Milonga

Milonga dance is dancing to milonga music. Technique There are different styles of milonga: milonga lisa (simple milonga), in which the dancer steps on every beat of the music; and milonga con traspié, in which the dancer uses traspiés or contrapasos (changes of weight from one foot to the other and back again in double time or three steps in two beats) to interpret the music. The beat of milonga music is syncopated. It consist of 8 counts with the accents on the first, however it can also sometimes be on the second, additionally the accents are present on the forth, fifth and seventh counts. Thus, dynamics may be danced without having to run fast or without the use of much space. Overall, milonga is danced in a faster pace than tango which makes this dance "unforgiving" regarding mistakes or clumsiness. In a book published in 1883 Ventura Lynch noted the popularity of the milonga. "The milonga is so universal in the environs of the city that it is an obligatory piece at all the lower-class dances (bailecitos de medio pelo), and it is now heard on guitars, on paper-combs, and from the itinerant musicians with their flutes, harps and violins. It has also been taken up by the organ-grinders, who have arranged it so as to sound like the habanera dance. It is danced too in the low life clubs around...[main] markets, and also at the dances and wakes of cart-drivers, the soldiery and compadres and compadritos.