The main reason I left was that England were 2 for 317 at Adelaide, leading by 72, which doesn't happen every four years, play started at midnight, and the siren voice of Jonathan Agnew was calling me to get home at 1am rather than 4. But also I'd already had some nice dances and the core of those who go to Eleonora's events are more nuevo-style in their tastes than me; so although quite a few of them are good dancers and I can totally work with it, I'm not quite their thing. Anyway, the evening made me happy.

Avalon

From 9 till midnight on Monday evenings at Avalon, Shoreditch High Street. [Update: I have a really nice time there, and they promptly go for a summer break. I'd say check tango-uk for announcements but actually it seems you need to sign up to the Tango@33 mailing list to know whether it's on or not, and you have to check your mail again an hour before it's supposed to start.]


The Class: The organisers, Alex and Silvia, offer a basic beginners and improvers' class from 7:30 to 9:00. From what I read before on the tangoat33 website, they start beginners off in close embrace straight away, and as far as I know they are the only people in London who attempt this.

Layout and Atmosphere: Unobtrusive from the outside, you come in and and it's all red and black and silver, very new-looking. There's a cloakroom and there may or may not be someone at the desk; anyway you can collect your thoughts and remove your rain gear before walking past the screen into the bar. Comfy red and silver sofas and chairs and square squashy seats. The bar is on the left and the dancefloor on the right. There is also a downstairs, but it's being knocked out and rebuilt at the moment. To me it felt glamorous and cosy.

The floor is small, rectangular, and more or less a seperate room from the seating area, with an opening in the wall between. The DJ has a large booth facing the opening. If there were more people the layout would be awkward, but at the moment it doesn't matter at all, especially since they play cortinas. The floor, however, is very dark, except for wild spinning flying-insect brightly-coloured nightclub lights. About which it's probably not possible to do much. Not really a problem for me, as the seating area is well lit and they play tandas and  cortinas, so there's no problem finding a partner, and I can dance with my eyes shut. But if you lead and you have any tendency to motion sickness, or suffer from epilepsy, you might want to bring pills. The flying light-midges - well, some people like them. They are very pretty, and an upside is that they don't encourage you to dance for the look of the thing, as nobody can see you, but they make me feel a bit strange. I think the lighting machine can do all kinds of patterns so it might be completely different when you go. Little zigzags, squares, or butterflies or something. Anyway, consider not wearing black.

The sound was good, not over-loud, and the surface gave me no problems.

Hospitality: Good. It feels like what it is (so far), which is a small group of friends starting their own milonga in a venue they like, and they know me so I could hardly fail to feel welcome. The loos are clean and dry, smart-looking and quite roomy, with a 3/4 length mirror. You could easily fix your hair, makeup and outfit in there. They have glamorous giant pin-up pictures on the wall. I ordered a single G&T as it was a weeknight and it was £2.65. I felt like a cheapskate for ordering a single and that's probably why I forgot to ask for water. It's a bar and it's free to get in for now. They do cocktails, too, of course.

Anyone or anything interesting that turned up or happened: Just social dancing. I had a peek downstairs at the rebuilding, though, and that looks quite interesting.

What I thought of the DJing: Almost all traditional, with nice music, no show tunes or showing-off tunes, and one tanda of alternative just before I left - beautiful lyrical danceable music, no moron-beats. Short pop cortinas, long enough for the small floor. Sylvia mostly DJ'd, I think, Alex took over for the alternative tanda, but it seems to be a joint effort.

Getting in: Currently free. It's a small nightclub so obviously it's polite to order a drink or two. I don't think there was anyone there, apart from staff, who wasn't there to dance, which was nice. I'm not crazy about having a baffled audience.

Getting there and getting home: I walked from Liverpool Street station; come out of the Bishopsgate exit, turn left and walk along the same side of the road, without turning, until you get there. It took me exactly twelve minutes at the first attempt, I walk faster than average. You will pass a large wine place, and go under a bridge. It's a bit after the Crowne Plaza on the other side of the road. I left by about half past eleven but if you want to stay till midnight, you can probably still get the tube; otherwise there are many, many buses from Liverpool Street and from the roads right outside.

The website: It hasn't got one yet. Announcements on Tango-UK. The venue's is Avalon-London.

How it went: I had honest-to-goodness heart-to-heart dances inside the music. No bumps - I don't think there were ever more than three couples on the floor, and all of them were competent social dancers. The floor is small enough that it doesn't feel empty even if you're just one couple, it just felt intimate and relaxed (although on the other occasion I went there it was remarkable how the sudden appearance of just one notoriously awful leader changed my stress level - that's the trouble with small milongas).  There weren't many people there but they were lovely. In fact I had such a nice evening that I was seriously tempted to just shut up about it and keep it to myself. But that would be selfish.

Tango South London

The Tango South London Ball is on every last Sunday of the month. It's at the Dulwich Constitutional Club, 33 East Dulwich Grove, SE22 8PW [Update: this is the right postcode - according to the Post Office and to my physical check. The map and route correspond to what's on the ground.] It starts at 20:30 and ends at about 23:15.

The Class: I didn't plan to be there for the class but I arrived earlier than I meant to and came in ten minutes before it ended, so I sat down to watch. Claire Loewe and Luis Rodriguez were teaching a class on how to dance milonga socially in a civilised way. It included some simple elements, feasible musicality, and a lot of encouragement to respect one anothers' space, refrain from rushing, and use the corners of the floor properly. A lot of the results looked pretty good. Both of them sometimes teach with other people too. You'll see them dancing socially with plenty of people at various places in London.

