For info, this is the rest of the top 5 of 2011:

Tangauchos sera en tournée en Europe à l’été 2011. Allez les voir, cela vaut la peine. C’est vivant, avec des styles variés, un scénario plein de petites histoires, et très impressionnant sur le plan technique.
via Un très beau spectacle

The dancers: Mariano Galeano & Guadalupe Garcia , Pedro Zamin & Florencia Mendez, Roberto Leiva & Marcela Vespasiano.
The dates:

• Tuesday August 2, in Brussels (via Nosotros)
• Friday August 12, in Leuven (via elpeligroso.be)

Thanks to Nosotros (thx Eugenia & Diego), we have 4 tickets to give for the Brussels performance, they will go to the first 4 commenters on this post (on www.milonga.be, dear Facebookers) with a link to a picture of Mariano Galeano from the Brussels Tango Festival photos. Each link has to be different: so not the same picture every time! The contest is open now!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKP_pdaY2oA

Patio de Tango (Bouche-à-Oreille, Etterbeek) welcomes another special guest: the Alexandro Ziegler quartet plays a concert at the popular milonga on Thursday February 17th: “a bandoneón, a double bass, a violin, (a) piano, a samurai hairstyle, two red shoes and one Borat moustache” says one fan who saw them in 2010 and she adds: “absolutely stunning“.

And again we have 4 free tickets for 4 people who add a comment to this post with a tango anecdote: something you experienced yourself or that you heard about. Closing date for the comments is Wednesday evening!

I just want to thank all of you tangueras & tangueros for being a source of inspiration and beauty for me, I really enjoy taking pictures of you, and it gives me great pleasure to see that they also get a lot of viewers. Also thanks to the organizers of events all over Belgium, who invite me as a photographer, and who make it possible for milonga.be to hand out free tickets and other promos. It’s been a great 2010, and I hope 2011 will be even better!

The goal of the evening of 3 / 10 will be to raise funds for Orchestra School Ingeniero White, in the poor village of Bahía Blanca, Argentina. Since 2008, the school cares for children at the end of their school day. So they keep them away from the dangers of the streets: drugs, prostitution, delinquency, abandonment… The children first learn how to play an instrument, in a methodical and friendly way, and then to play classical music in an orchestra. They receive quality training that could help them in the professional world. By playing, they construct golden wings for the future. By receiving respect and meeting other children, they learn to return the respect and friendliness.

The event starts at 7PM, the DJ is Mala (Nina) and the dress code is ‘elegant’ – which means: make an effort The organisers promise that the evening will be filled with surprises!

Hope to see you all at the kiosque this summer!

Three good reasons to see the movie:

• the music: all the songs Helena (Eugenia) sings in the movie are recorded live, no tricks, no dubbing and it makes the music so real you can almost touch it.
• the images: Diego tells the story with beautiful images: as if every scene was painted by hand so it would be perfect. The streets of Buenos Aires, the beach at Boulogne, the theatres …
• the dancers: the scenes recorded at Nosotros are filled with faces you know. We know you’re curious, so go check them out.

Director Diego and actress Eugenia.

It’s that time of the year again! In one week, the Bussels Tango Festival starts its 5-day tango extravaganaza of workshops and salon with a supreme selection of maestros. I will be taking pictures again, I have incited some friend photographers from abroad, and for the first time, we will shoot a movie! On Friday April 2nd, expect to see me concentrated with a bunch of friends recording beautiful moving people for a change.

So: shine your nicest shoes, iron that sexy dress, go to the hairdresser and see you next week, looking absolutely smashing!

• “I’m looking for a tango partner, leader, advanced, for X and Y workshop.”
• “I’m coming to Brussels for 3 days, could I stay at some tanguero/tanguera’s place?”

The festival starts in about 6 weeks, so this is a good time to start planning your lodging and your workshops. The updates on the forum will also appear on this site, and will be included in our weekly newsletter to almost 500 tango dancers.

For the Belgian tango dancers, if you want to practice your spanish or meet interesting people from all over the world, this is your chance to show off the famous Belgian hospitality!

• Tuesday Mar 2, 14:30-21:30 @ Cellule133a : 8 couples (dancers) and 2 for the bar
• Monday Mar 8, 08:00-17:15 @ Tangueria: 4 couples (dancers) and 30 spectators

The jobs are paid and if you want to participate, please contact cellule133a@gmail.com !

Earlier this week we heard that Tete (Pedro Rusconi) had died. He was one of the tango icons, had been dancing since the fifties and was famous for his tango vals style.

And only yesterday, Osvaldo Zotto, brother of Miguel Angel, died at the age of 46 years.

Two different styles, two different personalities and two big losses.

Also a big thanks to all those who have ordered a milonga.be calendar for 2010. I have been printing a lot of  custom December pictures for each calendar we sold and it has given me great pleasure to know which photos you liked and wanted to look at throughout the coming year. If you still want one, hurry, because they will be probably finished in the next week!

UPDATE: Now with a custom photo for December that you choose!

Each month of 2010 features a beautiful picture that was taken in the Belgian tango scene. We’ve marked important birth dates of tango composers and performers in the calendar part and on the side there is an interesting little anecdote about tango people and tango events.

If you’re a regular dancer, you will certainly recognize dance floors and dancers. If you’re not, it’s still an eye-catching way to gancho yourself through 2010. We will offer the calendar for sale at a series of milongas in Brussels, Antwerp, … in the weeks to come at the round price of 20€. First ones: Cellule133a tonight, Roma tomorrow, Tangobar on Wednesday and Patio on Thursday!!

If you’re interested to buy one but you don’t go to milongas a lot, you can ask us to send you a copy via the calendar order page. You don’t need us to tell you this, but honestly, isn’t this the perfect Christmas present for you favorite tango partner? Don’t wait too long, because it’s a limited edition!

A special thanks to all the beautiful people who allowed us to use their picture in the calendar, to everyone who helped us choose the 12 ones that made it into the calendar, those who have been anxiously asking us every week “when is it ready?” and especially Nina, who helped me with the selection, layout, writing and who also made one of the twelve pictures!!

If you want to see them dance in real life, this is your chance. I will be going to – and taking pictures at – the Roma salon.

I feel sorry for Theresa, because she had already put quite some effort into building that ’5th Sunday of the month’ salon into a household name for the warm atmosphere, the good music and the classy venue. I hope she finds a new, better location and that soon she can start creating a new milonga that will become even more popular!