Tango in Buenos Aires

Ok, 'fess up. All us foreign tangueros dream of having tango lessons in BA, but how many of you have done it? A friend of mine is on a tango tour in BA at the moment and refuses to correspond via e-mail, so I'm desperate to hear how it's going, but won't for several more weeks.

Have any of you been so lucky? How did you find a place to learn, given there's a surfeit of classes?

How much do lessons cost, both class and private? Are you better rocking up and asking around or getting recommendations from someone local or someone you know? Are there tango tours? Is BA the best place to learn or should you head out into the less touristy cities?

PS: Before PMing me to telling me to get my act together and look at this thread about Samba in Brazil and Tango in Argentina, this is a different question, not about learning a dance in its native land, but the nitty-gritty of learning Tango in Argentina.

Well tango schools and houses are in no short supply in Buenos Aires. In fact you do a google search on Tango Houses your probably find quite a few in Recolata and one other neighborhood that I can't remember the name of right now. Recolata will be more pricey but still very affordable if your an american or from a EU country. Lessons usually run about 15-20 pesos, but be prepared to pay in Dollars or Euros when the figure out your foreigner. Some hotels actually include lessons at an introductory level as part of your room charge. Barring that, usually outside the big movie theater in Recolata there are usually performers trying to raise money for there studios and they are good place to ask about lessons, especially since you can see how they dance first. I don't really dance much tango and when I'm Buenos Aires my fiancee and my future in laws keep me pretty busy, and when nancy I do go dancing its for salsa, but I've been planning to take a few lesson next time I go as well. The skill level you see there is just so much higher then the studios here.

Hope this helps a little,

Thanks, dragon. I have Googled like mad, but there's nothing like first-hand experience. I'm soooooo excited about doing tango in BA and will one day, but thanks for the advice and warnings...I think with my Aussie accent, they'll pick me for a foreigner in about two seconds.

I'm not sure what the exchange rate is for Aussie currency,- by far Euros are the way to go if you can get them, dollars are 2nd best. All the local products are dirt cheap and of good quality. When are you going? They are starting into Autumn there now. Nancy was telling me the temps are around 18 -22 degree celcius right now. I used to have a bunch of lodging links for Argentina, if I can find them, I will send them on to you, I remember one or 2 listed if tango lessons were included. Also if you haven't already, google, Tango houses, buenos aires. That should give you some hits too.

Thanks, Dragon. I've not settled on when I'll go, but I will, gosh darnit!!

Having attended classes within the CITA 2004 festival, as well as within smaller festivals in my non-argentinian home town, I would say that a class with an argentine master in Buenos Aires is very much the same that a class with an argentine master anywhere in the world. There is no "Buenos Aires magic", a tango lesson there is not more efficient than a tango lesson here.
Prices (about 15$), time length (about 90 minutes), language (mix of castillan and english) are the same.
Argentine maestros are touring a lot, so unless you're living in the middle of nowhere, you can just wait for one of them to come in your town.