Layout and Atmosphere: It's a longish rectangular room like a large school hall or the kind of place the local drama society might put on plays. You come in at one end of one long side, and the stage is at the other end to your right. In the corner facing you is a booth for the DJ. Around three sides of the dance floor, facing it, are lots of tables with pretty gauzy tablecloths, and chairs behind. They form a nearly-solid barrier with spaces here and there. There are twinkly LEDs draped along the front of the stage on the fourth side, and tealights on the tables. The tables were far enough in to leave two or three feet between seated people and wall; I almost never had to step onto the dancefloor except to dance. This is a blessing and helps the flow a lot; the only problem is people leaving their stuff scattered all over the place. The floor was more than big enough. There were slightly too few chairs for everyone to sit down during the concert. Lighting is good - I could get the nod (albeit a very spelled-out one) from right across the room. The loos are through the door to the left of the stage.Through doors on the other side of the room is a large comfortable bar, very roomy and quiet, with muzak. There was also a bit of smooth floor in there which someone used to review with a friend what had been done in the class.  Basically it's a community hall, the same sort of thing as the Welsh Centre, but nicer. The room was quite warm, but not excessively. It was a very warm evening.

The atmosphere all evening was calm, civilised and cheerful. From what I saw, I felt that had been consciously encouraged by the content and presentation of the class, and my impression from other people is that, if so, they've been fairly consistent about this for long enough that it's positively affected who goes and how they behave. It had a nice family feeling which I felt welcomed into. It felt as though the general idea was to have fun and permit other people to do the same.

Hospitality: Good. My single G&T with an ice cube and slice of lemon was £2.40 from the members bar, served by venue staff. I was also served an orange juice and a large glass of tap water for £1.25. There is a coat rack in the bar, which I and some others made use of, but many people left their things on chairs. It's probably a good idea to bring a kitbag. There were two or three club members in the bar (ignore the 'members only' signs - they don't count on tango night) and I felt that my stuff was perfectly safe. The Ladies' sprang a leak during the class and was put out of action - this was dealt with by a series of emergency announcements which converted the Gents' into the Ladies' and opened a different Gents' downstairs. So I can report, unusually, that the Gents is roomy and clean and dry with good light, but has a broken lock.

Anyone or anything interesting that turned up or happened: They had live music, a young bandoneonist, Carlos Becu. He played two sets, each consisting of a concert part and a dancing part. He was fine, he played what he played, you could dance to it, and people did, including me. He likes Pugliese. I wouldn't have minded dispensing with at least one of the non-danceable sets, but it's always exciting to dance to live music. You can form your own opinion from his MySpace page.

What I thought of the DJing: Marek Szotkowski DJ'd. I've seen him before, and again he did a professional job; tandas of four, cortinas, relaxed upbeat stuff to start with and keeping the more challenging pieces for later although in this case that it was mostly supplanted by the live music. 100% traditional, 0% alternative. Even the valses and milongas were tandas of four. I think there was the classic proportion of valses and milongas, which is significantly more than most people play. He doesn't seem to mind people dancing to the cortinas, which are rock and salsa, sometimes a full track so you can do it properly. The tandas made sense to me and didn't do any silly attention-seeking or make me go "what??".

Getting in: £10 including the class, £7 later according to the website (I was charged even less, by a person temporarily on the desk near the end of the class, so I think that must have been a mistake). Bargain either way.

Getting there and getting home: I got a train to Brixton and walked around the corner to take a bus at Lambeth Town Hall. If you take the 37 from there, get off at next stop after Dulwich Community Hospital; walk a few steps in the same direction the bus was going, cross at the zebra crossing, and you're there. The stop going the other way is directly outside the hall.  You can stay to the end and just make it back onto the Tube network in time for the last train, but I cut it very very fine because my bus did not appear and I had to wait an extra fifteen minutes for the next one. I saw many other buses a short distance away on the main road, and East Dulwich station is within 10 minutes' walk. The buses are given on the website. Check your route carefully - remember it's Sunday, and everything closes earlier.

The website: http://www.tangosouthlondon.co.uk/ - it tells you when, where, and how much it is to get in, but not all of the pages get updated. The News page, which does, is here. [Update: Watch out for mixed up postcodes. If it doesn't make sense to you, ask.]

How it went: Very well. I had a very nice evening. I knew quite a few of the women there, but hardly any of the men, so I just took the first dance that presented itself to start myself off; my dances ranged from the harmless to the excellent and included more than one new partner I would be delighted to dance with again. I got very few bumps, and they were very trivial, nothing more than gentle contact - everyone could, and did, pull out in time. I noticed that there was quite a lot of variation in style on the floor, in the sense of fairly recognisable and distinct flavours of embrace, technique, and content of dance, and I danced more than one of them myself, but there wasn't a lot of zigzagging wildly about at high speed, or grabbing huge amounts of space, so the variations didn't seem to be creating stress. At least, there was nothing serious and persistent enough to affect the atmosphere so that it became noticeable to me.

I had an evening that made me happier than I had been when I set out, at a very moderate price, with the music and dancing well above average. I might even make this journey in the winter. It's a pity that I have to leave before the end to get home in less than an hour and a half. If I was in South London there'd be no question at all, every time.

[Update: added postcode and journey planner. Journey planner messes up the layout.]

33 @ No. 5 Cavendish Place

UPDATE MAY 2010:  Don't bother reading the rest of this, they seem to have lost this venue, at least for the time being. The one time I do a review the first time I go - knew it was a bad idea! Nice evening, though. See Golondrina for the current venue.

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Having been turfed out of 33 Portland Place because of a court order about planning permission (same thing as Americans call 'zoning'), and after an interlude at Pushkin House reviewed by Golondrina here, the '33' milonga has found a new venue in Cavendish Square. It's closed the weekend of publishing this, but the intention is to run it every Sunday.

