Buenos aires: Milonga

밀롱가란 살사를 추는 살사바처럼 탱고를 추는 공간이다. 서로 아는 사람들끼리 춤을 춘다기 보다(물론 아는 사람들끼리 추기도 하지만) 모르는 사람들과 춤을 청하고 승낙하고 주어진 탱고음악에 맞춰 즉흥적으로 춤을 만들어간다.
Milonga is where people dance Tango, like Salsa bar for Salsa. In most cases, people who don't know each other dance an improvised tango.  

milonga ´Niño bien´, todos los jueves 

부에노스아이레스는 탱고가 태어난 곳인 만큼 밀롱가의 천국이기도 하다.

월화수목금토일 하루도 빠짐없이, 낮밤 가리지 않고 밀롱가들이 넘쳐난다.
수업 및 밀롱가에서 만난 고수급 외국인 댄서들의 대부분은 한두달짜리 휴가를 내고 '춤추러' 부에노스아이레스로 온 사람들. 매일같이 밀롱가를 다니더라.
나는 El Amague 수업을 가는 이틀을 제외하고 일주일에 두 번 정도만 다녔다. 백수 관광객의 신분이 부끄럽지 않을 정도로만.
As Tango was born in Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires is full of milongas. 
There are milongas from Monday to Sunday, pretty much all day long. 
Most of good foreign dancers I met came to Buenos Aires on their vacation, only to dance Tango. They went to milongas everyday. 
I went to milongas twice a week, except those two days when I took El Amague classes. 


그렇다면 언제 어디에 밀롱가가 있는지 어떻게 알까? 탱고계에 종사하는 사람들이 만든 월간 잡지들이 있는데 거기에 요일과 시간에 따라 밀롱가들이 나열되어 있다. 주소와 함께. 밀롱가에는 간판이 존재하지 않기 때문에 미리 주소를 잘 확인해서 가야한다. 그것도 모르고 처음에 밀롱가를 찾아갔을 때는 간판도 안 보이고 그냥 아파트처럼 생겼길래 그 주변을 빙빙 돌다가 집으로 돌아온 적도 있다는.
How do people know where and when milongas are? There are a couple of tango magazines, which have a timetable of milongas, along with their addresses. Milongas don't have signs so you have to make sure where they are located.

대부분의 밀롱가는 녹음이 된 연주를 틀어주지만 탱고오케스트라의 라이브 연주가 있는 곳도 더러 있다. 매번 가야지 벼르다가 결국 떠나기 전전날 가봤던 수요일의 Maldita 밀롱가. El Afronte 라는 꽤 큰 규모의 오케스트라가 연주를 해서 구경온 사람도 춤을 추는 사람도 더 신났었던 곳.

Most milongas play recorded songs but a few places host tango orquestras. I went to 'la maldita milonga' on one wednesday, right before I left Buenos Aires. Quite a big orquestra called 'El Afronte' played there, which made the atmosphere more lively.

Find me here!

내가 다녔던 탱고 수업 El Amague 의 선생님이었던 Alejo가 기타연주를 해서
일요일 밤이면 사람들과 어울려 음악도 듣고 춤도 출 겸 다녔던 밀롱가 El Monito. 벽면의 벽화들이 독특한 분위기를 자아냈던 곳. 오케스트라의 연주도 좋지만 기타 세 대가 만들어내는 탱고선율은 더욱 절절하다.
Milonga el monito is where Alejo, a teacher from the tango class El Amague, used to play the guitar on Sundays. I, with other people from that class, gathered there around 11 o'clock on Sundays, listened to the music and danced a bit. It had some interesting paintings on the wall. Tango music played by orquestras is definitely nice, but it was unbelievably beautiful when three guitars made tango sound.  

