Guest Column:

From the floor

From the Floor

Tango is full of voices, and I want you to hear more of them. This is where I invite tangeros and tangeras to write about any aspect of tango life they wish to explore — new friends, new milongas, unexpected situations, cherished memories. No rules, just their tango story, in their own words.

Guest Column:

Christine Sampson tangera based in Seattle, Washington has lived in Buenos Aires for the last 3 months. She has strong family connections and loves the world of tango.

I’ve just had 3 months in Buenos Aires and it was lovely. Plenty of time to relax the pace and skip dancing for a day or two, if I wanted. While I loved dancing and did plenty of exploring, my favorite experience of this trip was making two new women friends – one American and one Argentinian.

I was traveling solo. At milongas I was seated randomly with other follows. That means sometimes amongst latinas… from other parts of Central/South America or Spain. Sometimes I would sit with friends or organizers I knew. But mostly I was seated with other “extranjeras” (women foreigners).

My first friend, Donna, was seated across from me at Milonga De Lucy. I’d arrived hungry so ordered a glass of bubbles and a ham and cheese tostada. She admired my sandwich (I should have given her half – it was huge!) and we went on from there. Both single in BA. Both retired. Both blonde (Rubio is Spanish). We found the same things funny and chatted easily. We exchanged info and soon were meeting up at milongas, for dinner and shopping. When she went back to the States, I was at loose ends again… but at least we were connected via WhatsApp.

A few weeks later I went to A Los Amigos, a local milonga I’d been to once before. A male friend went to this milonga every week and I had him ask the organizer to put me near him. Unfortunately, that ended up being along “the wall of shame” – one whole wall where only women were seated. I found it to be a difficult place to get a cabaceo – or the look that is the invitation to dance. I recognized my fate (likely obscurity) an resigned myself to a light night of dancing.

A few weeks later I went to A Los Amigos, a local milonga I’d been to once before. A male friend went to this milonga every week and I had him ask the organizer to put me near him. Unfortunately, that ended up being along “the wall of shame” – one whole wall where only women were seated. I found it to be a difficult place to get a cabaceo – or the look that is the invitation to dance. I recognized my fate (likely obscurity) an resigned myself to a light night of dancing.

Shortly after, Maria arrived. An Argentinian woman who had lived in Washington, DC for years, we found lots to talk about – and had plenty of time to chat. We dissed the setup. We dissed the US government. We bemoaned the lack of great leads. But mostly we just connected. Neither of us stayed long but we shared contact info. I soon ended up meeting Maria and her friend at a wonderful corner restaurant in Almagro. We were able to meet up at a few milongas and she even had me over for dinner. Our travel schedules didn’t allow us as much time as we’d have liked but we bonded over tango, the U.S. and Argentina. And, again, our friendship has deepened via WhatsApp.

Before I left, I made sure the two of them met each other. If I couldn’t have either one of them in my immediate circle, at least they would have each other.

Argentine tango is a social dance. It’s lovely to make new friends – real friends, not just acquaintances. These new friends are my favorite experiences in BA 2026.