The Class: Luis Rodriguez gave a class on milonga. I arrived after it ended, but the organisers have a stated policy about classes, recently telling the 400 club:

"Yes, we have changed as now in every lesson we put more emphasis on floor craft, musicality and figures / movement that you can use in a milonga without interrupting the dance, 'flowing' in the line of dance. We are also inviting more guest teachers who reflect the Salon style in their own dancing and teaching."

Layout and Atmosphere: The house itself isn't anywhere close to the 18th century Wedgwood-ceilinged battered fall-of-Rome tradgiquality of 33 - it's basically a grand Victorian do-up of a Georgian base - but it is in far, far better condition and more comfortable, clean and convenient, as Victorian versions of Georgian things generally are. It's a proper professionally run place. As you come in there is a reception desk on your left, but the money table is in front of you, and both I and the person in front of me got friendly greetings and orientation. To your left is a cloakroom (unattended, but under the desk's eye) with one or two stools, where it makes sense to change your shoes. The 'salon' room is opposite it, and it's a fine room, with red moulded ceilings, gold details, dark wood doors and panelling and chunky red velvet sofas. The dance floor is forced into an hourglass shape by awkward panels in the middle that project beyond the seating. It's fine if you keep to one lane and keep it going - but you need good awareness of the space around you and the ability to dance small and change direction without needing extra space. It's well-lit and there's quite a lot of big squishy velvet seating, and I also perched briefly on the padded rail around the fireplace. I like this room more than the one they used for this purpose at 33, because it feels more special and less camped-out, but the shape is challenging. The floor is good. The wobbly wooden statues are a little worrying.

Alternatively, you can go down the stairs past the cloakroom, and there is a three-room setup with two dancefloors and the bar in the middle. The refreshments were in the room on the right. It's possible to dance on either floor or even right through, I saw some do this and there's nothing stopping you. It's dark, with nightclub lighting, and black and white velvet-patterned wallpaper - again, all nice and professionally done and not feeling like a dive. There's lots of comfortable seating in cosy alcoves around the edges, with tables, and it would be a good place for a chat and a chillout. The carpet was sticky in places (ew), including on the stairs, but the floor is perfectly OK. I think you can expect at least some proportion of non-traditional music downstairs - and the two large sections of floor are normal shapes and there seemed to be ample space.

I enjoyed the atmosphere and had a lovely evening. I didn't get such a clear impression of downstairs as I didn't spend much time there, the partners I had in mind happened to be upstairs.

Hospitality: Very good. Refreshments in the form of water, soft drinks and plastic cups (with the usual pens to write your name on them), and nibbles, are all provided downstairs, included in entry. The cloakroom has bag shelves, and keeps your things clean and hopefully safe - I take the usual precautions of not carrying unnecessary valuables or making them easy of access, but I'm pretty confident as everyone there is there to dance, which wasn't always the case at 33. The loos are marble and prettily done, clean and dry, sensibly designed - as I said, a proper professionally run place, the kind of thing you'd expect in a classy restaurant, suitable for fixing hair and makeup. The Ladies' downstairs was under maintenance - I used the one that's through the door in front as you go in

Anyone or anything interesting that turned up or happened: Just social dancing, but this was also their birthday party and their first night at this new venue, so there was rather good chocolate cake, and some champagne. And there was a really sweet group birthday dance, for the milonga rather than a person - all the organisers danced a vals and got people to come and cut in.

What I thought of the DJing: They still don't really have proper DJs. Upstairs is 100% traditional and you mostly get cortinas, but that's not absolutely reliable. I looked in downstairs a few times and the music is still predominantly traditional, but I think I heard some interesting, danceable non-traditional music too.

Getting in: £10.

Getting there and getting home: The nearest Tube is Oxford Circus. Bond Street is also very close, and so is Great Portland Street. From Oxford Circus take Exit 4, walk up Regent Street towards the round spired portico of All Souls' Church (behind which is BBC Broadcasting House), and take the second left. You arrive in an open space with trees, much uglified by an underground car park. Turn right, the numbers are clearly marked, no. 5 is a few doors down. It will only take you a couple of minutes. On this night - in mid April - it had a rather bizarre Christmas-tree-like object outside, so maybe that's there all year. For getting home, remember that it is Sunday and everything stops an hour earlier than usual, so if you're like me and cautious you need to leave at 11:15, although you'd probably get away with 11:30. There are buses in all directions from Oxford Street, but there may be a big gap between the last Tube and the first direct night bus.

The website: The milonga has kept "33" as a brand name but the website has now been updated for the new location - and it also has a button for turning the sound off, much better. It's still Flash, though, and takes quite a bit of clicking and squinting to find out where it is, when it is, whether it's on, and how much it is to get in - I'd strongly suggest following the Facebook group and announcements on tango-uk instead. They publish a syllabus for the beginners' course, which I think is a good thing as it sets people's expectations at the right time (starts week 1 with close embrace - yay!). The venue has its own website, also Flash, which might be operable if you were willing to wait long enough.

How it went: I got a fabulous first dance, so you might have to consider the whole of this somewhat favourably biased ty that; on the other hand, I had a good impression on walking in and sat down with a smile on my face, which probably contributed to the first dance. After that I really couldn't possibly complain. The Salon Room thing could actually work here, because the layout and lighting mostly favour it (it had no chance at Pushkin House - I think it's essential to have enough seating round the floor, which wasn't possible at 33 either). The room is well lit and in very good condition. The only awkward thing is the bottleneck in the middle of the floor, but this could work out OK, since it almost forces a single lane. It was orderly for the first 45 minutes, if challenging, but went downhill quite badly later, partly due to the cake and champagne. Awareness and enforcement of orderly dancing are still patchy, although they're trying to make a feature of it, and it still works best earlier in the evening. If you feel you can contribute positively to that, and you want to, I think  it's worth turning up early. If you prefer the more edgy, darker atmosphere downstairs there's also plenty of space to do your thing.

