La Rue Bijou - Argentine Tango - it's all about connection

 

My recent return to Florida has led to the renewal of friendships and a return to Argentine Tango.  

Some things have changed and others have not. Like some of my tango friends of more than 20 years, I have traded 3-inch stilettos for more practical 1.5-inch heels. 

 

We compare notes about our travels and milongas (dance parties). We prefer traditional tango music to nuevo tango and close embrace to the more open stance. We attend practicas, focusing on basics. After all, it takes a lifetime to perfect the tango walk and connection.

We gathered yesterday at a workshop and milonga with Miami-based Argentine tango instructors Paloma and Maximiliano, organized by Natalya Ogirya of the Orlando Tango Club. Both events took place at Tango and Ties, a dance studio in Rockledge. 

 

 

About 25 of us attended the workshop on the caliseta (carousel) for all levels of dancers. It’s a move in which the follower circles the leader who pivots. Paloma and Max ran us through drills of walks and pivots then more advanced movements with a partner. Given followers often outnumber leaders, we rotate partners. Instructors provide individual tips on technique—I needed to maintain my axis and avoid collecting too soon. As I learned, the caliseta is all about the follower maintaining a leg line and then collecting (feet coming together) when the leader pivots.  

A three-hour milonga followed the workshop and drew many more dancers, some having driven two or more hours to the event.

At traditional milongas, couples dance a tanda—a set of several songs sandwiched between a cortina, or break, when dancers to return to their seats and await the next tanda. I still remember the first milongas I attended—that insecurity about the connection, my footwork, balance and . . . .just about everything. I vacillated between the fear of not being asked to dance, or worse, being asked to dance! 

 

These younger dancers don’t seem to lack the confidence I did. Dancers of all levels got in  tandas—often with other guests or the instructors. Experience on the dance floor is so important. After all, the tango community will grow only if everyone has an opportunity to dance and perfect technique. 

 

Near the end of the evening, Paloma and Max performed! Their connection, precise footwork and musicality gave us more insight into that mastery and refinement of the dance. That attraction to Argentine tango that keeps us returning to milongas and workshops.  

 The approach of Thanksgiving gives us pause to be thankful for these milongas and workshops as well as lasting friendships. In past years, when the last of the holidays leftovers had been packed away and the kitchen cleaned, and when our families preferred to watch football or start Christmas shopping, we dancers quietly disappeared for several hours to attend a small milonga just to reconnect with our community of tango dancers.  

A milonga, holidays and times with friends--it's about connections on so many levels.  

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For More Information

For more information, contact Argentine tango instructor Natalya Ogirya for information about milongas, practicas and individual instruction. See the Orlando Tango Club’s events, La Reunion de Amigos, on FaceBook/ Meta. The events in the post took place at Tango & Ties dance studio, Rockledge, Fla. 

 References listed below provide links to the history of Argentine tango (not to be confused with American tango) and performances posted on FaceBook/ Meta and YouTube by Paloma and , Maximiliano. See also YouTube.com/@palomaymaximiliano. 

Alvardo, Maximiliano. “Paloma & Maximiliano Tango Don Agustin Bardi. La Ideal Milonga 18th Anniversary.” YouTube. Miami. 7 September 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tdat6gd5-54. Accessed 22 November 2025.

Alvardo, Maximiliano. “Paloma & Maximiliano Tango. Tango Huracan. ATUSA 2022. 10 July 2022.” 20 July 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-PKnT9zJIs. Accessed 23 November 2025.

Various Authors and Echezabal, Henry, "Documented History of the Centro Asturiano de Tampa, Inc." (2009). Centro Asturiano de Tampa - Records. 13. https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/asturiano_records/13. Accessed 17 November 2025.