W e style the Denver Close Encounters event in the tradition of the classic Buenos Aires milongas of the 1940s, 1990s and 2000s. This means we strive to follow the historic customs of good navigation with lanes, using the cabaceo to request a dance, and walking the followers back to their tables.
Encuentros are for you if you love traditional Buenos Aires style social dancing, and are good at navigating in a close embrace. Print out this PDF printout on floor-craft. It illustrates the etiquette and culture of navigating at a traditional milonga.
Buenos Aires milonga traditions are honored and continued by numerous "Tango Encuentros" in the US and around the world. For the 2025 Denver Close Encounters present a full weekend with 190 dedicated, role-balanced attendees. We will have tables for all followers with tables designated for Leaders, Followers or mixed. We have found that alternating leader & follower "8-top" tables
What is an Encuentro?
We’ve all had that experience of a magical transcendent tango dance; a “Zen” experience, that ephemeral dance moment that appears unexpectedly, and then it’s gone.
A n Encuentro is a curated tango weekend of social dancing designed to create a weekend of magical and transcendent dances. Within each couple but also across the entire room has a shared energy as if it is one large, multi-person tango creature. The magic is carried over from partner to partner and tanda to tanda.
In Short, an Encuentros is a weekend dedicated to traditional social tango dancing.
Several things differentiate Encuentros from other big tango events, like tango Festivals.
- The music is foremost, and the DJs are selected for their deep knowledge of and artistry for playing tango music across the arc of the evening.
- We share multiple hours of dancing so you can get into the “zone”.
- No interruptions to disrupt the zen flow: no performances, no classes and no show tango.
- The shared embrace is more valued than athletic moves. Attendees are invited because they very good at musicality, navigation and close-embrace dancing; many have 20 or 30 years of tango experience.
- Traditional tango codes are maintained: Seating, Cabeceo, Floorcraft,
- The weekend is sold out so there are no drop-in milongas. Since everyone has a single ticket for the whole event you get to know everyone in the community.
These expectations might seem restrictive to some, but for many long-term tango dancers, Encuentros have developed a fanatical fan base and a shared international community. Many travel to multiple Encuentros per year. The most popular Encuentros across the US and Europe sell-out six months or a year ahead of time.
Line of Dance and "Rules of the Road"
A traditional milonga is set up to present the dance floor as a "stage". Tables surround the floor so everybody has a "home" place to sit, from where they can watch the dancers and look around for someone to dance with. In order to avoid collisions, Social Tango Dancers respect the CCW line of dance. More than that, they dance in "lanes", starting at the outside of the floor. If the outside lane gets filled, they add a second lane about three feet inside, and so on. Just like merging on a highway, it is best to wait for a gap in traffic rather than leaping in front of another couple. It is useful to catch the eye of the on-coming leader, who will usually slow down to open a space.
On the dance floor, each couple moves slowly forward, neither leaving a big gap, nor crowding the couple in front. In a crowded situation, you have to navigate carefully without stepping on the person behind you. Rock-steps, turns and semi-turns entertain the follower while the leader waits for traffic to clear.
The "Cabeceo" or, How to Get a Dance
A particularly charming aspect of tango is that followers get to ask the leaders to dance by looking for their favorite partner, and "giving them the nod". Across a crowded room, this feels electrifying! "YOU chosen ME to dance with! Now, I can saunter confidently across the floor, knowing that as I approach, you will rise to take my hand, and we can embrace into a dance. In a crowded room, the leaders may need to walk around and approach to (let's say) about 8-feet.
After the Dance Set
At a milonga, the DJ typically plays 3 or 4 songs of the same genre: tango, waltz or milonga (the dance), and then plays a "cortina" or curtain of non-danceable music which allows everybody time to return to their seats. If the leader has given the follower a really good set of dances, the follower is in a meditative state, with closed eyes, which may make it difficult to remember where the home table is. A beautiful courtesy is for the leader to walk the follower back to their seat.