Nice place. Not bonkers like 33, but lots of colour and personality and a nice feel.

Tangology @ The Langley

UPDATE This one has now moved to the Warwick: 1-3 Warwick Street, London, W1B 5LR. Same organiser, I haven't been to it yet.

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Since leaving Wild Court, the Tangology Sunday milonga has been looking for a venue and has now ended up at The Langley bar, near Covent Garden. It's been going for three weeks.

The Class: There's a free beginners' lesson from 17:00 to 18:00, and a few people had clearly enjoyed it enough to stick around out of curiousity. Then there's a general-level class from 18:30 to 20:00 when the milonga starts. I haven't taken classes with Eleonora but she has a good reputation for the basics, from what I hear; her dance is predominantly nuevo-style.

Layout and Atmosphere: A downstairs Covent Garden bar. Follow the stairs right down from the door. Go past the long bar on your right and the cloakroom on your left. (It didn't seem to be staffed, but if it is when you go in, it would probably be an idea to leave your coat there as there isn't much room inside and your stuff gets all over the sofas, shoes everywhere). Whoever is taking the money is at a high table at the end, and the dancing is through the door behind them. The cement floor is a narrow triangle with the bar on one long side and some raised seating round a triangular table taking up the other bit of the more or less rectangular room. The DJ has a booth in the corner by the door and there are other off-dancefloor spaces to sit down at the points of the triangle.

It's dark, with glowlights (what are those called? The ones that make all sorts of surprising bits of clothing glow) and a disco ball. The strange shape of the floor actually works well. It's been surprisingly orderly, so far, even when quite full, maybe because people have to pay attention and think quite hard about how to manage the triangle, together with the fact that most of the seating doesn't encroach on the floor. It's not quite so good for getting a dance if you don't know people - maybe there's a tradeoff there. It is good for socialising with your friends, and it's good for watching.

The floor is cement, smooth for cement, but very sticky without talc. There was plenty down and it was ok, I could dance without injury. But if you have any knee or ankle problems you may want to be extra careful, and of course it's very hard.

The bar in there isn't staffed, a good thing as it would be very awkward to try and get served while people were dancing. If you want a drink you'll need to come out and go into the long bar. Which smells terrible, incidentally. If you leave late you may have trouble finding your way out if the doors to the stairs are closed. Just push.

The curious beginners at the start did something rather nice for the atmosphere. Later on it's mainly just serious dancers and (with that and perhaps Ewa's DJing, I'm not sure) I felt it was nice and calm and comfortable.

Hospitality: Mixed. It's a bar. It does bar food. Two double G&Ts with ice and lemon - one for me and one for a friend - came to a rather startling £16.40. There's a cloakroom that appeared to be open. I've used the loos on two occasions out of three visits, and both times the floor was very wet, the second time also very dirty. Everything worked, with plenty of hot and cold water and plenty of fully functioning cubicles. But you can't wear your good shoes in there. Admittedly it was raining outside, but the venue management doesn't consider it necessary to mop up, although they do consider it necessary to have "one to a cubicle" signs. A "deluxe cocktail venue" it may be, for a given value of deluxe. The milonga itself, though, feels comfortable, with nice seating, the bar service is prompt and professional, and talc had been put down to improve the floor.

Anyone or anything interesting: Just social dancing.

What I thought of the DJing: Eleonora's DJs all play 90%-100% traditional but have a wide variety of views about cortinas - every tanda, every other tanda, apparently at random, or not at all - but their tandas themselves are pretty reliable. Ewa, on this occasion, played cortinas between (I think) tandas of four, and played some Di Sarli just when I felt it was going to get a little bumpy; it chilled, and I thought she did a good job. (The cortina was Take Five, which I have always wanted to dance to as an experiment, I don't know whether it would feel like a really wierd spaced-out milonga or an even wierder vals).

Getting in: £6.

Getting there and getting home: Under a minute's walk from Covent Garden. Bear left out of Covent Garden tube. Cross the zebra crossing to Marks and Spencer's, continue left, and the street is first right, you can see it from the Tube exit. The Langley is hard to see at first but it's just past the Mexican place. Caution: it's Sunday, so the last Tube to your destination may be well before midnight - they stop an hour earlier than other days.

The website: At the time of writing, Tangology hasn't been updated with the latest venue details, but I wouldn't look there anyway. Check the announcement list. The bar has its own website, with menus and whatnot.

How it went: It attracted committed dancers in various styles who coexisted peacefully. The only really noticeable bump I got was a genuine error, sincerely apologised for. Quite a nice floor, some good dancing going on. The difficult surface can be dealt with, although if you have any knee problems you might want to take extra talc. The odd-shaped floor seems to make it surprisingly safe. When you're not dancing you can sit down in comfort and watch other people, or enjoy the music. In the first three weeks, there hasn't been a rival in the centre of town, the house at 33 Portland Place having closed for business; so there's no knowing how it will develop, but it certainly has a core from previous versions of the same milonga. That core is pretty 'nuevo,' which isn't really my thing, but there were still a few partners who would appreciate my dance or whose dance I would appreciate. If it is your thing then this would be a good place to go (although you will still be dancing it to traditional music).

Tango @ the Light

This is a new milonga on Tuesdays at The Light Bar, E1, organised Pablo and Luciano, who I always think of as the Embassy Boys. It only started just before Christmas.

The Class: There's a beginners' class, followed on this occasion by an intermediate class with some guest teachers. I think there's normally just one beginners or 'general-level' class taught by Pablo. I skipped both. The charge for the classes is £10 but entry to the milonga, from 9pm, is free.

