If you want to go to dance in a milonga, you should know and respect some rules and conventions and most of all, you should respect other dancers, expecially if the milonga is crowded.

The first rule is to start a to dance with a lateral step, and to start with a back step only if you are sure that there are no couples behind you. Couples dance counterclockwise on the dancing floor and women usually retreat so that men can control the movements of other couples and avoid collisions.

Music is chosen by a special person, called “musicalisador”, who organizes tango songs grouped in a sequence of tandas. A Tanda is in fact a sequence of tangos of the same kind, of the same performer and of the same period. After a sequence of tangos of the same kind ( tango, vals or milonga) usually there is a break realised with a music of different kind (it can be anything) that it's used to indicate that the DJ is going to change tanda.

This is the tradition of Buenos Aires Milongas, and it's followed also here in Italy.

Given this structure for the music, you can start and stop dancing in the moment you prefer, but surely the best moment for the couples to leave each other is at the end of a tanda, or during a cortina. However, it's advisable not to leave the partner before having danced at least three tangos with him or her.

The consciousness of the tandas allows us to choose rhythm and performer we want to dance because each one is rhytmically different and stylistically omogeneous.

During the dance, it's better not to ask questions, and not to attempt first approaches. It's better to leave them to another moment, because you will run the risk of awkward and forced immobility and you'll probably tread on your partner foot.

You can have a little conversation during cortinas if you would like to keep on dancing with the same person, otherwise you can talk a bit during next tango, but try to be short!

In tango argentino, it's not sufficient to follow the rhythm, but it's fine to let you be brought by the melody. Always remember that tango is a dance based on improvisation and not reproduction. In the end, this is its deep fascination.