#tangoevents

Fata Morgana is going to offer you the first edition of “Fata Morgana Tango Adventure” in June 2017. So this post is not a review, but a preview. This marathon drew my attention several months ago because the organizers promise not only a marathon, but also an adventure. If you like to read reviews thinking a panda is writing, this event is for you.

Let’s first check the main characteristics of the marathon, just to be sure we have everything for a good time:

Location: The Fort of Salins-les-Bains will host the marathon. From the top of the mountain, a nice view. The place can host 150 people with several options from 2 to 5 people. Nobody can tell with certainty how will be the weather, but June is one of the sunny month for the Jura. If you like nature, the PNR (Regional Natural Park) of Haut-Jura and Mont d’or are just at 20 km away.

Transport: The two main cities near Salins-les-Bains are Besançon and Genève (20km and 40km of distance each). Shuttles are organized from both cities to join the Castle of the fairy. If you go by plane or train, you will also avoid to pay a taxi to join the venue.

Music: From the words of Fata Morgana, Muses will take care of the music. I heard few days ago the Spirit of the Forest (Toufik Cherifi) and the Wolf (Andres Molina) during Remolino Festival. I liked them. I already heard two other muses some time ago and still keep a good feeling. I don’t know the others.

Dance-floor: A wooden floor of 300m² +. Just look at the picture below. :)

Drink: One of the organizers is a wine and cheese trader and he wants to share his passion all along the marathon. He already selected various wines from the simple one, to the complex one. If you like the beer offer of La cita de los amigos or the wine selection of mtango party, you can expect a similar attention to the wine there.

Food: All food will be organic and from Jura. As for the drink, there is a close attention to the quality of the food. Vegetarian option available.

Little extra: Beyond the drink menu, surprises around the wine will wait for you - vineyard visit and tasting session. A swimming pool will also be installed...

Now, let’s talk about the serious part of the event, the adventure part. When you register for the marathon, you have the option to take part of the adventure and help Fata Morgana. King Arthur has been once again giving trouble to his sister and stole one of her treasures. You will also help her all along the weekend to get it back. If you don’t want to take part of the adventure, just dance, drink and have fun in other ways.

I tried to get information about the treasury quest and for all I know, you will have to complete quests, get information from magical creatures, challenge your mind. The mermaid will wait for you near the swimming pool, you can share a drink with the knight, etc...  I also asked if there will be dragons but the organizers told me it is not games of throne (but who knows...). There will be a lot of surprises for sure.

The adventure doesn’t include acting part but feel free to show the hidden self you never show in any other tango marathon. I find the adventure part of the event really interesting. For once, we have a tango marathon with a little of magic. It offers a second way to get in touch with the other participants and exceed the seriousness of traditional event. Being a little crazy doesn’t mean you will not dance well and a lot.

Fata Morgana Tango Adventure is a tango event and a little more. I expect a great first edition. For me, all the conditions have been met to have a good event. It is just the turn of the dancers to do the rest of the job.

Happy New Year everybody. I think it is the moment to propose you some events for 2017. We are all thinking about where to go this year and of course we think about all the big events well known. But maybe you could be interested by some smaller events which deserves some attention. I wrote about various events last year but I kept several little pearls just for the beginning of the year.

Tonight, I will present you Tango Secreto, an encuentro milonguero organized in Warsaw. The registration opened just today, so it is the perfect moment to share my experience with you.

Tango Secreto is an encuentro milonguero with all the basic rules of this type of event: invitation by cabeceo/mirada, respect of the navigation and ronda, one tanda per milonga with each partner, close embrace... Some of you can consider these rules as painful but they often help to create good conditions to meet new dancers. That’s in fact the meaning of the encuentros - the meeting. The event also include separated seat (one side women, one side men and one mixed side) which is not a general encuentro rule but fit to the venue.

The encuentro takes place in Komedia Theatre, a beautiful restaurant which keep the charm and the authenticity of the Theatre. In the middle of a garden, the surrounding is calm and peaceful. The Komedia Theatre is situated in the city and easy to reach by metro. You can find in the building the dancing room, not so big - it offers easy conditions for the cabeceo, a restaurant room with the buffet and patios where you can seat and relax when you don’t want to dance. Last May, the weather was pretty nice and people enjoyed to take sun outside during the afternoons. The dancing room is equipped with air conditioning and avoid to feel the heat inside.

