I had gone out to milongas almost every night while I was in Baires. Well, if you have only two weeks to spend, you would probably do the same. 
This trip, however, I split my time between the traditional milongas (such as El Beso, Cachirulo, Nino Bien), Canning, La Viruta, Sunderland practica and new milongas (Milonga 10, Villa Malcom). I wanted to experience different venues, dance with different styles (by no means “nuevo”) from different countries and listen to different DJs.
El Beso is probably my favorite traditional milonga, although the floorcraft at times needed improvement. Wednesday and Sunday are usually packed. The last Wednesday I went, the organizer had to stop allowing entrance at midnight (which is early by Baires standard) unless there were dancers leaving. Some of my friends had waited an hour to get in. I’ve always had very good dancing experience there. And I like the fact that it is small place. You could see everybody easily. It is good for spotting good dancers and making cabeceo.
I went to Cachirulo Saturday at Maipu 444 once. Somehow I felt that the level wasn’t as high as I expected. Maybe it was just that particular night;or maybe my expectation was higher this time. I left uninspired, although I had danced with some very good milongueras. Floorcraft was probably as good as any milonga could get. Very few bumps, but then again, dancing on a crowded floor was never fun.
I went to Nino Bien twice; once on Thursday night with a friend of mine, the other time at the CITA closing milonga. Thursday night at Nino Bien is… how should I put it…interesting. I went there more for socializing than anything else. I like it because A. Mario Orlando’s music has always been good, B. It was the first milonga I attended in BsAs. So I was sentimental about Nino Bien. I danced mostly with my friends/acquaintances that night. I didn’t return the following Thursday.
Instead I went to Villa Malcolm.
The first time I went to Villa Malcolm, it was a Friday night. I didn’t really like it. The light was very dim. The place was humid. Fans were blasting so strong that at times I couldn’t hear the music while I was on the floor. It was tile floor, hash on the feet, ankles and knees. On top of that, the floorcraft was chaotic. There were some very good dancers. But I wasn’t in the mood so I danced with some acquaintances and hung out most of the time.
I went back again on the following Thursday night. What a difference! There were candle nights on small tables with white table cloth. Slightly better floorcraft and more relaxed environment. Although I didn’t like the music selection and power went out for a few miniutes, I got to dance my last tanda with my favorite young portena.
Most of the nights that I went to milongas in Palermo area, I ended up at La Viruta. For me, La Viruta before 3:00am was amateur hours. I went there early on my last night (or morning), around 2am, to catch Sexteto Milonguero and witnessed the before scene. I didn’t even put my shoes on. But the after scene was quite good. At least from my perspective.
A lot of good dancers came down from different other milongas (La Viruta opens till 6am on Friday and Sat.). It is free entrance after 3:00am. The energy of the place was normally very high. Horacios played very good music. And I loved to have fresh medialuna around 4:30am with cafe con leche. Always left in a happy mood.
“Go to Milonga 10 tomorrow night.” My friend who is a professional told me on my first night out. I went to Cachirulo instead. Over the next couple of days, I’d heard the name mentioned so many times that I decided to skip Sunderland and went there on the next Saturday.
Milonga 10 is held at a club on Loyola 828, between Serrano and Thames, just a few blocks from Villa Malcolm. I took bus 151, got off at Serrano and walked a few block from the bus stop. It was a very small place, probably same size as of E Beso with a little smaller tile floor, and at a corner it gets very slippery. Saturday night the place was packed with young dancers. At its highest time, I estimated each couple got about 4′x4′ space to dance. Yet the floorcraft was superb, very few bumps, even though some dancers were dancing open from time to time. The energy of the place was high, and the music (Hugo was the DJ) was very good. There were some very good dancers, mixed with a few average ones. If you are a good dancer, this is probably the place to hit on a Saturday night. I went back again on Tuesday night. Slightly less people but very high level young dancers.
Canning, despite its fame, is my least favorite milonga. I like the place, the floor and the occasionally good live orchestras performance; and dislike just about everything else that comes with places. Although at different nights of the week, it has different milonga organized by various people. It seemed to me that none was ideal for good dancing. The floorcraft was always horrible, at least before 3am. The floor was mixed with beginners, mediocre milongueros who thought of themselves good dancers and typical bad European dancers (the ones who are stuck between traditional and good nuevo). Very few good dancers. I went there three times: twice on Friday night to meet up with some friends, once on Tuesday night to listen to Color Tango. Whenever I danced, I always felt that my space was threaten or invaded. I had to pay extra attention to avoid being kicked or bumped into for my partner and myself. What fun was that? And the music was mediocre at best. The volume of the speakers were whispering at times.
For me, Canning is the place to see and be seen. If I couldn’t have my dance at Canning, La Viruta, which is a few blocks away, was always the place that saved the night. More than once, I felt that I went Canning just to kill some time before going to La Viruta for the grand finale of the night.
PS. It was nice to put on a jacket and ironed shirt to attend the traditional milongas. Once a while, it felt free to go a new milonga with whatever I was in the mood for (jean, chino and funky t-shirt etc.). And it was nice that I enjoyed both ways.
