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 :)

 

TOVE 30 times since 1998

Still very far from you I am reading your stories about the first times in El Corte totally surprised that they are so positive and happy:-)

Because in spite of that I now love to be, dance and live in El Corte more than anything else (I would be there instead of even here if the magic could be more permanent than one time a month) my first time was most of the time dreadful. It was in the IW 1998 to which Dan brought me (and then stayed himself...) as a very fresh tango dancer. And this being a novice - I really experienced there - there were so much good dancers, and not only good dancers but also beautiful and extremely social competent people. Myself I felt like this 12 year old countryside girl coming to the city where everybody ignore and despise you if you don't have the right manners and looks.
So even if I was impressed by a lot of things I mostly wanted to leave, but also very much longing to not only an observing part of this magic I stayed...

And things did get better - people started to speak to (or I to them even:-), Komala said I was so cute sitting in the window even in my Laura Higgins dresses, I fell in love with the first man I dared to ask to dance and in the end of the week I saw his miracle when this unreachable people started to clean and wash the dishes and enjoying my company while doing so. And dancing with Michael and Rory Sunday evening made me feel like the most happy girl on earth and put both this still very awake need to go there in my heart and a wish just to learn all about tango as quickly as possible.

And this urge to learn tango has now even brought me to Buenos Aires, and the funny thing is that tango here has yesterday brought me to the same state as in El Corte in the beginning. I feel clumsy, little and unsure, and long immensely for more secure tango ground with you.
But now I know the secret - with some self-confidence, a lot of work and just a very little time this can totally change and I can again fell like the princes I know I sometimes can be. So thanks for making me experience this Eric -
(and I do tell all people that says that I must have learned tango from an Argentinean "No - he is Dutch")