Tango Salon Festival, Łódź
Introduction
I've heard great things about the Tango Salon Festival in Łódź and the decision to go there was an easy one. I was looking forward to a big party and was not disappointed.
Arrival
Adria Airlines fly directly to Łódź from Munich and Amsterdam. From the airport it is only 15 min taxi ride to the city center. You can also fly to Warsaw and take a train to Łódź, but I've heard that this trip was long and tiresome. People would also say there were buses from Warsaw airport directly to the city centre of Łódź, but for me these were only rumours.
Hotel Tobaco
The three star design hotel was a pleasant place to stay. It was not only new, clean, all designed and cheap, but it also had many features every guest appreciates: wifi in the rooms, bottled water every day, a solid breakfast. It is situated fifteen minutes of walk from the city's main street, five minutes of walk from the afternoon milonga venue, but far away from the evening milongas. As it was one of the hotels recommended by the festival, most of my neighbours were tangueros.
Afternoon milongas
Friday and Saturday afternoon milongas took place in the lobby of the Focus Hotel, only 5 min walk from the Tobaco hotel. While on Friday the atmosphere was relaxed, on Saturday the room and the dancefloor were packed. It was the right decision to have bought the milonga pass in advance, because even the afternoon milongas were fully booked out and you could not buy a ticket at the door.
The Sunday afternoon milonga was in a different venue, Dom Towarzystwa Kredytowego. It was a kind of a palace with a colourful ballroom which had a greater height than width. The unusual proportions created difficult acoustic, but an unforgettable spacial experience. Floors were nice and soft wood in both locations and also the the DJs made a music of a great class.
Tango breakfast
Another offer to dance during the festival were the tango breakfasts at the "U Milscha" restaurant right on the half way between the Tobaco and the Focus Hotel. The opulently decorated room was placed in the building which looked like a ruin from the outside, but already a lovely garden showed that it was special inside. The entrance price included a moderate breakfast buffet, but the delicious coffee had to be payed separately. There were not so many tables and seats and astonishingly many people were dancing at this time of the day. But mostly they were locals or couples and the average age was rather high. The atmosphere was therefore cosy and relaxed.
Night milongas and afterparties
Biała Fabryka where most of the night milongas took place is located at the edge of the city center. The industrial atmosphere of the venue was just charming!
Colourful lights changing every evening made it even more special. The floor was again a pleasant wood. Cabeceo worked quite well in the location as I sat or stood at the entrance. Only the columns on the both sides of the room made the navigation sometimes difficult and covered the view. Outside the dance hall one could buy everything from the very good coffee, cakes, salads and sandwiches till tango shoes, clothes and fans. Before the shows the dancefloor was usually full, but it got better and better afterwards. The afterparties ware marked merely by the change of the DJ and the light. Somehow many pretty women were sitting around during the evenings, but I could always dance as much as I wanted.
The Filharmonia where the Sunday night milonga took place was room-wise a low-point of the festival. The reason for the location was a surprise show with the Juan D'Arienzo Orquesta, which had played a concert at the same venue previously in the evening. But after the industrial chic of the Biała Fabryka the brown acoustic panels on the walls of Filharmonia could not create the same atmosphere. Obviously this low-point was compensated by the after party venue, but I did not make it till there and finished my festival observing the supermoon lunar eclipse in my way back to the hotel.
DJ Workshop
As I am very much interested in the tango music and what creates the flow and the great atmosphere in the dancefloor, on Saturday afternoon I attended the tango DJ workshop held by Konrad Kryński. In a very structured way he explained his approach towards creating the flow. I was very pleased to get to know, that his way is similar to my own thoughts. The topic was so big though, that the 1.5 hours were over much too fast and left almost no time for the final discussion. Only about nine people had attended the workshop, most of them had experience in DJing at their local milongas.
About Łódź
Łódź as a larger city than it appears on the map. Especially coming from Switzerland I totally underestimated the distances. The festival venues were more far away than I expected and taking taxi to the night milongas was inevitable.
The city has an industrial history and as a result no proper old town, but many factories, which were reused for cultural and residential purposes in the last ten - fifteen years. Big reconstruction works were taking place all over the city as I was there. The main street Piotrkowska is the city's newly renovated pedestrian zone and the main attraction. Fortunately I did not find there almost no big international brands, but only local shops, clubs and restaurants. The global brands are all placed in the shopping mall Manufaktura at the end of Piotrkowska. This beautiful former factory was reconstructed into a huge leisure and shopping center.
Conclusion
I was pleased to experience that "Tango salon" was not only the name, but indeed the dominated style of the festival. The event attracted dancers from both East and West Europe. For my taste it made a perfect mixture and created a lovely international atmosphere.
