Berlin - Monday: Milonga Popular

Graffiti art, Spree-side gallery

Originally posted 22.4.15

Milonga Popular at Freudenzimmer, Mehringdamm 61, 10961 Berlin (in Kreuzberg) is not well-advertised publicly though it is well-known.  I found out about it through word-of-mouth though its events are on Facebook. I heard it described later as the home of the tango hipsters of Berlin. I also heard that at one time there were more of these semi-"underground" Berlin milongas which have now joined the established scene. This aspect undoubtedly adds to Milonga Popular's reputation.

I didn't know any of this when I arrived. Like many milongas in Berlin it was not especially easy to find. It was down a dark alley. I'm afraid I was thinking more about whether to go down that alley than about taking a photo.  As I hesitated there I met someone who told me to go to a door in the bottom right-hand corner and up some stairs until I saw the red candle.  I do not remember any signs but heard the music as I went up.

There was a class or practica going on when I arrived around 9pm. In London, classes unfortunately precede many milongas.  Some admit they go to these as ice-breakers, just to meet people easily, with whom they might then dance in the milonga, though I think that is perfectly possible - and cheaper - in the milonga itself.  In Berlin, classes, then practicas (or sometimes just practicas) precede some milongas.  However, I was surprised to find the four practicas I saw in Berlin were all indistinguishable from a class in Britain with active teaching, demonstration and repetition. Two of these had many people present while two had only two or three couples there. 

The difference in Berlin is that I had a sense that people go to class and practicas with a view to going to milongas whereas in Britain I often have a sense that people go to class in preference to a milonga, that going to class is a sort of end in itself, like going to pottery but that unlike having the pot as the goal of the class, social dancing is not always the goal of people who go to Argentine tango class.  But that is a valid choice.   Sometimes the goal is just to to move up to the next level of class.  I feel this view of a kind of "technical progress"  in dance dominates among people learning to dance tango this way.  But dancing tango was, and for many still is, learnt socially for enjoyment, for pleasure.  A couple of years ago I remember going, as a visitor, to a class in London where I met a woman who, in the two years she had been learning, had never been to a milonga.  Three of the four people I spoke with in Milonga Popular (two of them new, women dancers) all mentioned the feeling of the music.  I have rarely heard that from dancers in the UK, especially new dancers although when I do hear it, there is nothing nicer.

As I recall you enter directly into the main room.  The main seating area, which was on one side of the room, I remember as dark.  My impression of it was of a relaxed open-plan area. I did not sit there. Another side of the room is dominated by the entrance, I think a stage and DJ box and next to that, a bench, which takes perhaps six people.  From here you are next to, virtually on the floor and have a great view.  The bar is on a third side of the floor, opposite the DJ.  Some guys stood there.  From the bench, since there is a second room to your right and the DJ box to your left, and the overall impression is quite dark, guys who want to invite need to come over and stand very near the bench. I was tired from travel that day and happy to have a good view and to see how things were there so I chose to sit on the bench.  The floor seemed to be a kind of smooth plywood but I found it fine. 

There was a very large room for coats and shoes behind the main room. Going by the latest Facebook event for Milonga Popular I think this may now be a second dance room.   Off this was a fairly small and poky ladies room.

Felix Naschke was the DJ. The trad tandas that there were, were good. There were great Biagi vals and milonga tandas which I danced; an excellent d'Arienzo milonga, a really good Caló tanda, a very good d'Arienzo or Biagi tango tanda later on, I forget which; a good De Angelis. But it was mostly tanda after tanda of high energy and drama with little respite.  There was though, an enjoyable D'Agostino/Vargas. Of the softer music, D'Agostino seemed to be the most "on trend" in Berlin and I can see why.  The music is light, distinctive and I find it very relaxing.  It is not as quirky as some of the other soft, but still classic music, which I also like but heard less of.  Other tandas which I did not recognise or enjoy were a strident Salamanca and one of Domingo Federico.

I was dancing a Biagi milonga with a new partner, a woman.  It was Flor de Montserrat, or something equally fevered - and great.  I am new in the other role and in that role find dancing milonga one of the hardest things.  The venue was noisy and I could not hear the music well, could not understand why the music was so quiet and was desperate to signal for more volume.  I couldn't see the DJ for all the people and some pillars. When I finally got in view I saw the reason why.  He had his head down and was pre-listening on headphones to potential future tracks.  Eventually he saw me and to his credit the volume immediately went up - but the track was almost over.

The place had a cool and happy vibe. I commented to one guy that it seemed to be a mix of dance experience here which was nice.  He said it was characteristic of this milonga and less so of others. I realised what this meant in practice was mostly young, new and inexperienced women dancing with mostly young to middle aged, experienced guys. Learning to dance from more experienced dancers is a great principle but age-wise, this is often the way things pan out.  The woman I partnered had only been dancing a few months though if it hadn't come up, I wouldn't have known - she was lovely to dance with. I realised this was probably the case with many of the young women here learning to dance mainly by dancing with experienced guys.

This was confirmed when I danced and chatted with a charming man who made the same point.  He  was the only guy I danced with that evening.   He invited me to a difficult De Angelis. Later we danced a great but wild Biagi track.  He danced softly and I felt that he preferred softer music, guessing Demare (but does anyone dislike Demare?).  This turned out to be true. He said he had occasionally taken over from a DJ who wanted to leave. I asked what music he liked.  He told me Canaro, which in view of the atmosphere in Milonga Popular I found surprising.  I asked if he liked Fresedo and was taken aback when he said "Who?" and asked me to spell the name.  This was before I realised how little Fresedo seems to be rated in Berlin.  

There was one other guy I would have liked to dance with. He was slightly older than some of the guys and danced a milonga very quietly and musically, with containment and none of the smooth, solemn or aggressive confidence you see in some of the most sought-after guys in European cities, events or good milongas.

Somehow, between chatting and watching, I managed to stay about three and a half or four hours. I think someone told me that at about 1AM there are free cocktails, but I left around that time and may have this wrong...