Tango dance events are called “Milonga” and have the purpose to enable you to dance with as many partners as you want.
Therefore the music (usually selected by a DJ(ane)) is played in sets of 3 or 4 songs (called a “Tanda”). You start dancing with a partner at the beginning or during a Tanda and at the end (signified by a short music with destictive different stye: Non-Tango – called “cortina”) you leave the dance floor and usually seperate from your partner, so each can select a new partner for the next Tanda.
Selecting a dance partner is often done just with making eye contact and nodding (called “mirada” and “cabeseo”), but you may also ask people directly if they want to dance.
If you don’t want to dance a Tanda you can just sit and listen&watch (which is also fun – seating is usually aranged around the dance floor so you can get a good look at the dancers) or just talk to people.
Dancing is done in a “Ronda” (circle) counterclockwise to allow movement but keep people from bumping into each other.
Many people don’t care about looks, age or tango abilities when they ask you to dance, so going to a milonga is the best way to get more experience in Tango dancing. But its also always an adventure (even for people who dance for a long time) if a dance turns out well or not – because the experience depeds less on technical ablities but on how the individual partners fit together. Some people try to avoid the risk by dancing only with others they know already, but the real fun of Tango (at least for me) is to meet unkown dancers.
Most people who dance Tango are older but they are mostly very nice and relaxed and welcoming to beginners (there might be some exceptions, but very few). Its very easy to get into the Tango scene once you start to go dancing. And by dancing with experincend dancers, you will progress much faster.
There are Milongas on the weekend and even on weekdays neraly in every region of the world. They differ by music, locations, athmosphere and audience. Some play only traditional Tango, some also modern Tango (even with live music) and some all kinds of Tango-danceable music.
Popular milongas can e very packed between 16-18 there.