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 :)

ERIC 3600 times since 1987

My first time coming to this building was a total secret to everybody. I took one friend along with me. I just moved to another place half a year before this moment, but I wanted to move out again. It was May 1994.
I wasn't happy in "Pater Brugmanstraat" after a beautiful 4 year's in the Knollenpad-building. But I wasn't sure if I would have enough energy to move again.

When we came through the garage door, which used to be the entrance of this building, my friend said: what a "bunker". But I saw what it could be and the same night I cancelled the rent at Pater Brugmanstraat. We still had a salon there, meanwhile Giovanni (from Bologna) had two weeks to paint Graafseweg.

Almost nobody knew about the transfer to come.
I was in France and when I came back, the next salon would be here. So we simply put a note on the door of Pater Brugmanstraat with the message: the salon is not here but at Graafseweg 108. Big question mark of course for everybody. Even the teachers didn't know.
It was the summer salon of the June 30.

Imagine: You expect to go to a salon in one place and then being redirected to another address.
When people entered their mouths fell open, because the place had already a nice radiation. Although we had to dance on an alternative
floor, the atmosphere was set. And I came home....