Any milonga/salsa club in Austin, TX?

[Patapouf]

My dear DFers, help!

I will be spending a week in Austin, TX around 7-12th November, and I'd like to go check out some dance places for a change of scene. My top two choices are Argentine Tango and Salsa, so does anyone know any good milonga and/or salsa club around that area? I'll be staying somewhere around Austin Convention Center, may or may not have a car! Plus, my night out for dancing looks like is going to be Thursday (and perhaps Friday), any recommendation? If things don't work out, any ballroom dance parties??

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated! Thanks. :kissme:

[pygmalion]

Gadzoooks! Austin traffic can be a bear. Let me call my sister who lives there and find out where the convention center is. Unfortunately, she doesn't dance, but she can help me get the vicinity figured out for stuff I google. :?


Wait a second! Isn't there a DF member in Austin? Or is that Houston? Hmm. :?

[Patapouf]

Thanks sooooo much pygmalion!

I checked it out, it looks like the convention center is located on 3rd and Red River (is that a street or a river??). Here's a map of the area http://www.aiche.org/resources/pdflibrary/conf/Austin04map.pdf

Errr.... does anyone also know any great restaurants there that I should definitely not miss when I step my foot in Austin? :oops:

[pygmalion]

Okay. Here's a page with a bunch of Latin dance or salsa clubs listed.

http://www.dmitchell.com/danceaustin/nightclubs.html

The only milonga listing I could find is a couple weeks after you'll be gone, but I'll keep looking.

I'll also call my sister tonight to find out which clubs are closest to you. I owe her a nice, long chat anyway.

[pygmalion]

I just talked to my sister. Here's the deal. The convention center is downtown, and so the first three clubs listed, at 4th or 2nd streets, are within a reasonable distance of where you're staying.

The tango on Thursdays place at 320 East 6th Street, she wasn't sure. East means east of the highway (I-35), which runs somewhat diagonally, so it's hard to tell how far away that one will be from you. You could probably call them when you get in town.

Also, a word to the wise, straight from the Austin dweller's lips. Be careful driving in downtown Austin, because there are a lot of one-way streets and it's easy to get lost. Her recommendation is to take a cab. According to her, those clubs should be a few minutes from you (if the person driving knows what they're doing LOL)

Good luck, and have fun. The only Austin area restaurant I remember off the top of my head is the Salt Lick, and that's pretty far out of town, if I remember correctly. Plus, it's not a great restaurant. It's just ... scenic. Think giant slabs of beef BBQ served on brown-paper covered tables. :shock: No exaggeration. :lol:


Hmm. Do the bats under the bridge fly this time of year? I'll have to check on that. If so, that's a sight to see for sure. 8) Oh yeah, and sixth street is pretty hopping on the weekends. Ask the concierge at your hotel. :D

Have fun.

[pygmalion]

Hmm. According to this, the bats fly March to November, so your trip is near the end of the season. You might try giving a call. It probably depends on whether it's still warm there or not. The Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin is the home of some AMAZING bats. You should see them fly if you can.

http://www.batcon.org/discover/txguide.html

And Sixth Street is kind of an Austin-style Bourbon Street. Well ... a really toned-down Bourbon Street. Lots of partying and reveling. Just not quite as non-stop as in New Orleans. LOL.

[Patapouf]

Thank you sooo much Pygmalion!

I sure will go and check the dance places out, will let you know how it goes! :D

[pygmalion]

Have fun, Bargeot! :D

[Lofland]

Hi Bargeot, My name's Chip and I live in Austin. You can PM me and I'll tell you anything you want to know. The list at www.dmitchell.com is several years out of date, almost all the clubs listed have closed. Miguel's was the headquarters of Austin salsa, but unfortunately they closed this summer. You can see exactly what's going on in the Austin salsa scene each week by checking out the "austinsalsa" newsgroup on Yahoo. The club owners post their schedules there each week. For Thursday night, you're in luck. There's a big Hilton on the north side of the Convention Center, you can't miss it. Just go one block north of the Hilton on Neches St. and you will find Bongo's on the east side of the street. Bongo's has free salsa lessons from 8 to 10 pm by Christian Villalobos (you can see his videos at www.creativemotions.net ). Christian is very good and has a unique style. He's only recently started up at Bongo's so only a few people come to the classes; it's like getting a free private lesson. Bongo's plays salsa and merengue after 10:00, then around midnight they start playing more reggaeton for the kids.

If you walk about three blocks to the west of the Convention Center, you will find Copa, at 2nd St. and Congress Avenue (formerly Meno), on the west side of the street. Austin's most popular Latin band, The Brew, plays there Thursday nights and usually draws a good crowd. The Copa crowd is a little older than the Bongo's crowd. Bongo's is an 18-and-up club. Copa plays more salsa and has more room to dance than Bongo's, but Bongo's has a wood floor. You can easily walk to both clubs in downtown.

Bongo's has no cover all night, and Copa's cover is only $5.

We have a very friendly, welcoming salsa scene with none of the snobbery I read about in other cities. All ages and races dance together.

You can find out about milongas by getting on the mailing list at www.austintango.org . My salsa partner is a big tango person, she could introduce you to that crowd. There are several milongas around town on different nights.