The event has, like the organizers, a lot of charm. You can feel the tastes of Paulina and Maria in various details. Each participant received for example at the entrance a cloth flower to use during the event (various colours depending your dress and shoes of course, it is up to you to chose). The atmosphere was relaxed and warm, not too serious as it can be in other events.

The number of participants was around 150, a good number to have a cosy event. Dancers were mainly from Poland (not just from Warsaw but also Krakow, Wroclaw, etc) but some came from Belarus, Belgium and more countries. The event mixed ages with younger and older people. I know more and more encuentros are trying to mix age group and don’t succeed so much. This variety of characteristics of dancers (countries, age, experience, also style) is for me a good point.

Today, you can find a lot of marathons in Poland but encuentros are less numerous. During the event, I was really pleased to dance with dancers that I have met various times in marathons but who never reacted to a cabeceo. It seems it worked well for most of the people. This was a first experience for a lot of dancers to have to invite with cabeceo/mirada from one side of the room to the other side. For some men it was not easy at the beginning as they are not used to it. I heard from various of them it was challenging but they enjoyed it. I am sure everybody has little stories to tell about this little game.

As the ball room is not really big, it was easy to catch eyes from everywhere. It is possible to sit in the corner and invite someone in the other corner. There are marble columns in the room but they didn’t interfere with the cabeceo as they were situated just on the long sides of seats. Thinking about it now, maybe the columns are the reason of the separated seats.

After more than 6 months, I forgot the details about the DJs. I don’t have in mind bad memories and I can tell you I had great afternoons. I didn’t stay very long after midnight as I had good days but I saw some local people arriving just when I was leaving... Strange for me, but they were maybe thinking the same. The programme of 2017 includes breaks between each milonga. It is a good as it will avoid down time and gather the dancers at the same moments.

If you want to try an (new) encuentro this year, Tango Secreto can be for you. Just don’t forget, there is various ways to break the rules. :)

You can find more information about the event on the website : http://tangosecreto.pl/en/welcome/.

The word on mouth was right for Noches de Hungria. Various people spoke to me in a good way about the event. Most of them, women who they were not looking for a partner as the registration was single registration. I took the decisions with all the comments in mind but I didn’t have special expectations. At the end, the event was a really nice surprise for the atmosphere.

One of the good point of this marathon was the dance room and his arrangement. I knew the event is a big one and I was sure to find a big dance floor. However, there was more than just a dance floor. There was a lot of space all around to sit and speak with people. To be more precise, you could find a first raw of comfortable armchairs and sofas, a corridor to let people walk, stay stand to look at the dances and a second raw of sofas. If you add the lights, some additional decoration like the candles and the air conditioning keeping the right temperature, it was the perfect place to mix dance and social interactions.

I spent also a lot of time wandering all around the dance floor to chat or to invite. I was not alone. Men were not standing all at the same spot and there was also freedom for the women. The comment of a girl confirmed my impression when she said she didn’t feel any forbidden place. The other good effect of various invitation spot is also people were entering all around the dance-floor, so no slow traffic. After, regarding the navigation, there was good and bad. For my last tanda, I was between the worse and the best.

The number of participants was high but fit well to the location. There mix was good. Thinking quickly, all Europe was represented. I was really surprised to see 3 other dancers from Belgium - I really didn’t expect to see them here - and maybe a dozen of girls from Moscow. The organizers did well with the selection in terms of atmosphere also. From what I heard, it was far better than the previous year. Women were also really happy with the leaders as you had an important number of good dancers open to dance, so a lot of options.

Even with all these dancers, I think I spent more time than usually to speak with people and  I didn’t dance with a lot of new dancers. It is maybe the fact I didn’t see some friends since a long time as we didn’t have the same destinations this year. Let’s say it is easily one year I didn’t meet some women from Southern countries. At the end, I was very surprised to dance with only one girl from Budapest (I asked around, I was not alone).

