Traditional Milongas in the Midwest

In the milongas of Buenos Aires, DJs play only classic tango music from the late 1920s to late 1950s (the Golden Age) for dancing tango. This music is played in tandas (sets) of 3 or 4 tangos or milongas or valses, with each tanda separated by a cortina of non-tango music. Most milongas in Buenos Aires also have tandas of non-tango music, typically tropical Latin (cumbia, salsa), swing (jazz & rock 'n roll), and folk (chacarera, paso doble, etc.). 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 (such as rock, Latin, and New Age music). These events that break from tango tradition are sometimes, but not always called 'alternative milongas'.

Many experienced tango dancers prefer to dance tango to the best music suited for this purpose, the classic tango music from the Golden Age, the same as is played in the milongas of Buenos Aires. Because advertising of milongas is not always accurate (events where non-traditional music are played for dancing tango are not always listed as 'alternative milongas'), we have provided a guide for finding traditional milongas in the Midwest. Listed below are milongas where classic tango is played exclusively for dancing tango, where the program is organized into tandas with cortinas. If sets of Latin and swing music are also played, this is indicated, and a milonga is considered 'traditional' here as long as not more than one set of this type is played per hour.

If you know of additional milongas in the Midwest that follow the Buenos Aires tradition of playing exclusively classic tango music for dancing tango, please contact the Webmaster. If some of the information in the table above is no longer accurate, please also contact us so we may update this web page.