In the middle is Alejo, my teacher from El Amague 

실내 밀롱가만 있는 것은 아니다. 부에노스아이레스에는 야외 밀롱가도 두 군데 정도 있는데,   주말이면 선선한 바람을 쐬며 춤을 즐기려는 현지인들로 붐빈다. 가장 유명한 곳은 차이나타운이 있는 Belgrano 지역의 La Glorieta 밀롱가. 내가 가장 좋아했던 곳이다. 어둠이 깔리는 작은 공원에서 추는 탱고의 느낌은 밀폐된 공간에서의 그것과 또 다르다. San Telmo 지역의 Dorrego 광장에서도 매주 일요일 저녁이면 밀롱가가 있다. 관광객이 많은 지역이라 춤추는 사람보다 구경하는 사람이 더 많다는 게 흠이라면 흠이지만.
Buenos Aires also has open-air milongas, very crowded on weekends with locals willing to dance with fresh air. The most popular spot is 'milonga La Glorieta', located in Belgrano. It was my favorite milonga. It feels quite different to dance tango at a small plaza, at twilight. On Sundays, there also is a milonga at the plaza Dorrego, San Telmo, although there are more tourists to watch than locals to dance.  

milonga La Glorieta, my favorite of all

@Plaza Dorrego, San Telmo

한국에 돌아와 서울에 있는 밀롱가를 두 곳 다녀왔다. 틀어주는 음악도 똑같고 사람들이 추는 춤도 분명 아르헨티나 탱고인데, 문득 부에노스아이레스가 그리워졌다. 두 달이 다 되어가는데도 그곳 밀롱가들의 주소가 머릿 속에 떠다닌다. Riobamba 416, Cochabamba 444, Sarmiento 3501, Humberto Primo...
After I came back to Korea, I went to two milongas in Seoul. The music was almost same, it surely was Argentine tango that people danced and people danced well, but I suddenly missed Buenos Aires. It will have been two months since I left and I still remember the addresses of milongas there...Riobamba 416, Cochabamba 444, Sarmiento 3501, Humberto Primo... 

Buenos Aires: Tango, El Amague

Indisputably, Buenos Aires was one of the highlights in my trip.
This is not due to its beauty or touristic attractions it offered
(In fact, it was too hot and humid to feel the beauty of the city),
but Tango and the people that I spent time with.
Indiscutiblemente, Buenos Aires fue lo más destacado de mi viaje.
No se debe a su belleza ni lugares turísticos que tenía
(De hecho, hacía tanto calor y humedad que no podía darme cuenta 
la belleza de Buenos Aires),
sino al Tango y a la gente con que estuve.


I started to learn Tango in February, 2010 and I kept learning it for five months until I left Korea to travel in July. For those five months, I basically lived for Mondays and Thursdays, when I had Tango classes. Indeed, I looked forward to staying in Buenos Aires, dancing Tango.
Empecé a aprender a bailar Tango en febrero 2010 y lo aprendí por 5 meses hasta que me fui de corea a viajar en Julio. Durante esos cinco meses, vivía para lunes y jueves, cuando iba a clases de Tango. Ya tenía tantas ganas de permanecer en Buenos Aires, bailando Tango.

I reached Buenos Aires on December 9th, after traveling through Peru, Bolivia and the north of Argentina. Although I was ready to restart dancing Tango, it took me much longer than I thought to buy shoes and to find out what classes I wanted to attend.
Llegué a Buenos Aires el 9 de diciembre, después de pasear por Perú, Bolivia y el norte de Argentina. Aunque ya quería reempezar Tango, tardé mucho más de lo que esperaba en comprar zapatos y encontrar dónde quería ir a aprender Tango.

It had already passed a week when I stood outside the building located on 'Alsina 1774'
and pushed the button, 'PB 1'. Manuel, with such an Argentine aspect(particularly long curly black hair that I admired), welcomed me and on that day began my dancing-tango life in Buenos Aires, with El Amague.
Ya había pasado una semana cuando me paré en frente de un edificio, ubicado en la calle ´Alsina 1774´ y apreté el botón ´PB 1´. Manuel, con el aspecto tan argentino(particularmente el pelo negro largo y rizado), me dio la bienvenida. En ese día empezó mi vida de bailar tango en Buenos Aires, con El Amague.

