Carablanca

Another excellent evening of dance at Carablanca. The music was much appreciated, and set me wondering just how a DJ manages to keep us all on the floor all evening. The answers are pretty much on his website: ensuring that the tanda begins well, which means an extensive knowledge of the music from a dancer's point of view, and meticulous technical understanding of, and attention to, sound quality. I found the sound was particularly remarkable: the music felt warm and rich, with an excellent spacious feel to it, although the tracks are mono. The various lines of melody and rhythm were clear, without the slightest discernible distortion. When you've got sound and a selection of music like that, you feel you can relax, trust it and enjoy it. Bernhard has played in that hall before, so he knows it and the speakers there, and knows how to make the most of it. In any case, it's a good space for music.

As for the dancing, I'm sure it's a lot calmer and smoother than it was a few years ago. I've never seen Carablanca seriously crowded*, but it can feel that way when people aren't skilled in dancing on 'una baldosa' – on a single tile (as they say in Buenos Aires milongas). Out of the dancers there, there were perhaps only one or two with that skill. If everyone had that skill you could just about double the number of dancers and it would still feel perfectly comfortable.

(*On one occasion – but that was virtually a private party.)