Casa Tango Edmonton
An Edmonton Tradition for over three years!
Enjoy an elegant and intimate atmosphere in a coffee shop setting while dancing to traditional tangos, milongas and valses with a mix of alternative and latin music.
Our January Second Cup Milonga will be held on Friday, February 3rd and 24th.
Location: Second Cup Coffee Co. in Riverbend Square
478 Riverbend Square
Edmonton, AB
Free all-level lesson: 8:30 to 9 PM
Time: 9:00 - 11:00 PM
Cost: Free. Please purchase a snack or beverage as our thanks to the wonderful owners of this Second Cup who always welcome us with open arms.
Every 2nd Saturday of each month we hold a "big" milonga at the Orange Hall that gives all of us an opportunity to dress-up and enjoy a social evening among friends.
Please join us for the 3rd annual Valentine's milonga on Saturday, February 11th at the Orange Hall. In honor of a Valentine's day and all the ladies, we'll have Ladies' choice hour from 10 to 11 PM (this will allow ladies to choose with whom they want to dance or to dance with someone they never danced before).
Join us for a fun evening of dancing and good company among friends.
Date: Saturday, February 11th, 2012
Location: Orange Hall 10335 - 84 Ave
Free beginner lesson before milonga from 8:00 - 8:45 PM
Social Dance from 9:00 - 1:00 AM
Cost: $12
We will have a great selection and repertoire of music that consists of traditional tango, vals, milonga and also some nuevo, alternative as well as latin music. The hall is centrally located in the heart of Old Strathcona, one block North of Whyte Avenue, and offers a great dancing floor. Red and White wine as well as Argentinian beer will be offered for sale, plus refreshments, cheese, fruit and snacks will be available at no charge for your enjoyment.
Everyone is welcome including our beginner tangueros!
We offer a free beginner class before milonga, please invite your friends to experience the magic of Argentine tango!
Milonga Etiquette
In the overwhelming majority of milongas of Buenos Aires, DJs play only classic tango music from the late 1920s to late 1950s (the Golden Age of tango). This music is played in sets called tandas by the same orchestra from the same period of 3 or 4 tangos, milongas or valses. Most milongas in Buenos Aires also have tandas of non-tango music, typically tropical Latin (salsa, merenge, cumbia), swing (jazz & rock 'n roll), and folk (chacarera, paso doble, etc.). Each tanda separated by a cortina of non-tango music. A cortina is a short piece (about 30 seconds) of non-tango music that tells the dancers this tanda is over and a new tanda is about to begin. The next tanda will be a different style of music and is normally danced with a new partner. The beauty of cortinas in Buenos Aires is that absolutely everybody thanks their partner and leaves the dance floor. This means that you can now choose with whom you will dance next from among everybody present in the room. When a man invites a woman to dance, he finishes the whole tanda with her, no matter how she dances.
A Milonga is a formal party where people dress up and observe all the social niceties. A practica is generally shorter and less formal, and people are free to try new things, work on specific moves, or ask friends to show them things. It is very inappropriate to start critiquing, correcting or teaching at a Milonga.
This is the tradition in the city in which tango was born. Outside Argentina it is common for DJs at milongas to break from tango tradition and add other types of music intended to elicit the steps used in dancing tango. e.g., modern interpretations of classic tangos, 'neotango' (electronic music with a dance club beat that adds a bandoneon), and non-tango music.
The most important thing about the milonga is the music. We strive very hard to program our music selections in such a way that most people will enjoy it. Majority of the music that we play at our milongas comes from the Golden Age of Tango, vals and milonga recordings, but we also add some inspiring alternative tango, latin music, non-tango and swing. We encourage everyone to follow the milonga etiquette, it makes the evening much more pleasurable and will maximize your tango dance experience.
