Le Tango around the World!

ok, here we go, two weeks after my last post.
Let’s start with where I had left it. My last day in Washington DC.
I finally got my ticket to leave Washington DC and got my ticket to go to Greece afterwards.
The trick was what to do with my luggage once in Brussels and before going to TangoCamp! I did not really want to carry my two big pieces of luggage with me all the way, so, thanks to my brother all was good. He came to pick up the luggage in brussels inbetween my flight from DC and the one to greece, so I could travel with just a carry on! yeah… good to have family!

Tango Camp!

I arrive at the airport of Athens after a lay over in Zurich! I could not believe it … I was there again after just … 4 days? On my way back from Mozambique I had to stop there already! I had never been to Athens before and was quite exited to go to Tango camp. For those of you who are not tango dancers (shame on you!) it is a series of tango festivals that take place in Germany, Greece, Sweeden and Italy. A great group of teachers are travelling to all of these festivals. I had wanted to go as I know many of those teachers and wanted to start dancing in Europe again.
I took a taxi to go to the Eritrea Village where the tangocamp was, about 1.5 hours from the airport…. yes, a taxi!!! There was a bus that I could take, but I needed to make sure I was at the hotel early enough as I needed to take a class, and the first one was with Gustavo Naveira and Giselle Anne…. not to be missed.
The hotel was very nice, on the beach with great pools…. so nice to feel those first few days of … freedom, not having to go to work anymore!
So, I checked in, met with Callie with whome I was sharing a room, and off to the tango class! So nice to dance again and to take classes with Gustavo. I loved the musicality of the class, just having to think about what needed to be done was great. Then after the class I started to meet friends again: Ozhan and Serkan were there teaching, Ezequiel and Eugenia, Claudia and Esteban, Javier and Andrea…. all those fabulous teachers were there, hanging out at the pool before going to teach….
At night, of course the first milonga.
Now here is the thing, when I go to festival in the states, I pretty much know everybody… now that was quite different… I knew many of the teachers, but the dancers and participants was a different story! I was sitting on the side of the dancefloor, looking at the dancers and thinking that I’ll have to work hard again to meet new friends and dancers… but of course, the tango world being so small, I starting recognizing people: Peter from Germany (that I had met in Nijmegen) Dirk from Germany (that I keep meeting in many festivals in Europe), Mazen (another teacher) etc… so, things starting to be better.
Then the festival went on… classes (2 per day), pool time in between, and milongas at night… All in all, great!
I have to say that I love taking classes, I never have enough so being there and studying more with those fabulous teachers was great for me. I took the classes as a leader which I love, and was very surprised that Callie and I were the only women couple taking the classes. In the states we woudl be a few, but for some reason it is not such a common thing there. Not sure if it is something general to Europe or just at a festival like this.

After tango camp, I stayed a little bit in Athens. What a huge city, crazy, hot and full of ruins! We visited the Acropolis and went on a trip to Delphi to see more ruins of the great period of Greece. The landscape was quite amazing. Lots of hills and plains full of olive trees.
Of course I had to go dancing as well. During the tango camp, the group of local dancers were staying pretty much all together without really asking others to dance…. quite the same experience all over the world with big tango festivals. But then, when I was a the local milongas, it was a different story and I danced a lot and met a new group of people. Athens had never been on my list of places I had wanted to visit to dance but I was really pleasantly surprised. The level of the dancers is really good: nice, smooth, musical and creative. The tuesday milonga was in a cafe outside. Apparently it is quite new, just a few weeks, but the atmosphere was very nice. The Wednesday milonga was at Cafe 365. A very small place but where the best dancers gather and have fun! The place is right at the bottom of the Acropolis, quite a view. We danced until 3 in the morning and the next day I was leaving to go back to Belgium….
For the pictures of the visit of Athens and Delphi, check http://www.le-tango.com/2007_Athens

Click here for the pictures of Athens and Delphi