I have two great passions in my life. The first one is Tango Argentino and the second one is traveling. So, it is kind of logical to start combining these two passions, as much as possible.
And the best way to do it is traveling to Asia, with its kind people, warm weather, and excellent food.
This year: Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore.
Thailand is a country of thousand smiles, which is completely true. People are kind, smiling all the time and I just love going there. We have been there many times and that’s why we already know the Bangkok tango scene quite well. Despite being far away from Argentina, there are many tango enthusiasts who even organize more than one weekly milonga. The biggest one is Saturday Milonga by Lynn, organized by a very nice Thai/French couple – Lynn and Camille in Rembrandt hotel.
You can see very different people at this milonga: some of them are Thai, some of them are from Europe or USA and working in Bangkok, and some of them are always tourists. Well, you know how we, tango people, pack for our holidays – a suitcase without a pair of tango shoes is not properly packed…
This year back in May, Bangkok has even hosted its first tango festival, with teacher couples from Argentina and a live orchestra – El Cachivache from Buenos Aires. Having more than 200 dancers is definitely not bad for the first time!
This year, I have already played music for the 4th time in Bangkok at Saturday Milonga by Lynn, and I am really happy that the dancers love my music and always ask me when I am going to return to Bangkok.
Our next destination was Malaysia, which was completely new to me. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital, is also hosting a regular tango festival and there are many milongas organized during the week, by different organizers. We were special guests, playing music at Milonga Pipiolo which is held every first & third Saturday of the month in a beautiful dance studio – Fame Studio Malaysia.
Three young enthusiastic owners of this studio are trying to introduce tango to as many people in Malaysia as possible. And they are quite successful!
The tango scene is very similar to the scene in Bangkok: some locals and some who are just visiting the country.
One thing that really caught my eye in Bangkok and in Kuala Lumpur: when looking at people dancing, you can easily see that the level of dancing is actually really high: maybe there are not hundreds of tango dancers in Asia, but those who dance are doing it very well!
And every time when I come to any milonga in these far-away places, I always get the same strong feeling that tango is universal, and I completely love it for this. When you come to a milonga, the world outside the milonga venue is Asia and the inside-of-milonga world is Argentina, Buenos Aires. All these good people – milonga organizers who love tango are trying to recreate a small piece of Buenos Aires at their milongas.
Yes, tango is universal!
Tango DJ Alenka