Manuel, the teacher @El Amague 

This tango class, El Amague, was not like many other classes where most people were foreigners, teachers taught in English and people took off their shoes and left right away when the class was done. (Yes, I myself was a tourist there but most tourists long to be at a place where there are no tourists.) At El Amague, we friendly greeted each other by cheek kissing and always went out to have dinner after the class, to the restaurant 'Cervantes', which we occupied till it was about to close, chairs being piled up on the tables.
Esa clase de Tango, El Amague, no era como otras clases donde la mayoría de alumnos eran extranjeros, profesores enseñaban en inglés y la gente salía del lugar en cuanto terminó la clase. (Pues, si, era turista yo mismo pero les digo, turistas quieren estar donde no hay turistas.) En El Amague, la gente se saludaba con besitos y casi siempre salíamos a cenar después de la clase, al restaurante ´Cervantes´, que ocupábamos hasta que estaba para cerrar.

look at those chairs!

with Patricia,
who even let me stay at her place for a week

On some Thursdays, we went to 'milonguear(the Spanish verb meaning dancing Tango at milongas)' at Cochabamba 444, a milonga located in San Telmo. We used to dance there till three o'clock, about when this milonga closed.

En algunos jueves, íbamos a milonguear en Cochabamba 444, una milonga ubicada en  

   San Telmo. Bailábamos hasta las tres de la mañana, cuando cerró esa milonga.

on the way to Cochabamba 444

our milonga

 


In the beginning, it was not that easy to integrate myself into this group of people, being a stranger from a country on the opposite side of the world, not being able to understand perfectly the language and their humors. With time, though, I felt quite comfortable surrounded by these people. And from some point, I lived for Mondays and Thursdays, as I did in Seoul, looking forward to enjoying dancing Tango with my friends.
Al principio, no fue fácil integrarme en ese grupo de gente, siendo extranjera desde un país tan lejos y diferente, no comprendiendo perfectamente el idioma, ni hablar las bromas. Tiempo pasó y me sentía cómoda rodeada por esa gente. Y a partir de algún momento, vivía para lunes y jueves, exactamente lo que había hecho en Seúl, teniendo tantas ganas de bailar Tango con mis amigos de El Amague.

I once invited them to Korean lunch :)

I said good-bye to them twice.
1. when I left Buenos Aires after staying there for five weeks, to travel around Patagonia. At that time, I was not sure if I would come back to Buenos Aires on the way to Uruguay, so we said good-bye.
2. when I left Buenos Aires after re-visiting there after Patagonia. Yes, I had to come back to Buenos Aires, just because I wanted to dance a little bit more of Tango, and more importantly, to see my friends again. So, we said good-bye again, one month after we did it for the first time.
Me despedí de ellos dos veces.
1. Cuando me fui de Buenos Aires, después de permanecer allí por cinco semanas, para viajar por Patagonia. Ya que no estaba segura si volvería yo a Buenos Aires antes de marcharme a Uruguay, nos despedimos. 
2. Cuando me fui de Buenos Aires de nuevo, después de volver desde Patagonia. Sí, tenía que volver allí, para bailar un poco más de Tango y lo que era más importante, para verlos a los amigos. Por eso, nos despedimos de nuevo, un mes después de que lo hiciésemos por la primera vez.  

As Manuel explained, when it was someone's birthday or somebody left, we congratulated it or said good bye by letting that person dance with several other people within one song.
As they already did it for me when I left Buenos Aires for the first time, I didn't expect it at all when I was about to leave Buenos Aires again. Surprisingly, Manuel mentioned it again and it was such a blessing to do it twice. I dare say that it was one of the most beautiful moments during my stay there, during my whole trip and even in my life.
Como Manuel explicaba, cuando cumplía o se íba alguien, lo congratulábamos o nos despedimos de esa persona, bailando Tango. Ya que me lo habían hecho cuando me fui la otra vez, no lo esperaba de nuevo. Sorprendentemente, Manuel me lo hizo otra vez. 
Les digo que fue uno de los momentos más lindos de mis tiempos en Buenos Aires, de mi viaje entero y hasta en mi vida.

Like this, I beautifully wrapped up my six-week stay in Buenos Aires. It was sad to leave those friends behind. The only good thing was that now I know that I have friends there who will welcome me when I go back.
Así, me despedí de las seis semanas en que estuve en Buenos Aires. Sentí muy triste dejando a esos amigos allí pero hay una cosa buena: ahora sé que tengo amigos que me darán la bienvenida cuando vuelva a Buenos Aires.