I had trouble finding a definitive list of the milongas in Frankfurt, so I was expecting to find a relatively small tango community. But when I walked in the door at Milonga am Zoo, much to my surprise I found a room with 80+ people and a very active dance floor. Small round tables were spaced comfortably around the spacious dance floor, each graced with roses and set out a ways from the benches lining the outer walls.

Roses at Zoo At the beginning of the first full tanda after I got my shoes on, I could tell some women were looking at me for a cabeceo. I didn’t return their mirada because I wanted to get a little more feel for the lay of the land. But it wasn’t long before one of them walked up and asked me to dance. When I’m dancing at home and good dances are easy to be had, I’m more risk-averse I might have turned her down, preferring to see her dance before I commit to a tanda. But here in a foreign land where I don’t know anyone, time is short. I need to seize the opportunities that present themselves because I might never have a chance to dance with this person again.

After that tanda, it was very easy for me to get another cabeceo. This continued for the whole evening. The layout of the room with a nice corridor between the benches on the walls and tables made it really easy to mill around and find people looking for dances. The people also seemed very open and inclusive. Several times I saw men dancing with men and women dancing with women. Most of the music was traditional tango, but there were several tandas that had more of a German folk music flair.

Someone mentioned that there were more people there than normal because it was a holiday. I’m not sure how much different it would be on a normal day, but I suspect you’re likely to find a decent sized group. I did notice that there seemed to be noticeably more women than men. That could be part of the reason why getting dances was so easy for me.

At a Glance

Friendliness 9/10
Skill 3/10
Embrace 3/10

Summary

The skill level could have been better, but the nice venue and friendly people made it an enjoyable evening. I would definitely go back.