ERIC nijmegen netherlands
- Almost nobody knew about the transfer to come.

SAMANTHA cambridge england
- There were men dancing together like whirling dervishes.

FREDRIK braunschweig germany
- I have been waiting a long time in front of the toilet door waiting for that man to get out!

MELIN instanbul turkey
- I stood in front of the building and asked myself where my home was.

TILLA frankfurt germany
- I met a lot of people I have already met around Europe and I found out that they are all frequent guests.

TOVE lund sweden
- So even if I was impressed by a lot of things I mostly wanted to leave.

HENRY nijmegen netherlands
- My friends had a very good time because they noticed that something happened to me.

STEFAN nijmegen netherlands
- I finally dared to ask one of the 'local heroes'. What an energetic explosion!

MAX dortmund germany
- He welcomed me with my name without having seen me before.

THORSTEN düsseldorf germany
- At this point I wonder if El Corte is a regular dancing school.

SINAN valletta malta
- I felt myself disappointed at the very first impression.

RUTH totnes england
- This is very hands-on peace work, so badly needed in a world full of fighting and disconnection..

GREG seatle usa
- I can't begin to describe the truth of that prediction.

ELISABETH bologna italy
- I survived though, and have
lived to tell the tale.

GUIDO & MY moers germany
- Wir alle suchten dann noch seine Socken (auf denen My saß...)

JO london england
- I had never seen such a beautiful dance floor.

JESSE los angeles usa
- It's like I've came back home to old friends that I haven't met yet.

CHRISTIAN rotterdam netherlands
- Some other tangueras y tangueros immediatly guided me where to store away my belongings - 'regulars' as I later learned.

JOHN totnes england
- The collective excitement was filling the space to bursting point, threatening to build to a lighting strike...

PASCALE lille france
- Et quand ils quittent la piste, c’est dans le silence, dans le recueillement de la danse...

ALEX portland usa
- and I left after the week's dancing was done with the tango-junky's needle still in my arm wanting more.

STELLA berkeley usa
- We had to stand in the cold in our light tango clothes until the doors opened.

NITIN washington usa
- I liked the absence of any sign except the street number, 108: a little frisson of anxiety, is one at the right place?

RENÉ & CHANTAL roosendaal netherlands
- The decision to leave was an easy one;
no, we were not ready for El Corte.

KATIA moscow russia
- I can speak El Corte’s tango-language! Well… may be with some accent :)

 

ALEX 10 times since 1999

As a virgin, I had no idea what El Corte was all about when I first heard of it, it sounded exotic,
naughty, like the eighth forgotten sin, and that interested me, but I was blinded by only one comment from someone.
"Dancing for 36 hours..." That got my attention. I was in Munich in December of 1999 and didn't realize
I needed to reserve for the New Year's Marathon (reserve for a milonga? What a silly idea,
how popular can this place be?...).
Luckily a friend of a friend wasn't going, and sold me her ticket.
I arrived early on Dec. 31st and Eric greeted me boisterously, with enthusiastic kisses and an amazing memory
(but how could it have been "memory" if we hadn't actually met yet?). I had made Komala's aquiantance on an
earlier occasion, and I had still to meet Stefan (sp?). The place
was enchanting, with interesting niches, ladders, and tubes, nice art, hot tea, and dusty beds, a shower from an
exhibitionist's wildest dreams, and a table reconstructed possibly from the pages of Da Vinci's
"unsuccessful experiments" journal.
All in all El Corte, upon first glance, made me realize what was possible -- it changed the way I defined the
words "dance studio" (read 'hippie tango commune'). It catalyzed in me the inspiration to
open a "studio" with similar intent in Portland.
That night (and following day, night, and day again...) the dancing was tangasmic,
the tea always hot, the liverwurst always liver, and I left after the week's dancing was done with the tango-junky's
needle still in my arm wanting more.