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 :)

 

SINAN 10 times since 2000

My first visit to El Corte was on Monday, 3rd of July 2000 (my memories are so fresh :)). It was the day of beginning of IW 2000. Melin, Selim, Zeynep and I were together at the entrance door. It was very crowded. People were trying to register for the workshops that will take place for the following days in the central room. I don't know what I expected, but booooooom! I
felt myself disappointed at the very first impression.
I think, my expectations were very high. Because I heard stories and experiences from my friends who came el corte before.

On Tuesday morning it started to change. Workshops and
milongas, were started. One by one, I started to know Eric, Komala, international weekers, visitors. The atmosphere fully changed. Then, everything was initiated, someone or something pulled the trigger. After Thursday night I felt myself very happy as a member of a very big family, which is created by people
from Nijmegen, Arnhem, Amsterdam, etc. And the daddy
(creator) of the family was Eric.

I remember that Eric was sitting next to the music system on Friday night milonga. He was watching the dancing hall all night long from a small corner of inside window of big hall... I saw the interactivity between Eric and dancing couples.
The couples who are dancing were swirling to move in milongas and when the music slows down to the silence.
They stopped. I was able to hear the breathe of the couples breathing at the same time, composing a divine milonga monster. As soon as the music starts again they started to move again. Waoooow! This was incredible.

I left the half of my spirit in El Corte. I don't know which combination of letters or words could help me to express my feelings right now. I think none of thee. What I can do is, to count down minutes and days to the next meeting day...