La Bruja, Amsterdam

I was finally going to La Bruja!  Here is the marvellous song (D'Arienzo/ Echagüe, 1938). 

A quick shower and change after the Oosterpark afternoon milonga found me cycling past the water that fronted the quiet gardens on Stoombootweg in north Amsterdam. Seeing the water I thought immediately of toddlers and small children. Biking without helmets, water ubiquitous, these are facts of life here that the pragmatic, optimistic Dutch think about differently to us. I turned onto the Landsmeerderdirk in the summer dusk. The pretty houses soon thinned out and there were just cows, fields and a healthy farm smell. It was hard to believe I was still in Amsterdam.  I felt happy and relaxed and with that delicious feeling half of nerves going to a new place alone, half with anticipation. And this was not apparently, any old milonga. 

The venue was a long, low building behind trees. Entrada was €10. I had to sign in.  I scribbled something indecipherable and asked the girl on the door why they required it. Fire regulations I was told. In the ladies I met a dancer who showed me where to leave my things. There is a room behind the bar where you can change shoes/leave coats etc.

The salon was very nice with tables and chairs. The men tended to stay to the left of the stage as you have your back to it and the women to the right. There were also more women on the tables in front of the stage but this area was more mixed. People were dressed up for serious dancing and as everywhere that you get music, dance and men and women, the guy-girl thing rippled through the room.  Ages were very mixed.

I had heard from a few people that they don't like this venue. Why I can't fathom or remember. In Amsterdam my favourite venues to date are La Bruja (second Sunday/month), De Plantage (review here) (Fridays, and fourth Sunday/month) and El Cielo (first Sunday/month). The other main milonga that people talk about that I have not been to is Los Locos on a Tuesday. 

The lighting at La Bruja was fine. The floor was good. The bar area is attractive and the prices struck me as good value. I was not comfortable taking a photo of the salon here so when I went in December I snapped the menu instead. I think a photo would probably be fine but there is not such an easy place to get a good shot discreetly. 

Corine runs this milonga. In September she was a new bride so this was a honeymoon milonga.  She wore a simple white dress and with her handsome husband they were an attractive couple. She was very warm and hospitable.  People speak similarly warmly of her.  There was celebratory cake and champagne mid-evening. I felt people's guard and reserve come down a little and the social mix increased. 

Perhaps unusually there was a graceful dance performance by a petite, slim, very toned woman. It seemed to be something between yoga, ballet and modern dance. The performance felt rather like a gift and was well applauded.  I found this in much better taste to a performance by 'tango maestros'.

The DJ was a local - Jacob, La Jirafa who I heard DJs often here. The music was mostly very nice. It  is probably the best music I have heard so far (to Jan 2017) in the Netherlands. I noticed he also deejayed for the big milonga organised by the same team in the church De Duif as part of Tango Train. The main problem at La Bruja was that there were insufficient gaps between tracks which sometimes ran together. I found such poor sound-craft at what many people call the top milonga in Amsterdam, surprising.

The dancing, atmosphere and experience was for me like this.

Biking back to my accommodation I saw a crowd of men loitering round a car on the edge of a housing estate. I felt an adrenalin rush and my heart beat hard in helpless, I'm sure unnecessary fear but still I went by at a speed I thought good even by Dutch standards.

There had been a raffle at the milonga, with a surprising number of prizes.  I seem to get luckier with raffles as I get older and won the Bandol!  I meant to give it to my friend but evidently my memory is not undergoing the same enhancement because I forgot when I did not see her for a while, so I left it for my Airbnb hosts.