Club Español Rocks
It is Thursday night and I have a big smile on my face. Funny because I was in a foul old mood today after sleeping badly the past couple of nights, mostly through fretting about the apparent lack of progress on my flat purchase. It keeps running away from me for one reason after another and has been a very stressful process. I am told that it is nearly there but then I thought we were going to complete in early July, so it is hard to know what to believe.
Anyway, enough about why I was in a foul mood today, I just was. Over the past few months I have developed a rule of thumb that if I doubt I want to go dancing, I tend radiate something that leads me to have a poor night of it if I do go… so best not to.
Still, I put on some loud disco music, changed into a new skirt, did my make-up and thought about it. After all, it is Thursday and that means Club Español , my favourite milonga. I hummed and ha-ed about it, not least because the new skirt, although very plain, is one of these stretchy things with a fold-over waistband and the top that goes best with it shows a fair old expanse of midriff. I should say that I have lost weight and changed shape since I’ve been here, so I have my waist back and a flat tummy, but this is the first time the midriff has been out in public for some time and I was nervous on its behalf. I hovered inside the front door and in the end just decided against an evening brooding in front of the TV and in favour of one in a glorious room full of heavenly music, watching some beautiful shoes dance by… so off I set.
It was very busy when I arrived but Pato the nice waitress saw me, came and gave me a big kiss and led me by the hand to a reasonable seat. Sadly, after a few weeks of coming either with people or not at all, I have lost my habitual excellent place at the bar and the host was suggesting a seat right at the back.
My plan was really just to sit for a while and watch the shoes go by until I felt like dancing but very soon a guy I really like to dance with, but rarely get the chance to, appeared in the doorway to catch my eye and I was off. It took half a tango and a lot of concentration to relax my shoulders and actually fall into his embrace and start dancing but when I did, something magical happened - as it sometimes does in tango - and my cares fell away. The Spanish came out ok between dances too, which is always gratifying. Sometimes I just stand there saying como?como? until it is time to dance again and all the subsequent pauses are just embarrassing.
Ah bliss. This was closely followed by a lovely tanda with another favourite dancer, a nice rest, then two tandas in a row with a guy who had mysteriously stopped dancing with me about a month ago but has clearly reconsidered. It is unusual to dance two tandas in a row with the same person and not really cricket - but I didn’t mind if he didn’t! The second tanda was some of my absolute favourite Caló tangos, so I just closed my eyes and we danced like in a dream.
I sat out a bit after that because sometimes it is nice just to let the feeling wear off on its own. Like the taste in your mouth after a delicious meal - it is a shame to erase that straight away, even with a decent cup of coffee.
As I went out tired this evening, I was more determined than ever not to get up for any unknown entities, bad music or bad dancers. I did well on that front as I managed to fix on people I wanted and was very successful in getting them all to dance with me. Well, actually one gave me a nice smile and slipped away but to be fair he had already put on his sweater to leave that is not bad going. At one point I was sitting out a tanda that hadn’t started well, when a song I adore came on - it must have shown in my face because Angel, a nice tango teacher was nearby and had also been sitting that one out, gave me a big smile and a nod and off we went.
In fact, I needn’t have worried about the midriff either as it received a couple of nice
compliments all of its own.
At about ten, I was just changing my shoes and paying for my mineral water when over came Judy, an Australian woman I met here last year who has just got back to Bs As after a hideous year teaching maths in one of Lambeth’s sink secondary schools. So we went out for a natter and a big old steak. For a change in factI forced myself to have some fish but regretted it as soon as I saw her steak. I think I am addicted to steak! Anyway, it was nice to see her, even if her stories of home are numerous and grim.
So that’s it. Who knows what tomorrow will bring; with any luck some good news from my lawyer but I am not holding my breath for that. I just wanted to write about tonight because it was a perfect tango evening and I hope makes better reading than moaning on about banks and lawyers and all the other crap that has been preoccupying me lately.
Buenos noches amigos,
Raquelita!
Anyway, enough about why I was in a foul mood today, I just was. Over the past few months I have developed a rule of thumb that if I doubt I want to go dancing, I tend radiate something that leads me to have a poor night of it if I do go… so best not to.
Still, I put on some loud disco music, changed into a new skirt, did my make-up and thought about it. After all, it is Thursday and that means Club Español , my favourite milonga. I hummed and ha-ed about it, not least because the new skirt, although very plain, is one of these stretchy things with a fold-over waistband and the top that goes best with it shows a fair old expanse of midriff. I should say that I have lost weight and changed shape since I’ve been here, so I have my waist back and a flat tummy, but this is the first time the midriff has been out in public for some time and I was nervous on its behalf. I hovered inside the front door and in the end just decided against an evening brooding in front of the TV and in favour of one in a glorious room full of heavenly music, watching some beautiful shoes dance by… so off I set.
It was very busy when I arrived but Pato the nice waitress saw me, came and gave me a big kiss and led me by the hand to a reasonable seat. Sadly, after a few weeks of coming either with people or not at all, I have lost my habitual excellent place at the bar and the host was suggesting a seat right at the back.
My plan was really just to sit for a while and watch the shoes go by until I felt like dancing but very soon a guy I really like to dance with, but rarely get the chance to, appeared in the doorway to catch my eye and I was off. It took half a tango and a lot of concentration to relax my shoulders and actually fall into his embrace and start dancing but when I did, something magical happened - as it sometimes does in tango - and my cares fell away. The Spanish came out ok between dances too, which is always gratifying. Sometimes I just stand there saying como?como? until it is time to dance again and all the subsequent pauses are just embarrassing.
Ah bliss. This was closely followed by a lovely tanda with another favourite dancer, a nice rest, then two tandas in a row with a guy who had mysteriously stopped dancing with me about a month ago but has clearly reconsidered. It is unusual to dance two tandas in a row with the same person and not really cricket - but I didn’t mind if he didn’t! The second tanda was some of my absolute favourite Caló tangos, so I just closed my eyes and we danced like in a dream.
I sat out a bit after that because sometimes it is nice just to let the feeling wear off on its own. Like the taste in your mouth after a delicious meal - it is a shame to erase that straight away, even with a decent cup of coffee.
As I went out tired this evening, I was more determined than ever not to get up for any unknown entities, bad music or bad dancers. I did well on that front as I managed to fix on people I wanted and was very successful in getting them all to dance with me. Well, actually one gave me a nice smile and slipped away but to be fair he had already put on his sweater to leave that is not bad going. At one point I was sitting out a tanda that hadn’t started well, when a song I adore came on - it must have shown in my face because Angel, a nice tango teacher was nearby and had also been sitting that one out, gave me a big smile and a nod and off we went.
In fact, I needn’t have worried about the midriff either as it received a couple of nice
compliments all of its own.
At about ten, I was just changing my shoes and paying for my mineral water when over came Judy, an Australian woman I met here last year who has just got back to Bs As after a hideous year teaching maths in one of Lambeth’s sink secondary schools. So we went out for a natter and a big old steak. For a change in factI forced myself to have some fish but regretted it as soon as I saw her steak. I think I am addicted to steak! Anyway, it was nice to see her, even if her stories of home are numerous and grim.
So that’s it. Who knows what tomorrow will bring; with any luck some good news from my lawyer but I am not holding my breath for that. I just wanted to write about tonight because it was a perfect tango evening and I hope makes better reading than moaning on about banks and lawyers and all the other crap that has been preoccupying me lately.
Buenos noches amigos,
Raquelita!
posted by Rachel in Buenos Aires at 1:43 am
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