I've heard great things about the Tango Salon Festival in Łódź and the decision to go there was an easy one. I was looking forward to a big party and was not disappointed.
Arrival
Adria Airlines fly directly to Łódź from Munich and Amsterdam. From the airport it is only 15 min taxi ride to the city center. You can also fly to Warsaw and take a train to Łódź, but I've heard that this trip was long and tiresome. People would also say there were buses from Warsaw airport directly to the city centre of Łódź, but for me these were only rumours.
Hotel Tobaco
The three star design hotel was a pleasant place to stay. It was not only new, clean, all designed and cheap, but it also had many features every guest appreciates: wifi in the rooms, bottled water every day, a solid breakfast. It is situated fifteen minutes of walk from the city's main street, five minutes of walk from the afternoon milonga venue, but far away from the evening milongas. As it was one of the hotels recommended by the festival, most of my neighbours were tangueros.
Afternoon milongas
Friday and Saturday afternoon milongas took place in the lobby of the Focus Hotel, only 5 min walk from the Tobaco hotel. While on Friday the atmosphere was relaxed, on Saturday the room and the dancefloor were packed. It was the right decision to have bought the milonga pass in advance, because even the afternoon milongas were fully booked out and you could not buy a ticket at the door.
The Sunday afternoon milonga was in a different venue, Dom Towarzystwa Kredytowego. It was a kind of a palace with a colourful ballroom which had a greater height than width. The unusual proportions created difficult acoustic, but an unforgettable spacial experience. Floors were nice and soft wood in both locations and also the the DJs made a music of a great class.
Tango breakfast
Another offer to dance during the festival were the tango breakfasts at the "U Milscha" restaurant right on the half way between the Tobaco and the Focus Hotel. The opulently decorated room was placed in the building which looked like a ruin from the outside, but already a lovely garden showed that it was special inside. The entrance price included a moderate breakfast buffet, but the delicious coffee had to be payed separately. There were not so many tables and seats and astonishingly many people were dancing at this time of the day. But mostly they were locals or couples and the average age was rather high. The atmosphere was therefore cosy and relaxed.
Night milongas and afterparties
Biała Fabryka where most of the night milongas took place is located at the edge of the city center. The industrial atmosphere of the venue was just charming!
Colourful lights changing every evening made it even more special. The floor was again a pleasant wood. Cabeceo worked quite well in the location as I sat or stood at the entrance. Only the columns on the both sides of the room made the navigation sometimes difficult and covered the view. Outside the dance hall one could buy everything from the very good coffee, cakes, salads and sandwiches till tango shoes, clothes and fans. Before the shows the dancefloor was usually full, but it got better and better afterwards. The afterparties ware marked merely by the change of the DJ and the light. Somehow many pretty women were sitting around during the evenings, but I could always dance as much as I wanted.
The Filharmonia where the Sunday night milonga took place was room-wise a low-point of the festival. The reason for the location was a surprise show with the Juan D'Arienzo Orquesta, which had played a concert at the same venue previously in the evening. But after the industrial chic of the Biała Fabryka the brown acoustic panels on the walls of Filharmonia could not create the same atmosphere. Obviously this low-point was compensated by the after party venue, but I did not make it till there and finished my festival observing the supermoon lunar eclipse in my way back to the hotel.
DJ Workshop
As I am very much interested in the tango music and what creates the flow and the great atmosphere in the dancefloor, on Saturday afternoon I attended the tango DJ workshop held by Konrad Kryński. In a very structured way he explained his approach towards creating the flow. I was very pleased to get to know, that his way is similar to my own thoughts. The topic was so big though, that the 1.5 hours were over much too fast and left almost no time for the final discussion. Only about nine people had attended the workshop, most of them had experience in DJing at their local milongas.
About Łódź
Łódź as a larger city than it appears on the map. Especially coming from Switzerland I totally underestimated the distances. The festival venues were more far away than I expected and taking taxi to the night milongas was inevitable.
The city has an industrial history and as a result no proper old town, but many factories, which were reused for cultural and residential purposes in the last ten - fifteen years. Big reconstruction works were taking place all over the city as I was there. The main street Piotrkowska is the city's newly renovated pedestrian zone and the main attraction. Fortunately I did not find there almost no big international brands, but only local shops, clubs and restaurants. The global brands are all placed in the shopping mall Manufaktura at the end of Piotrkowska. This beautiful former factory was reconstructed into a huge leisure and shopping center.
Conclusion
I was pleased to experience that "Tango salon" was not only the name, but indeed the dominated style of the festival. The event attracted dancers from both East and West Europe. For my taste it made a perfect mixture and created a lovely international atmosphere.