My “minus” about the event will go for the food at night: a lot of people and really few places to eat. Quality was nice but conditions were not good to enjoy it. While I was sharing a cab with dancers on the arriving, we were already talking about food in general. I think we had all the same conclusion “Why events in big cities spend energy with dinner when there are so many places to go in the city ?”. Dinners are often not so great (for various conditions and here in particular, the location to eat). Brunch is quite different as you have not the big rush of the dancers. Anyway, brunch was nice and fruits as snacks were delicious.

About the DJ, hum not this time... I heard just half of them. Saturday was a great day with Konrad Krynski and Karolina TK. I stayed from the brunch to almost midnight. Just after the dinner, I had two solutions, stay a little more and go to bed after a really long day or go home to change and come back. But I know I will not come back with the second option. So I decided to stay a little more for the music and for the space. It was a really good moment where you don’t have so many people but everybody is very opened.

At the end, I had a really good time, just too short.

Prices:

marathon pass - 110 €

Free water, coffee, tea.

A little shop with additional food and drink at first floor.

Food:

Snacks and really nice fruits.

Brunchs and warm meals at night.

Accomodation:

Some recommendation on the website http://noches.hu/ and a lot of options in the center.

It happens you are waiting so much for an event than you count the days. It was my case this time, and it was also the case of several friends. Two weeks before the event, we were counting the days at each milonga we met. This kind of waiting time can be really bad when the event is finally didn’t reach your expectations. Las Perseidas organizers just offered the best marathon I participated in Poland until now.

The marathon took places in the Central Library of Agricultural University in the old town of Warsaw. The ballroom with wooden floor is huge and dedicated only to the dance. No comments about the quality of floor, it was perfect to dance. Tables were placed on 3 sides of the room with space to let people wander around without entering on the dancefloor. A good point in this room are the big windows which let daylight enter and change naturally the atmosphere of the room. The venue was decorated with flowers, a little touch to give a little of life to the majestic decoration.

Drink and food were organized in the hall just before the ballroom and an additional little cantina with the bar in another room. Food was provided all along the marathon on a big buffet. It was just impossible to starve: vegetables, fruits and cake all along the event, sandwich, soups and croissant at special moments. Variety of water was another touch of the organisation, simple water, water with lemon or mint... Brunchs (with crepes) on the terrace were good moment to meet dancers. The terrace was also a good place to cool-down on long chair on the sun during the day and with blanket during the night. The weather was nice to enjoy this terrace all along the event.

The number of participants was not so high, a little more than 200, but I felt like I was in a bigger event. This kind of event at one moment you loose the people you would like to dance with and that let you a little frustrated as you will not spend as much time as you want with the friends you see once per year. At the end, I have this impression (which is not the reality) I didn't dance with half of the women I know and that I danced with almost nobody unknown. This effect is just the result of the size of the event as now I really prefer small events for the intimate aspect .

I didn't have problems to invite during the event. As I already know a lot of people there, it was quite easy to cabeceu. It was not the case of some friends who were in Poland for their first or second times. Some got this newcomers difficulty to catch miradas on Friday and even on Saturday. On Sunday, this difficulty usually disappear with the last hours motivation and as men also get more solid miradas from women. The dynamic created by the men standing at the doors also didn't help in this situation. You see it when men want fast and easy invitations on Friday and decide to create a spot at some doors where all the women will look during the rest of the week end. As it happens often when this attraction point is created, just half of the room was used by the dancers for invitations. Really few were the dancers who wanted to sit far from these doors.

The selection of the participants was one of the great success of the event with a real variety of countries. In general, in Poland, you get at least half of polish dancers, one quarter of dancers from Ukraine and Belorussian, and you fill the rest with other countries. This time, and you could see it quite easily, the public was really more diverse. Polish dancers were not so many (from my perception 1/5 when they were 2/5) and representing the whole country (Warsaw, Lodz, Krakow, Wroclaw and some other cities, don't ask me the names !!!). I don't want to imagine how many hearts the organizers broke in Warsaw with this selection. (It is hard to be an organizer...). Each other country had a little delegation of dancers. Russia, Ukraine, Bielorussia were well represented of course, but also Norway and Finland (it is surprising so many Nordics dancers pass the baltics countries and so far from the sea). An important number of dancers came from the west Europe with Germany, France, Germany, UK, Belgium, Germany and even Portugal - a lot of Germans in fact. If you add Turkey, Israel, Greece, you get also a good south part.

