It's
taken me months to realise that the title is open to
misinterpretation, which perhaps is why some people objected. It
might suggest that the organisers pick the guests they want at their
milonga – which would be gross. 'Him, oh yes, he can come. But not
that friend of his, no way. & she's all right, but isn't there
anyone better?' I hope my description of the milonga left it clear
that invitation is by personal recommendation: people recommend
friends, and the organisers invite everyone recommended. My title might have given the wrong first impression.
Once
again, I think it's a pity it's necessary to resort to this so we can
enjoy a good afternoon of dance. But organisers here don't have the
kind of authority some of them have in Buenos Aires, and the dance
isn't generally understood or respected here in the way it is there.
There are people here who've watched a few TV dance programmes, taken
a few tango classes and go out and don't even notice how much
disturbance they are causing. They probably think they are bringing a
bit of life into a boring evening. All these couples making their way
slowly round the room; let's barge into them, wake them up a bit!
There's
also another slightly different system here: there are a few milongas
that are open to all, but aren't advertised. You hear about them by
being on a mailing list. This has a similar effect. There's a bit
of a 'tango underground', but I can't see anything wrong with that,
except that it's much harder for the organisers to make ends meet
without open access and advertising. They do it because they enjoy a certain kind of milonga: in the circumstances the guest list is the only way to make it happen.