As for restaurants, it depends on what your tastes are. The best place for Mexican food (from the interior of Mexico, not Tex-Mex), is Fonda San Miguel (www.fondasanmiguel.com). They have been profiled in the New York Times and on the Food Network. Their $40 Sunday brunch is the one can't-miss meal in Austin, in my opinion. Fonda San Miguel also has beautiful interior design, it really makes you feel like you're in Mexico.

Obviously there's lots of good barbeque, too, although not much downtown.

I hope you enjoy your stay in our little town. The traffic downtown is pretty light at night, so you shouldn't have any problems driving here. The bad traffic is just the rush hour traffic on the big highways.

[pygmalion]

Oh thank goodness! I thought there was somebody here from Austin. :D Thanks, Lofland. 8)

[Patapouf]

Thank you so very much Lofland and Pygmalion!!! Can't thank you enough!! Hooray! dancing in Austin! :bouncy:

And Lofland I'll PM you for further question once I check out the web page you mentioned! I need to work hard now to come out with a "perfect dancing plan" for my Austin trip. :roll:

[Patapouf]

I'm writing to thank Lofland and pygmalion and to report a little DF reunion which took place last Thursday! Lofland took me to a milonga and Copa-the salsa club he mentioned above, and they were both great!

The milonga has a live tango band, and they're wonderful! I had never danced to a life tango band before this! Austin has some of the best tango dancers I've ever danced with! I was very impressed! People were very friendly too. I actually wanted to watch people dancing for a little bit, unfortunately I did not have that pleasure because I was asked to dance or engaged in conversion with someone the whole time, and I felt very bad that I left Lofland alone!! :oops:

The salsa club had a life salsa band too, and there certainly have some very good dancers too, it's so much fun just to watch, not to mention to dance! I had such a great time, and danced till my feet hurt (they were already very tired from wearing heels walking around at the conference since Sunday!). The next day I had trouble getting in my shoes (heels again, :? ). I manage to limp around at the airport and got back home all right... :? I fortunately get to do a few salsa with Lofland! (He "refused" to dance tango with me!! :shock: :? Just kidding).

So anyone is visiting Austing, don't miss out the tango and salsa over there! The city is nice! I had such great fun!

And finally, I want to say a big THANK YOU to Lofland. He was so very nice and kind to take me to dance, he was also such a gentleman (ok, please don't blush Lofland). So ladies (and gentlemen), you know who you need to PM if you're travelling to Austin.

Once again, thank you so much Lofland and to Pygmalion who has taken her time to search for all those information for me! If I remember correctly, Pygmalion is moving to Texas, so now you know where you need to go and who to PM! :D

[pygmalion]

Hi Patapouf! Thanks for the update. :D

[squirrel]

Glad you had fun! And if I ever go to Austin, Lofland is the person I'll contact!

[pygmalion]

But why go to Austin, when you can come visit me in Dallas? :wink:

[Patapouf]

Why choose when you don't have to? You could go to both Austin and Dallas! They're only a few hours away!

[pygmalion]

Good point, I guess. 8) :lol:

[Sagitta]

Good to see that you had a good time Patapouf! :D

[Lofland]

Patapouf, it was my pleasure to show you around, I had a wonderful time. It was very interesting to see my first milonga. I have only taken one month of tango, and had never seen any live tango before, so I was happy to just talk with my friend from the dance studio and watch. I have to say I was surprised that the tango ensemble took a FORTY-FIVE minute break, when they were only playing two hours total that evening. You were obviously the star of the milonga that night. I was really surprised when you said that the salsa and tango events in South Carolina had a majority of women, and even you had to sit out many of the dances. If there really is such a surplus of beautiful, talented salseras that even you have to wait for dances, I really need to consider moving!!!

The band you saw, The Brew, is now drawing crowds on a new Latin night put on by one of our biggest country-western bars. I'm going to go check it out this Sunday, it sounds like an interesting clash of dance cultures.

Squirrel, you may get the dubious privilege of meeting me sooner than you might think. I have several Internet friends in Bucharest who have been asking when I would ever come for a visit.

[Patapouf]

I was really surprised when you said that the salsa and tango events in South Carolina had a majority of women, and even you had to sit out many of the dances. If there really is such a surplus of beautiful, talented salseras that even you have to wait for dances, I really need to consider moving!!!

Oh no no no! I was only referring to the tango events here, there really is surplus of followers in our tango scene here, and yes, I have to sit out many of the dances! So of course I was pleasantly surprised about my experience in Austin, I DID NOT get to sit through a single dance!!!??? :shock: That's like my dream land!!! I need to move there! The salsa scene here more gender balanced, though sometimes it's follower heavy and sometimes it may be leader-heavy. But at least I get to dance salsa quite a bit here.

And yes, yes yes! Move here move here! We'll have one more salsero and I get to dance more! :lol:

So we'll soon expect a DF reunion in Bucharest! Hooray! Lofland and squirrel you two need to dance till you limp around like me! Keep us posted!

:)

[DancePoet]

At the tango workshop I attended today there were more guys then gals!

[Patapouf]

Well DP, don't make me jealous, you never know what a jealous woman might do! :evil: :shock: :lol: