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 :)

 

RUTH 30 times since 1998

The first time I came to El Corte was New Year '98/'99. Seeing as I lived in a Tango desert down in South West England, I had never heard of EC, so had no expectations (although I had an inkling of a warning through the meaningful glint in Biljana's eyes when she recommended the place to me).

I was Tango hooked and otherwise badly in need of a total
experience, so I rang and rang and rang Eric to find out if there was a last minute vacancy. And one week before the event there suddenly was a space. Hurray!

From arriving at EC, I share a lot of the experiences described in the other stories (including desperately waiting for the loo, after the new loos were installed at a later visit!!!:-)) The very personal and warm welcome that you people extend right from the minute I walk in makes me feel at home immediately.

On the dance floor, it was a different story though. I was a novice and I had come on my own, so I knew NOBODY. After some hours of trepidation, I realised I had the choice between spending New Year sitting on the toilet and crying (thus truly blocking it!), or suspending judgment on myself and feeling sorry for myself until when I come back home and meanwhile throw myself into the dancing. This tactic worked, and I keep
recommending it to other novices I meet at El Corte :-)

Every time I come, I go through the same feelings, although every time it's less frightening. And yes, El Corte is home from home, and yes, every time it is very hard to leave - part of me stays behind.... But also every time I return back home, I take some of the Nijmegen spirit to my Tango community here, which has grown to a sizable Oasis by now. We are happy to receive visitors, especially through the Nijmegen connection! Sometimes I get a very real sense of all these connections
spanning the globe, lines of friendship crossing many borders.

This is very hands-on peace work, so badly needed in a world full of fighting and disconnection. Thank you, Eric and the rest of the team.