El Centro milonga, Antwerp

El Centro was running in Lange Lozanastraat on the second Saturday of the month from 2000-0100.  I went in September 2016 from 2015-2315.  It remains one of my most miserable memories of a milonga.  But then the day had been inauspicious and the afternoon practica comically bad. 

Milonga listings in Belgium

Entrance

I paid entry to a pleasant, quiet man near the door who said in Flemish to help myself to a sweet from the basket for the ladies tanda. I asked in English if it was free seating and was told as usual that it was. I keep wondering where the first place will be where guests are appropriately seated by the host or by staff hired for this purpose as in Buenos Aires. Why are we so scared of this in Europe?

I asked where I could change my shoes.  I was told at the table was fine but I preferred the (single) ladies. It wouldn't be the best place to change outfit on site. There was space for coats near the entrance as is usual I find in mainland Europe. 

Salon

I remember a narrow area with an attractive, sizeable bar down the right hand side brightened by candles and lights. The bar area was really lit up though by the smiling face of DJ Jo Switten who that night was that milonga's greatest asset. Wine at the bar was 3.50/3.90. Water was a couple of euros.

The salon expanded to a rectangular shape with one of the short sides at the far end of the room. There was good tabled seating around the salon. There were also tables for four opposite the bar. I liked the bar and salon. There were two strips of neon lighting down the salon. Lighting was a bit dark but not as dark as it seems in the videos (below) and not too dark to invite.

Music

I had come to Antwerp especially to hear this DJ on recommendation.  The music was lovely. I would look out again for events where Jo is DJing and have since heard from a number others in the Germany and Benelux area who know and like his music. Given the dancing situation I spent the time seeing how much of the music I knew. They were pretty much all classic tracks. There are certain orchestras which I find  particularly clarifying about a DJ's taste. Canaro is one of these; also D'Agostino, De Angelis, Fresedo, OTV are also orchestras I often find particularly revealing. The Canaro tanda was great: No me pregunten por qué (1939), Lo pasao pasó (1939), both with Famá and Milagro (1937) with Maida.  I forget the other track.  I like that most show/competition dancers eschew these good tracks.  Not the social dancers though.

There were two tandas of Donato - instrumentals then songs of type Te Busco (1941) with Horacio Lagos which you can see wrecked in a beautiful room here.   I never do seem to hear enough good Donato so would not complain about hearing that orchestra twice. I think there was Tanturi with Campos then later Tanturi with Castillo. I have a note that I asked about the lack of D'Arienzo but he said it was because it was warm and we were not many.   He did later play the warm, slower D’Arienzo of type Lilián (1944) with Héctor Mauré danced here by fun blogger Irene with Man Yung. Of the tangos there was also Troilo, OTV, Calo, Malerba and Fresedo - all good. I left during the Fresedo. I think there was very fast D’Arienzo milonga later on.  I guess he had a change of heart about D'Arienzo, the numbers and the heat since I'm not sure that fast milongas come much faster than D'Arienzo.  All the milongas and vals were good. I did not hear any D'Agostino, Rodriguez, De Angelis but I was not there for the start and end.

Dancing

When I went it was more like this though it seems it can be busier. 

Most people were in their forties and older. On arrival I watched for a couple of tandas before choosing and accepting one of only two guys in an embrace. Perhaps because of this he looked more compatible with me than we were. I realise I had had misgivings even before I accepted but I suppose I did not want to fall into the “don’t dance early, don’t dance at all ” trap as I had in Stuttgart.  I felt pushed and forced and misunderstood even if the movements were small. I worried about my knee and resisted. After one track the man asked if I took lessons.  "No", I said believing I could almost hear him thinking “Ah that explains everything”. I was cross more with myself than anything and could tell my discomfort showed. I saw a much younger guy see this. I felt nervous now of the men and of my own judgement. 

I changed from heels to flats, wanting to have more control in case I made another mistake about a guy and also to see if the women were interested. I saw someone I was sure about - a tall, older man sitting with possibly his wife and friends near the bar but there was nothing doing there. He danced a very musical milonga with a sort of shuffle that I saw among the older dancers in the traditional milongas in Buenos Aires. 

There was not much in the way of gentle, subtle, quiet dancing.  A lot of guys were railroading, effectively ignoring their partners with class-style moves. Many were not dancing in a true embrace which I had been warned about by someone who had seen video and knew the dancers.  I know I can look more forbidding than I realise at the time and am generally not troubled by walk-up guys; even so I had at least four walk-ups here. Where I was sitting wasn't by any exit point to anywhere so any guy who wanted to ask directly had to pretty much walk right over from some other place meaning only those with the thickest skin would try.  This type tends to have much experience of direct refusal because they also tend to be the types who can't get dances by look. By this time I had been there coming up three hours and had danced once, badly. The last walk-up came over, asked, was turned down, couldn’t quite believe it, and said Really? I just nodded "Really" with an apologetic half-shrug.

During the evening I had come to realise that the young, quiet dark haired guy was in fact a lovely dancer and danced with many older women there, all of whom looked blissfully happy. But even if he had been interested earlier while I was not sure he no longer was and left after a lot of very quiet dancing. My confidence ebbed away.  I did not feel up to inviting women. A good young dancer arrived quite late with his girlfriend. They looked out of place. I left not long after that. There hadn’t been enough guys I wanted to dance with. If you are not choosy then I am sure you could dance a lot there but despite the nice salon I can't imagine I would ever go back.

I consider it no coincidence that one of the most bullying, arrogant, manipulative and political tango DJs I have ever met subsequently moved to this grim city.  They are a perfect fit.