Comments on: Tango Classes at Tango Brujo

By: Keith

Keith — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 16:07:15 +0000

Your video shows the normal nuevo “tango” habit of looking at ones feet and not much of an embrace at all. This is not tango. If you need to look at your feet you can’t dance or navigate a crowded floor. If you want to get an idea of what tango is in Buenos Aires milongas read and watch the videos on http://www.tangoandchaos.org. This site is dedicated to the style dance popular in the center of the city.
But if tourists want to get a taste of tango I think classes with choreography are ok, they just want to get an idea of what it is. When they decide to dance they will need to work hard and start with a good foundation. All these ganchos, boleos, and other adornments are for stage dancers and those that either can’t feel or don’t listen to the music. However, leeway must be given for those who have no intention of really learning the dance but want to have fun for a hour or two.

By: Angela

Angela — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 03:14:34 +0000

Tina… somehow I missed your comment here. Thank you so much for the great info. I’m ready to take some tango classes this year (although my boyfriend thinks I’m not serious about it). This list is great. I really appreciate it.

By: santelmoloft

santelmoloft — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:30:11 +0000

Thanks for commenting CJ. I have heard people say they didn’t like Tango Brujo. My mother, niece and I really enjoyed our classes there because they were small but not miniscule and the other dancers were at our level. We just really wanted a “tourist” experience seeing as they were only in town for 2 weeks and might never dance tango again. Our instructors paid a lot of attention to us. They danced with us and were generally very helpful. I think serious tango dancers have more criticism of the place. Oh, another thing we loved was the building itself…. truly gorgeous!

Now that I’m not working as much as I was, I should really check out some other places (such as DNI) to see if I can learn better. That would give me a better perspective I’m sure. Thanks for mentioning it.

By: CJ

CJ — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 23:33:29 +0000

I’ve heard good things about Tango Brujo although my own experiences there weren’t that great. The instructors I had had little interest in the students. In fact one guy spent more time working on his own technique in the mirror than helping students. I eventually got frustrated and went to DNI. Though I did buy shoes there!

By: Katie

Katie — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:20:40 +0000

What a great activity to do with your family! It sounds like you really had a nice visit with them (cooking classes, tango, trips here and there – what didn’t you guys do? ).

I for one find tango and tango culture to be fascinating. Since I’m not too gifted in the dance department though, I think I’ll be content to take in a tango show rather than be a part of the spectacle (and what a sight my dancing would be, I’m sure!).

By: Tina

Tina — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 15:54:23 +0000

Oh yes, definitely true that it’s overwhelming to look for tango classes! There are a lot out there. I honestly don’t know Brujo so I personally probably wouldn’t recommend them until I had a chance to check them out myself, but I’d like to make a few suggestions myself, if I may.

There are classes all the time in El Beso, Riobamba 416 4953 2794 or 154 195 5221
E-mail elbesotango@yahoo.com.ar
latest info I found was… Clases de tango: Martes, jueves y viernes 12:00hs; lunes, miércoles y viernes 20:30hs; Martes y sábados 19:00hs y domingos 20:00hs. But call or e-mail for updated information.
There is also a practica there on Fridays evenings.

There is the Carlos Copello school on Anchorena 575 … http://www.carloscopello.com/tango-escuela.htm only because I’ve danced with people who have taken classes there and they were very nice to dance with. That school also teaches folklore and rock & roll.

There are also classes at Salon Canning all the time, there is one on Saturdays at 8pm, and I think there is a Tuesday class that a lot of people like…

I understand Cherie’s surprise because advanced or not, ganchos and high boleos are not usually done in milongas – too crowded and people could get hurt. But fun to do when there is a lot of space!

By: santelmoloft

santelmoloft — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 21:46:02 +0000

Thankfully there are tons of options here for learning and dancing… enough to please all types. I can’t imagine ever being good enough to dance at El Beso. I’d be terrified I’d bump into someone and end up on a blog as that girl that acted like a bumper car on the dance floor If I were to go out hoping to dance, I’d want to find a place like the milonga del barrio in your last post. Fantastic!

By: Cherie

Cherie — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:21:07 +0000

Well as long as you are happy, and don’t want to go to dance at El Beso or Maipu where there is no room for choreography, I think it’s fine. Tango should be fun, after all.

If you’re happy, I’m happy (now that you told me at least the figures were taught to music and not counts!)

By: santelmoloft

santelmoloft — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:45:04 +0000

Hi Cherie, thanks for your concern. I understand your needing to yell. I hate tourist traps, too. In fact, I’d never recommend one.

Maybe I should have given all the details of the class. This was an mixed class of intermediate and beginners. We (the beginners) learned to walk, embrace, etc. And yes, there was always music.

The intermediate group worked on what you saw in the video. A student asked the instructors to do the step again at the end of the class as we were all about to leave and the next class was coming in (thus, there wasn’t any music). They called us all over and told us to record it if we wanted to so we could practice it at home. They just showed the step slowly so the students could video it to practice on their own. Pretty nice, if you ask me.

Tango Brujo is not a Tourist Trap. The two classes I took were both very professionally done. And best of all, we all felt comfortable with the other students and with the instructors.

As I said at the beginning of the post, deciding where to take lessons in BA is pretty overwhelming. If you’re going to be here for a couple of weeks only and want to learn in a non-threatening, beautiful environment, I liked Tango Brujo. Their website has other videos of other classes, too. The class after ours was very advanced. They were amazing!

By: Cherie

Cherie — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:33:39 +0000

This was a beginning class–with figures, high boleos and ganchos??

If you’re just playing around with tango and checking it out, that’s one thing. But if you want to seriously study and learn something you will enjoy all your life, it ain’t agonna happen in classes like this where they are teaching advanced choreography.

Where was the walk, the embrace, the connection, the improvisation, and the sensuality that is tango?

And most importantly, where was the MUSIC?

Sorry to yell, but I see so much tango sold to foreigners that is Trampa Para Turistas and I can’t help getting mad!