Layout and Atmosphere: Walk through the large ground floor bar, which is not-at-all full of Shoreditch housemates and tentatively canoodling suits. Go up the stairs at the far left hand corner, following the breadcrumb trail of small "Tango at the Light" stickers past the loos and up to the first floor bar, which actually turns out to be a sort of mezzanine. The DJ desk is on your left at the entrance, and the rest of that wall is occupied by the bar. It's dark. It's big, it's square, it has a smooth dark wooden floor, there's a disco ball, and some tealights. To your right is the low wall over which is the opening into the downstairs bar; the designers had a good thought when they cut the top of this at a 45-degree angle and padded the top, the right height to lean your elbows on. In summer the big windows around the other two walls would give it a nice light airy feel, I think. There are big squishy brown leather sofas with tables between them, and they've moved some of them around so that you aren't necessarily facing the dance floor with your feet on it - you can sit side-on and nest, or chill, or socialise if you want to. There isn't anywhere obvious to put your stuff, other than all over the sofas mixed up with everyone elses, but you could probably simplify things by leaving your coat in the cloakroom downstairs.

Hospitality: Perfectly fine. The bar does food, the menu including at least plates of chips. The upstairs bar was professionally staffed all evening. A double G&T with ice and lemon was a fairly steep £6.40. It's January and I didn't get thirsty - I forgot to ask for water - sorry, I do that in winter. The loos are clean, dry, with big sinks and everything properly working, painted a glowing dark red. The place is clean, the staff are professional and the seating is comfortable.

Anyone or anything interesting: Just social dancing.

What I thought of the DJing: Pablo DJ's, with occasional interventions. The music was all traditional, with Latin-pop cortinas (Lalalalalalabamba! etecetera etcetera!). It was very straightforward, with rather a lot of valses. I think the tango tandas were fours. There were one or two little muddles but nothing practice wouldn't cure. I left during a set of good milongas, at about 23:15. It goes on till midnight but I didn't stay. The only problem with the music is that it has to be really loud to drown out the leakage of different music from downstairs. And when you dance over to that corner of the room you can clearly hear the downstairs music, so you have to focus to tune it out. I have no idea why the music downstairs needs to be as loud as it is, especially when downstairs is practically empty. Maybe that will evolve.

Getting in: Entrance to the milonga, from 9pm, is free. Obviously it's courteous to buy something at the bar. Update 21st April 2010: it's now a rather minimal £3.

Getting there and getting home: Take the Bishopsgate exit from Liverpool Street station and walk left on the same side until the glittering walls of glass give way to brick and disrepair. It's on the left after the second crossing, an opening at the end of a long brick wall. The map on the website and the flyers is accurate. It only takes about five or six minutes. The walk feels perfectly safe and there are quite a few people around. It ends at midnight and it's on a weekday, so you should be able to take the Tube home even if you stay to the end. There are also lots of buses from Bishopsgate and all around the station.

The website: Updates, directions, pictures etc at http://tangothelight.blogspot.com/. Simple, does the job for now and should be very easy to maintain. The map is currently at the bottom of the page.

How it went: I arrived very early and danced some crazy nuevo-ish stuff with partners who hadn't had enough exercise lately. That was followed by a nice little bit of salon as more people arrived. It got steadily more salonified as it filled up - but stayed both unusually young and much more orderly than I had expected it to be, based on my first visit, which was before Christmas. The floor is very large, and the peak was only about a dozen couples. Although there were at least one or two near-absolute beginners and at least one or two people who like to stand still and give a lesson mid dance, and some non-dancers getting in the way at one corner, the atmosphere remained relaxed as far as I noticed, and I had no bumps. People frequently cleared the floor for cortinas. The floor is very roomy. You could safely take big steps and go for a fairly brisk walk if you wanted to.

I had a relaxed evening, I didn't dance with lots of different partners - it hasn't really developed its crowd yet - but I had a nice time. The problems for me were the loudness and the leakage from downstairs; some people would also find it too dark to dance easily or safely, and it was certainly too dark to see across the room well. It's new, and I don't know how it'll turn out. I had the opportunity to dance a couple of different ways, I enjoyed the music, I enjoyed the cheery youthful atmosphere, I didn't get kicked or kick anyone else, it didn't stress me out on a weekday.

Corrientes

Time I updated this one. I never normally go to Corrientes because the location is awkward for me, but my previous review is based on a festival and doesn't do it justice. It's at Chalk Farm, two Saturdays in the month.

The Class: I skipped it. Usually Mina and Giraldo, sometimes guest teachers. On this occasion it was Adrian and Amanda Costa, who are great, but I was busy elsewhere.

Layout and Atmosphere: It's inside a large, modern, well-equipped school. You go in past all the usual notices about reporting to reception and buzzing to be let in. The table where you pay is visible from the door. After paying, follow the corridor to your right for the dance hall entrance.

The floor is enormous and excellent. There are small tables and chairs around three sides of the floor, and on this occasion there was enough seating and there was a reasonably effective division between seating and dance floor. The fourth side of the floor, on your left as you go in, is occupied by a curtained stage across the whole width of the room, which is opened up for dancing for special events only. The DJ has a table at the far left hand side, and when there's a band that's where they go. The refreshments are in the near right hand corner.

I walked in and stood at the entrance for some time, looking around and wondering where to put my coat. Giraldo, who doesn't know me from a bar of soap as far as I'm aware, approached me in a serious, proprietorial manner that seemed only faintly ludicrous in one so young, airkissed me on both cheeks and pointed out some free chairs in the far corner. It was nice of him, I felt welcomed.

The lighting is rather uneven, with a lot of light on the floor and some very dark areas in parts of the seating, especially against the right-hand wall. The temperature is also uneven, hot under the lights and chilly near the fans. I was glad I had a shawl with me for warmth; it was also dark coloured, and by wrapping myself in it and sitting in my dark spot in the corner I could practically disappear, which I actually rather like to have as an option.

