Thanks to DJ Mala for the great music.

All pictures of the evening are in the Kiosque album.

Wednesday saw the visit of Ozgur Demir and Marina Marques in Tangobar. They gave a demo with some acrobatic moves and a very well received milonga.

This was also the debut of DJ Daniel Rossi, a.k.a. “he who makes people dance with excellent music on a itsy-bitsy iPod nano“.

All pictures are in the Tangobar album

Even when it’s raining a bit, the kiosk in the park remains an idyllic place to spend a Saturday afternoon delight milonga. We had invited DJ Pieter for the first time and he surprised us in the best possible way.

All pictures can be found in the Milonga @ Kiosque album.

(Photos by Fabio – FotoGabio)

There was a big crowd for this event and the demo was very well received.

DJ Mala was also in good shape and played a series of wonderful tandas.

All in all, a top evening!

All pictures of the evening can be found in the Patio de Tango album!

Hope to see you all at the kiosque this summer!

After which there was lots of dancing inside

and relaxing outside:

All pictures are in the Milonga de Gante album.

We also got a demo by Koos & Astrid, who will be giving a class before all the next milongas.

It was a nice crowd that danced the evening round, entertained by the excellent DJ Ben.

All pictures can be found in the new Milonga de Gante album.

Like last year, I wanted to start the New Year in a tango atmosphere, and that’s why we went to Tangueria to spend the last hours of 2009 and count down to 2010. DJ Emilie was choosing the tandas while we nibbled on panettone and drank bubbles.

We all had fun dancing and started 2010 in the best possible way! I hope to see a lot of all of you in the coming year.

All pictures in the Tangueria album

The atmosphere was relaxed and joyful, even if maybe every now and then someone might have stepped on someone else’s foot.

And I tried to photograph some tango hands: there’s the hitchhiker’s-thumb position, the supporting-thumb configuration, the horizontal low-floating arms, the vertical light-house … See if you recognize your own hand?

All pictures are in the Patio album:

They also brought some friends who did their own routine, but that was not of the same level.

The orchestra was a wonderful discovery. Although they come from the Netherlands, none of the four was Dutch. The Bulgarian pianist Maria Martinova was the one who introduced the songs and guided us through a repertoire that was mainly Piazzolla.

The DJ made some odd choices and seemed to be less organised as we’re used to in Brussels. Still, that did not stop the floor from being filled until the end.

All pictures can be found here: Tango in Antwerp.

Tangueria had some Argentinian visitors this Sunday: Natalia Games & Gabriel Angio, a couple that has been dancing since 1991, when most of us had hardly heard from tango, even before we could have seen it in ‘The Tango Lesson’ (1997) or ‘Scent of a woman’ (1992). They looked very young and dynamic and showed some excellent dancing during their four dances.

After the demonstration, we danced to the fine music of DJ Oliver.

All photos are here:

Monik & Dante

And there’s also a video

Cynthia & Ernesto

Maria-Lilia & Cesar

And the cherry on the cake was definitely the performances of two gauchos with their bolas. Several of the  spectators had fear in their eyes when they saw the balls whooshing by at what seemed to be at times only a few inches away from their heads.

All pictures can be found here: Tango in Brussels

One of the most interesting developments has been the introduction of the ‘Tango de Salon room’ at 33 Portland Place (London). Apparently, it was started up a few weeks ago and the first two sessions were overseen by Adrian Costa. The aim was to create a room where floor-craft rather than any particular moves/styles was the focus. Certain rules were put in place (ie: no overtaking, sticking to your ‘lane’, always moving in the correct direction etc) and apparently enforced. (via golondrina-entusbrazos )

and

The white room downstairs was designated ’salon style’ with the rules posted on the door – like no overtaking, keep moving (just one turn!), respect the line of dance and respect the space of the couples in front and behind, no dangerous play (high kicks etc). (via mshedgehog)

While it would certainly help limit the occasional exuberance on the Belgian dance floors – which inevitably leads to hurt feet, knees and butts – it would seem like a delicate balance: being insistent but not pretentious, being helpful while not hurting the dancer’s ego. What’s your take on this?

(Thx Daniel)

All pictures from Pianofabriek are here:

Not only was the music excellent, the musicians were also popular, specifically some of the bandoneon players, as the ladies in front of the stage kept repeating.

All pictures can be found here: