Encuentrito Roquebrune 2023

ENCUENTRITO (Edition 3 scheduled from Friday May 26 to Monday May 29, 2023) at the Miléade in Roquebrune-sur-Argens is over.

159 participants, from 15 countries and 2 DOM-TOMs (see the map below)

 Registrations 2024 are open September 24, 2023 !

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DATES 2024: Friday May 17 to Monday May 20, 2024, possibility to arrive from Thursday 16 and extend until Tuesday 21 (2 additional milongas)

How did the idea of creating an “encuentrito” in a Club Hotel come about?

The Production Manager of Vacanciel (which became Miléade in 2021) invited me in October 2017 to imagine the “ideal weekend” for which I would like to register with my partner or individually.

I listed the desired ingredients:

• lots of dancing hours while leaving time to explore the area
• a good level of dance, respectful of the rules of living together, without being rigid
• a sufficient number of participants making it possible to get to know everyone, or almost everyone, during the weekend

• a maximum diversity of countries represented and a parity leader/follower 100% respected while accepting individual registrations (*)
• comfort at all levels: booking, accommodation, catering, dancing

(*) do not hesitate to use this partner search site that we recommend: https://partenairestango.danslesol.fr/

Address: 380 Bd J-F Kennedy, Roquebrune-sur-Argens, 83520 (France)

See on the map: HERE

The overall satisfaction rate of 2022 participants being 9.5 out of 10, we are renewing the formula
with some slight adjustments to take into account the suggestions that have been made.

What are the advantages of this “encuentrito”?

• lodging totally reserved for us (from 2022) with adapted living hours
• and, now, the possibility of arriving a day earlier and/or leaving a day later (with 2 additional optional milongas under the pines)
• a single reservation: 5 milongas + accommodation + meals
• comfort of the rooms, amenities of the holiday village
• flexible full board in the form of buffets (packed lunch available for excursions with the possibility of carpooling)
• an easily accessible site: if you come by plane or train, we will facilitate the end of your journey
• conviviality facilitated by our experience as organizers and by the reasonable size of the group: 150 participants
• experienced DJs: Byc Bernardo (France/Argentina), Paola Pia (Italy), Mikel RODRIGUEZ (Spain)
• a team of 4 people with no other objective than to ensure your satisfaction, all logistics outside the milongas being taken care of by the Roquebrune-sur-Argens team

For your information, the ball times selected in 2022 in agreement with the participants:

1. Saturday and Sunday afternoon: 4-7.30 p.m.
2. Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening: 9 p.m.-2 a.m./3 a.m.
   This year, two balls in the pine forest organized by Alma Tanguera de Provence (5€ each): Thursday 8 p.m.-midnight, Monday 2 p.m.-7 p.m.

More info about DJs?

DJ BYC Bernardo (France/ Argentina) will be Friday evening’s opening milonga Dj
DJ BYC (Bernardo) has a solid musical background and since childhood a passion for Argentine, contemporary and folk music. It was therefore logical that he became a tango dancer and DJ specializing in this wonderful music. For the past twenty years, he has been hosting milongas, festivals and encuentros in Europe and in Buenos Aires. He has developed a style totally dedicated to the pleasure of dancers in the spirit “porteño”, that of Buenos Aires, with his personal touch, a touch of fantasy. All his tandas are assembled directly from a selection of 6000 tangos restored by him. Bernardo is passionate about everything audiovisual since 1979. He will delight us with videos and photos along his music.

Paola Pia (Italy) will be our DJ on Saturday afternoon and on Sunday evening’s despedida
Paola has been dancing tango for 20 years. She has been a DJ since 2001 and DJs in the best milongas in Turin and other Italian cities. She is often invited to events, festivals, encuentros and marathons in Italy, France, Switzerland, England, Belgium and Greece. She likes to offer a very varied musical selection, ranging from the 1930s to the 1960s with the addition of contemporary orchestras. Much appreciated in 2022 for her music and listening, we have chosen to invite her back in 2023!

Mikel Rodriguez (Spain) will be our DJ on Saturday’s evening and Sunday’s afternoon
Born in San Sebastián, his passionate nature led him to take an interest in music, and his passion for music … to musicalize the milongas. In the past 9 years, he has been Dj in numerous festivals and milongas in Spain, France and the United Kingdom. Mikel Rodriguez is a DJ who does not leave anyone indifferent…
Although his milongas are based on pieces from the 30s, 40s and 50s, the composition of his tandas is very original, just enough to surprise us without falling into extravagance. He is very attentive to the track and offers an energy capable of creating in everyone this famous phrase that you have certainly already pronounced: “This tanda here, I absolutely have to dance it”.

Below by Jeanne: registrants for 2023 (final version)

Questions and answers

Who is this stay for? Can we register individually?

This stay is intended for anyone with a minimum of  3-4 years of experience (6 years and over is preferable for leaders) in various contexts (local milongas, festivals, intensive weekends combining lessons and milongas, encuentros, etc.) with various partners

During this weekend, there will be no classes, we come here to dance with as many partners as possible

In order to facilitate parity, it is recommended that leaders do not hesitate to register individually, without first looking for a partner because, it will not surprise you, we always have more requests for followers than leaders, in particular dancers met in Buenos Aires and coming from all over Europe, the USA and South America.

Each leader who registers singly thus allows us to confirm the registration of a follower with a good level dance experience through a waiting list because we noticed that it is always the same people who do not manage to register however their level of dance would allow them to do so. We refuse to force everyone to find a partner before registering

Of course, you can also register as a couple, the idea being however to change partners during the evenings as is customary in the milongas

What do we mean by “encuentrito”? What type of milonga will it be?

The term was chosen by the organizers to indicate that, as in the “encuentros”, there are many hours of dancing and always in closed embrace. However, it differs from encuentros which generally require the recording as a couple and select the dancers according to several criteria, not always explicit. We accept dancers to register singly or as couple and make every of us to include strong females followers.

It is a traditional milonga: tangos, vals and classic milongas music will be linked by tandas of 3 themes to ensure a good dynamic (important point widely acclaimed by the participants of 2019 and 2022). The choice of music will respect the standards of the encuentros and will allow itself, in particular at the end of the ball, some tandas of more recent orchestras, always chosen for their musical quality and their danceability.

The closed embrace and respect for the dance lines will be the rule, as well as the courteous invitation by exchange of glances (mirada then cabeceo), which the layout of the room will facilitate without strictly separating leaders and followers (things have changed a lot on this point, including in Buenos Aires). We will enforce these rules with a little more firmness in 2023.

Here, the spirit of openness prevails, while seeking the best possible balance between leaders and followers, we search to have dancers coming from a wide variety of regions of the world.

Who are the organizers?

For accommodation (58 rooms, 40 villas) and food (buffet meals), it is the staff of Miléade.

For the tango part, 3 people and a manager-DJ have joined forces to propose this concept to Vacanciel (now Mileade) and complete the combined lesson+ball offers that already exist in the Resort of Roquebrune-sur-Argens.

The four of us bring together the experience of creating and organizing festivals and milongas and have attended European encuentros and milongas in many countries, particularly in Argentina, Uruguay and the USA.

Our desire is to offer a weekend devoted to milongas in conditions of comfort, relaxation and conviviality in accordance with our own requirements as dancers.

Will there be sharing moments offered outside the milongas?

The principle is to leave the greatest freedom to everyone for the management of their stay.
Other fun activities will be proposed by the organizers, in the light of the success met by the musical entertainment of 2022 around a drink, the initiation to the canyengue provided by a couple of participants from Colombia.

Having the whole holiday village allows us to have a wide range of living spaces adapted to what we want to do, often with the participation of registered people (musicians, dancers).

Assistance will be offered to carpool to visit the surrounding area with the possibility of requesting a packed lunch the day prior).

Is the ball room air-conditioned?

Yes ! but the experience of Carqueiranne in 2019 showed how difficult it is to manage this type of equipment with a large number of couples practicing the abrazo cerrado. We started on new bases in 2022 (new room, new air conditioning) and, after some trial and error on the first evening, alternating air conditioning/opening of doors allowed us to prevent the floor from sticking due to humidity.

How to reach the holiday village if arriving by train, plane or carpooling?

From January, we will be asking registrants about their intentions and expectations in terms of transport, based on our experience in Roquebrune for connections with Nice airport and the stations of Saint-Raphaël/Valescure and Les Arcs/Draguignan.

For your end of the journey, we will hel you to carpool and and find cost-shared shuttles.

If you wish to carpool from your home, as far as possible you will be put in touch with subscribers whose journey is compatible with yours, which will put you in the Encuentrito atmosphere and reduce your transport costs.

(special thanks to Laura Crowne for translation)