The atmosphere was quite nice considering that it's a giant box which looks like a school, and smells like a school. The lighting and arrangement of tables were reasonably good and the person at the desk was mildly welcoming, Giraldo more so. People generally seemed to be having fun. I think it mostly comes from who turns up.

Hospitality: OK. Nothing is included in the price, but bottled water is a routine £1, and the taps work so if you ran out of money getting in, you wouldn't come to actual harm. And nobody tries to stop you bringing in your own, as far as I know. Bottled water, glasses of wine around the £2/£3 mark, and I think other soft drinks are served from a table in the corner. No food. There are some shelves for your things at either end of the back wall, but if there isn't enough space on those you'll have to put them on a chair, as I did. They were fine. The loos are what you'd expect from a school, a bit rickety but clean and just about equipped and working. To find them, continue along the corridor past the entrance to the hall. The door marked Ladies leads to a baffling anteroom with several unlabelled or oddly-labelled doors, all looking just like the inside of the one you just came through; one of them is in fact the Ladies, but I don't remember which. I think there are also showers and changing rooms but I didn't manage to work it out.

Anyone or anything interesting that turned up or happened: It was a normal night, very nice. Except that Adrian and Amanda were there and I really like watching them dance socially out of the corner of my eye - they also do a very cute salsa.

What I thought of the DJing: I thought it was better than average until they had some problems with the sound system, and then changed DJs, after which it was average and carried on with the same sort of thing till 2am rather than changing with the evening. The sound quality is very good all over the very large room, as you'd expect from a room of this kind.

Getting in: I think it was £9 (I've left it too long and forgot to take notes, but the website says that this weekend is £10, or £9 after 10pm, which agrees with what I remember). I was expecting a performance and so were a few other people who went, but there wasn't one.

Getting there and getting home: It is two minutes walk from Chalk Farm tube. Left out of the exit, left again, cross the road and enter the building made of giant orange and green rectangles. The problem is that it doesn't really get going until after the last Tube you could possibly use to get home, and the location isn't that central. You can get an N50 night bus to Euston outside the door, and you can wait at Euston for another night bus to get home. Consult TFL for night bus routes. I stayed to the end, and getting home took me over an hour and a half, taking a taxi for the bit to Euston. It isn't really worth it to me unless I can get a lift with someone going my way; if you were driving it wouldn't be a problem.

The website: http://www.corrientessocialclub.co.uk/ Pretty. Lots of flash. Ignore that, click "what's on" and keep scrolling down till you find the When/What/How Much bit. It's usually open on two Saturdays a month Tango-UK or the Facebook group will probably tell you which ones without the Flash and scrolling.

How it went: There were lots of people there who I wanted to dance and socialise with, and who wanted to dance and socialise with me, and I had a really nice evening. I knew quite a few people there, and the presence of Adrian and Amanda happend to have attracted a mix of people that worked out well. I'm not sure it would be the best choice if you didn't know anyone, unless you have a lot of experience. I passed up an early lift home because I was really getting into it. Most of the dancing was pretty civilised, the floor is huge, and I don't think I got any bumps at all. The music was all right. It's Saturday. I'd probably go there whenever it was on, if I had a way of getting home that didn't take an hour and a half in the cold with all the drunks.

Salon Room at 33 Portland Place

[Update 25/01/10: The milonga at this venue is cancelled, probably permanently - it's looking for a new one]
As mentioned in my previous post, the 33 Portland Place milonga, which has so many rooms, tried a bit of an experiment last week. The white room downstairs was designated 'salon style' with the rules posted on the door - like no overtaking, keep moving (just one turn!), respect the line of dance and respect the space of the couples in front and behind, no dangerous play (high kicks etc). Not in exactly those words, but more or less the gist.

It was really nice and relaxing and I could close my eyes as much as I wanted to, and my friend really did reach the end of the night without one single shoe mark on his nice clean trousers. And anyone who didn't find the idea appealing or didn't enjoy dancing to those rules could wander off and dance with the likeminded in the ballroom upstairs.

Adrian Costa DJ'd and supervised and helped people understand what to do. And it was lovely. The floor in that room is quite good, much better than upstairs. The only problem was weak sound, and I daresay that can be fixed.

They're trying it again tonight, which is Adrian and Amanda's last night here I think, and I gather that they really want to continue with it in future. I don't know how that will go, but if it's an idea you like (I like it) perhaps you might consider going along and supporting it.

Tangology @ Sway

[Update 24th Nov 2009: The LAST milonga at Sway is tomorrow, 25th November 09. If it's not that day - don't go there expecting a milonga!]

There's a new milonga on Wednesdays by Tangology (Eleonora Simoes), at Sway bar. For the moment at least, it's free to get in. It also happens on Sundays, I haven't been yet on a Sunday so I don't know what the differences are except that it isn't free on Sunday. This is based on two Wednesday visits.

The Class: There isn't one on the Wednesday.

Layout and Atmosphere: The dancing is in the main bar right through the glass doors in front of you. It's a good sized squarish room with dark floor and furniture, white ceiling and details that you could reasonably describe as Art Deco - I think that applies at least to the doorhandles and concealed lighting. The bar is along the right hand side and the far side, divided from the dance floor by tall tables. When it's time for the milonga to start, they clear tables off the dance floor and stack chairs out of the way. There are also some semicircular sofas along the front and the left hand side, good for groups of friends, and very comfortable, but a little awkward for getting dances. On the other hand, they're a nice place to rest. There's enough seating for everyone who wants to sit down. Bar chairs on the edge of the floor are a hazard, but they are still tweaking the layout, and this was largely solved by my second visit.

