The Elegance of the Milonguero Style

In contrast to some tango styles that remind me of a bustling casino, the milonguero style of tango reminds me of a Zen garden—an oasis of austerity, serenity, peace and natural beauty designed for quiet contemplation. This style prioritizes inner experiences, rendering outward appearances less important. It is danced using simple and natural steps, with minimal adornments to avoid unnecessary complication or distraction, allowing dancers to focus inwardly on feelings.

This, however, does not diminish its aesthetic value. On the contrary, the style exudes a natural, simple and elegant beauty that is unparalleled. The following is an example.

Dancing with cadencia
The key element responsible for the elegance of the style is cadencia. The woman leans on the man with her chest gently pressing against his chest, enabling him to use the connection to swing her torso, causing her hip and leg to dangle in a chain reaction. Note that the woman does not use her thigh to move her leg, but lets her leg follow the motion of the torso and hip to sway. Her attention is on the lateral motion rather than the vertical action of stepping down. This allows her body to swing gracefully with each step.

Dancing with hips
In doing so she needs to swivel her hips so that her free leg may take advantage of the inertia to swing either in roughly the same direction, or reversely in the opposite direction. Since her torso is attached to his torso, she needs to swivel her hips to dance around him. She needs to swivel her hips when she does movements that involve turning, such as front ocho, back ocho, molinete, etc. In short, hip rotation is used all the time in her dance, highlighting the flexibility and beauty of her feminine body. The milonguero style does not emphasize footwork, so she can focus on presenting the beauty of her body, making the rotation of her hips graceful, refined and noticeable, adding elegance to her dance (see Dancing with Hips).

Dancing slower
To infuse elegance into the dance, it is essential to moderate the tempo. Racing to keep up with the beat often leads to a loss of grace, a common issue in tango. Instead of chasing the rhythm, the man should provide the woman with ample time to execute each step, while the woman should focus on crafting her movement with poise and sophistication to heighten its elegance, as demonstrated by the couple above. The following is another example.

Dancing with simple and natural steps
Another element pertinent to the elegance of the style is using simple and natural steps. Some tango styles are known for their intricate footwork and showy figures, which, although may be beautiful in some way, lack naturalness and elegance. The following is an example.

As you can see, while impressive by some standards, a display like this relies on complex figures, exaggerated movements, excessive embellishments, and elaborate choreography. It looks busy, garish, far-fetched, and beat-chasing, but lacks the confidence, serenity, ease, simplicity, naturalness, and elegance of the milonguero style. Moreover, it does not align with the melancholy mood of the music (see Dancing to Melody - Poema).

In contrast, the previous couples employ austere steps, allowing them to focus inwardly on quiet contemplation. The man leads by gently swinging the woman's body. The woman maintains a tall and straight posture while swinging gracefully, letting her intrinsic, natural beauty manifest itself.

Audrey Hepburn Said, "Elegance is the only beauty that never fades." I am convinced of that (see Embracing Elegance).