Tango Milongas Brings Dance to Santa Barbara

Call yourself a “gaucho” if you like, but if you really mean that, you will back it up by heading to Buena Onda at 724 East Haley Street on Thursday, August 26, at 7 p.m. for LaLoCA Milonga: Ruy and Camila Cinema Tango, the second in a series of dance parties hosted by tango enthusiasts Geraldine Freitag and Alejandra Folguera. 

Combining Matias Requena’s delicious empanadas with an attractive outdoor setting and several hours of glorious music and movement, this “milonga,” which is the Argentine term for a certain kind of social gathering focused by dance and music, will give Santa Barbarans of all backgrounds a chance to witness and participate in one of the world’s most sophisticated and compelling forms of social dance. 

Established in Buenos Aires in the 19th century, and since spread to the far corners of the globe, tango is a hybrid cultural form that employs elements of Spanish, African, and Latin American music and dance traditions. 

Dancers engage in a kind of wordless conversation throughout the evening as they choose one another as partners, navigate the dance floor, and sink into the atmosphere and rhythms of the live band. Ruy Folguera, a renowned composer and pianist who has written music for many major films, will provide the dancers with a soundtrack, and Camila Lima, soprano, will sing. 

Don’t worry if you miss this one — La LoCA Milonga will be back on October 1 with more tango. For tickets, visit this page. 

This edition of ON Culture was originally emailed to subscribers on April 12, 2024. To receive Leslie Dinaberg’s arts newsletter in your inbox on Fridays, sign up at independent.com/newsletters.