For a lot of the time the lighting was good, but it kept being suddenly turned down really low, causing bumps, and then coming up again after a while. Maybe this will get fixed. The floor is fine, it didn't give me any problems. The sound system did, but it was adjusted and improved to an acceptable level during my second visit.

The atmosphere is nice - I danced with a visitor from San Fransisco who was finding it easy to fit in. It might be trickier for a beginner, although I like the fact that there are quite a few places you can sit to watch and be largely out of play if you want to. An odd aspect is that because it's a public bar and entry is free and it remains open, there are always a few astonished spectators. And for some reason, I'm the person they ask "what's going on?". On my first visit it was two well-built and well-informed gentlemen who turned out to be Glaswegian ballroom dancers. They carried on observing with interest right to the end. On the second it was two confused but fascinated youngsters who'd mistaken either the place or the day and had been expecting the Law Society Drinks.

It's hot and there's no aircon. The broad steps mean you can cool off outside the door without being exactly in the street. Bar staff in hotpants may be a compensation if your tastes lie that way.

Hospitality: Good, given the price and venue. On my first visit, my G&T (a double) was a surprisingly reasonable £3.60 and a pint of orange juice was £2.80. On my second, a single G&T was £4.50, but that might be because I'd arrived very early through absence of mind and the cheaper prices start after 8:30. Service was prompt and professional. Food is also available, menus here. Given that entrance is currently free, I did not think to ask for a glass of water, I'll update later on that. The loos downstairs were what you'd expect from a professional bar; nothing luxurious but clean and dry, hot and cold water, and properly supplied and working. The only problem I had was that because it's a public bar I'm not 100% happy about leaving my things on or under a sometimes-unattended table while I'm dancing. I don't worry about this at all when everyone's there just to dance. They're probably pretty safe, they have been so far, but it makes me stressed. A cloakroom would be nice - I'm not sure if there is one downstairs, I don't think so.

Anyone or anything interesting: No special event, just social dancing.

What I thought of the DJing: DJ's vary, and get announced on the Tangology mailing list. It was > 90% traditional on both nights. On my first visit it was innocuous, with quite a bit of vals and very little milonga, but it was hard to assess because of the sound problems. On my second, with a different DJ (Mehmet), I felt it was stronger. There were no cortinas on either night. On my first visit and for the first two hours of my second, they had really serious problems with the sound system; I couldn't hear the music any better than I can hear it on my ipod on the Victoria Line, and that's not really good enough to dance to (being a bit of a tightwad about technology, I haven't upgraded my earphones). After that, it got fixed or adjusted, and was pretty much fine. DJ's will probably want to prepare for a weak sound system and make sure things are digitised at the right level.

Getting in: Entry is free. It's a public bar, so it's obviously courteous to order something.

Getting there and getting home: The nearest tube is Holborn, on the Central and Piccadilly lines, with buses in all directions from nearby. It ends at midnight, which is fine for getting the tube as long as you don't dawdle. From Holborn Tube take the exit in front of you, walk left down Kingsway and cross it at the next lights. You are now facing Great Queen Street; Sway is on the left hand side just after the big hotel.

The website: Tangology. Looks nice, tells you where it is and when and how much it is to get in. The venue has its own, SwayBar.

How it went: The location is so central and easy to reach that it makes a weekday milonga feasible for me, which makes me happy. On both my visits the line of dance was observed well for quite a while, then it got a bit complicated, then it thinned out towards the end. I danced mainly, but not exclusively, with people I knew. My impression from the people who came (discounting those who were there because the Dome was closed) is that people will tend to dance salon-style, consistently close embrace here [Update: I'm probably wrong about this]. Which is nice if it turns out to be true, because we need places where you can go and be sure of finding partners who want and can do that. The floor is relatively small but for most of the time there weren't many bumps. A moderately experienced dancer visiting from out of town wouldn't have any problems. Cortinas, a cloakroom, consistent lighting, and it would be perfect.

A milonga with a jacuzzi

[Update 25/01/10: The milonga at this venue is cancelled, probably permanently - it's looking for a new one]

Okay - the deal is that most of the house at 33 Portland Place is closed for repairs/maintenance/whatever in August. However, the lovely organisers of this milonga have obtained access to the basement, a bit of the house the dancers don't normally see. Instead of going in by the main door you go down the stairs on the right.

The jacuzzi room leads off the dance floor. The dance floor is in a dark red and gold room with a bar, the bar with its back to the windowed private light-well, the light-well being where the drinks are camping out. The floor is much smoother and easier to dance on than any of the ones upstairs. It's red, the wallpaper is patterned with roundels, the mirrors start at about waist height. There's enough actual room bouncing around between them that I don't remember being too much thrown by my own reflection.

This part of the house turns out to be a strange blend which as far as I can tell is achieved by buying good things over several centuries and letting them sort it out. And then going, "I know what we'll do with this bit, we'll paint it white, stick in giant mirrors and a bizarre parody of a family portrait, fill in this odd-shaped hole with the chaises longues that are the real ones and not the fake ones they have in pretentious department store toilets, put the jacuzzi on a giant square wooden pedestal, light it with underwater coloured LEDs, put two of those little gilt chairs from upstairs above it like paired thrones, and finish it off with two young women hanging the toes of their Comme Il Fauts over the edge of the water and having a bit of a goss."

It does make the atmosphere rather steamy, so don't overdo the clothes.

You are politely asked to wash your feet before paddling. You'll need to bring a towel if you're going to. I don't think anyone actually did.

And they had surprise live music, Oscar Acebras, who played the guitar and sang, without amplification, while we danced around him; a vals, a milonga, a tango, another milonga just for fun. It was awesome. There's some video of him when he was there before on the website, but I can't link directly to it because it's all Flash. You'll need to go to Events then navigate to the last page and click Oscar and then the second square.

