Le Tango around the World!

Here I am in my appartement… and the movers are here to take everything …. now remind me… why do I have so much stuff???? it is a small appart… studio on top of it.. and I have so many boxes!!! time to really simplify!! well, I’ll have to.. leaving from a suitcase for a while will change things.

From today on… I’ll be homeless if you want, not really, I have so many friends who have opened their houses for me that I’ll always have a place to stay.

more soon

Wow… this year it really has been a marathon… well at least after the event! This year the Marathon was put together in about a month!! yes! When I was in Ba in Dec and January, I was ready to call it quit. I just couldn’t find a place to hold it… no place was big enough, and what was, was extremely expensive.. that’s what you get trying to get something going here in DC!! And that was for the places that would close at 1.00am!! forget about the all nighters (but we know that is something non negociable… no marathon without a all nighter!) So, when I came back from BA, I talked with my friend Callie and she wouldn’t hear me say that the Marathon was off this year… so, she went to work and made it happen….

Now that the teachers are gone, I have just enough time to pack up my appartment!! The movers are coming on Friday to move everything and send all my stuff back to Belgium. I have spent 11 years here in the same appartment… It was nice, comfortable, and very convenient. So many memories here, teachers I have invited who have stayed here: Metin, Julio and Corina, Chicho and Lucia, Alex, Felix, Isaac, Felipe… and many others stayed here over the marathon, I have had parties, dancing…. I gave my private classes here as well… I have to tell you my neighbours were sometimes wondering what I was doing …. men coming to my place, on a weekly basis and for one hour at the time! eh eh eh

I am now going through all my stuff, clothes, papers, pictures… and I found back videos of the beginning of the tango in DC! Videos of Diversite, tango classes at Havanna with Leon, private classes… it is so funny to see that now… 10 years later! wow… the community has grown so much, the level is so much better, it is really amazing what we have accomplished in those years. So many of us are still dancing and involved in the community. I am glad to have been part of it.

Now, I am looking ahead of being a tango gypsie. So, here is the plan. I’ll be leaving DC by the end of April. I was thinking a little earlier than that, but frankly I was dreaming.. .it was not possible. So, next week, I’ll be in Belgium for about 1 week, I had to take one more leave home because of work, and then I am here… then May.. who knows, still thinking Buenos Aires for now, but plans might change. I’ll spend the summer in Europe going from Festival to festival. Capril, Tango Camp in Greece and maybe Sweden, Paris, Sitges and whatever else in between. I should be back in DC in September and October to organize the Baltimore Tango Fest …. so that’s the plan for now… I will be gone but not for long….
more soon!

So, here I am … I gave up my rent today! That means that hopefully by beginning of April I am going to be away from DC…
I know I am leaving, but it is still not totally real to me! Leaving after 12 years here in this community will be difficult. I’ll be missing the friends I made, the tango community I enjoy and everything else!