The rest of the music was unpretentious, as usual, and consistently in tandas (no cortinas, though).

El Once @ Crypt

*** UPDATE 2013 - NOW CLOSED. ***

The Saturday milonga in the crypt of St. James' Church, Clerkenwell Green, is organised by different people on alternate weeks. The layouts, hospitality arrangements, and DJs are different, and the organisers swap weeks from time to time. Their websites always agree about which week is which but they won't necessarily have each other's pricing or events right. This post updates my previous one on Paul and Michiko's night because some things have changed. You'll usually see announcements on Tango-UK.

The Class: I skipped the class but I've often taken them before. There's an absolute beginners class, followed by an intermediate class, followed by the milonga at half past nine. Generally, you have to be alert to work out where the intermediate class is going, but the alert and motivated student can learn a lot of very useful reusable techniques and concepts. And Paul leads extremely well. But it's a bit Zen. He won't necessarily tell you what the deal is.

Layout and Atmosphere: It's a large brick-vaulted space under a church. The wooden floor is large and smooth but has a slight slope, which I don't notice but some do. A shiny new wooden bar-like thing has recently been installed underneath the shelf-like thing on the far wall that's used to hold a projector or light equipment. The space for dancing is quite large and rectangular, you can get a good long walk down one uninterrupted wall. About a third of the space is given to chairs and tables, and it's possible to sit a reasonable distance off the dance floor, though not really to put yourself clearly out of play. It's nearly always possible to sit down. As for hazards, the pillars are slender but in groups of two, and two pairs interrupt the dancefloor; there are tramlines for a temporary wall, which can catch a spiky heel. It gets hot in there, but windows and doors can be opened and you can cool off near a door or outside. Old tango record sleeves and posters are projected on the large wall. It's not excessively dark but the lighting is coloured, varying with the projection. People generally find the atmosphere friendly and welcoming, it's not too difficult for beginners to get dances. The space itself is rather beautiful with its repeated arches in warm red brick.

Hospitality: Very good. They now have a second room behind the desk, where you can hang your coat and sit down to change your shoes. There's plentiful water in jugs flavoured with lemon, free, with plastic cups. It's unlicensed, so they can't sell alcoholic drinks, but a glass of wine is provided free. I had a cup of tea at 25p and there are herbal teas, instant coffee, and soft drinks available very cheap. There are also pieces of home made cake, and a friend of a friend told me she had bought a piece to eat and two to take home. The loos are what you'd expect from a church hall, cramped and awkward but clean and working and nearly always correctly supplied.

Anyone or anything interesting that turned up or happened: It's extremely rare for Paul and Michiko to have guest teachers or a performance - it only happens once or twice a year. When they do, it tends to be someone genuninely interesting that you can't see every week, or even every year, so it's likely to be worth turning up. They do have live music every now and then, and you can rely on them not to hire a band without listening to it first. On this occasion, a quiet summer evening, there was no special event.

What I thought of the DJing: It's 80%-90% traditional, but not necessarily Golden Age. Some very early material is often included, which I like, and there's usually a small amount of the kind of modern music that has some appeal for me given the right partner. For cortinas, Paul uses inaudible announcements about the next orchestra to be played; I don't know anybody who's ever claimed to have understood one of these in full, though I occasionally hear the name of the orchestra or the word 'tango', 'milonga' or 'vals'. People do quite often clear the floor for the announcements, at least when it's not crowded so you have somewhere to go. Paul and Michiko's collection of music is large; I don't get bored, but it does get wierd sometimes. On this occasion the oddities I remember were a super-super-slo-mo recording of Milonga Sentimental, a recording of something vaguely familiar that seemed to change into something else for about ten seconds half way through, causing the entire floor to stop and look puzzled, an extremely hissy recording of I forget what, and oh, I don't know what else, I may have imagined some of it. He played one salsa interlude, which is usual. Usually there's something modern at half past eleven or twelveish; in this case an immensely long track that was quite nice for the first four or five minutes if you like that sort of thing. There was one man there who danced well to it, so I watched him. I've got harder to please since the last time I wrote about this, but I usually enjoy the modern stuff Paul plays.

Getting in: £9 on this occasion, more if there is a special event.

Getting there and getting home: Take a train to Farringdon or a bus to Clerkenwell Green. From Farringdon, turn left out of the station and immediately left again so that you're walking beside the train tracks. When you reach the main road, which is where the bus stops are, turn right and cross cautiously at the lights (cars coming from your left sometimes don't respect the crossing). Take the next left, which leads into Clerkenwell Green, an open space with a large island in the middle. Cross this diagonally towards the pub on the other side and somewhat to your right; as you get there you should be able to see the spire of the church, with its clock. Turn left uphill past the pub, and go in to the church by the left hand gate, up four steps then down, you'll be able to hear the music. Map link.

The website: Style of 1998 with itchy bits. It will take you ages to find anything, so I have done it for you: here are the bit about Paul and Michiko, the bit about the milonga, the milonga schedule, and the Monday classes.

How it went: Okay, it's usually thinly attended in high summer. This happened to be an unusually quiet night. I have had excellent nights there, and poor ones; the best probably when there was live music. The crowd seems to vary quite a lot over time, with a core that's older than average, plus younger beginners, plus people who just like the happy atmosphere or like the music or like the cake, and people who just can't bear to let Saturday go by without some tango. I've had better and worse nights there. It's straightforward to get a few dances as a beginner, and gradually more and different ones if you go regularly, and it's a Saturday night in a safe, accessible area, and you'll be exposed to a variety of music.

Update: I remembered this video of Gustavo Naveira & Giselle Anne's performance from December 2007: it gives you a good idea of what the space is like.