The other great point of the event was the circulation. Rules were indicated in different places, in particular in the toilet (please don’t write again in the toilet you are watching us :p) and most of the dancers were social. You could see that with the fact the people decided to create a second line only when the first was completely full. As it happens everywhere, Friday was well crowded and a little messy but it was less messy than more of the event. Dancing was easy even with traffic. The problem came just from the entrances which were not yet well identified by the dancers, everybody entering just by one little side of the dance-floor. From Saturday, the craft-floor was very good as people were entering on 2 sides creating more flow. Organizers also created a little more spaces between some tables to show the different entrances to the dancers.

The atmosphere was a little too serious in the ballroom. The back of the room near the DJ was often empty as people preferred to stay in the first part near the door. On one side, it gave some tranquility to the dancers when they were in this part of the room, but on the other side, it was a little sad people just use half of the room. It was more relaxed outside comparing to the calm of the sacred dance room. The balcony with the calming sound of the water fountain was certainly the best place of the event to relax, to meet new people, to chat, to take sun, look at the city,... The difference of atmosphere let you choose which one you prefer but let you a little outside of the place to dance if you prefer casual atmosphere.

And to finish, my feelings about the DJ. As usual, if you are too sensitive to read comments about your favorites DJ, just pass the following section.

The selection of DJ was great but in the case of this marathon, the planning was also great. It gave each DJ the right moment to express their music (except maybe for John who got the off-peak hours). The links between the DJ is often not so clear. I know the secret behind the schedule but I will keep it for me.

Przemek Mielcarek (Thursday pre party) - I was not there. I have no idea how was the pre party. :)

Francesco Cieschi (Friday evening) - I didn’t know this Italian DJ before and it was a good choice to open the marathon. Catchy music but not too pushy for the beginning. It was a good set to meet people and dance the first tandas of the marathon.

Semeon Kukormin (Friday night) - I didn’t stay for the set (I prefered to sleep in the metro going back gome...). People seemed satisfied with the night. I heard it was a classic Semeon’s night. I still keep in mind he was really good for evening time last time I heard him and would like to hear him more outside of the night moment. 

Jakub Ciczkowski (Saturday afternoon) - Jakub’s set was the one who gave me the less the will to dance. The music was good but maybe too quiet for me. It was missing a little spicy / dynamic things. I spent half of the time speaking with friends while just hearing the music. I am used to dance a lot more during the afternoons, so it was surprising for me. In the end, it was a good afternoon mixing dances and chats.

John Yingren Tan (Saturday evening) - John got the worse time schedule of the event as most of the dancers left the event for dinner and rest. No big cinema opening as he is used to do and a calm music to keep the few couples still present. In fact, it was a good moment to dance with various new dancers. Most of the dancers came back late, at this moment John increased the energy of the music and put some surprises during the last tandas of the set. But he had not enough time to finish the crescendo of tangos. It gave a good opening to Mik. 

Mik Avramienko (Saturday night) - I stayed only for the first hour of the set of Mik. The music was dynamic and I dance almost all the tandas. I could have stayed more just to hear a little more of the set but I left completely exhausted after the full day of dance. From what I saw, Mik seems to be very attentive to the dancers, standing beside his computer watching the dancers. You could eventually read in his mind “are they all enjoying the music ?”

Karolina Tkaczuk (Sunday afternoon) - Karolina played well during the afternoon and she also played well with the dancers. She has a lot of surprises in her tandas. Various nice song with women singing (Nina Miranda was cut...) and nice Biagi’s one. The energy can change quite a lot from one tanda to another and appeal the tastes of different dancers.

Larisa Geravker (Sunday evening) - I stayed only half of the set but the music was joyful to finish the marathon. Who can not like a DJ who prepare tandas of milongas with 4 songs. I finished with a tanda of milonga. It was perfect to end the marathon. Thanks to the DJ and my partner for this best one.

Prices:

marathon pass - 65 €

Free water, coffee, tea

A bar to sell alcohol, various polish beers.

Food:

Snacks, vegetables fruits during all the week end.

Two brunchs and two warm meal during evening/night. Additional food during the night.

Accomodation:

Various recommendations near the venue : http://lasperseidas.pl/language/en/accomodation/

The KALEIDOSCOPE tango marathon was announced by the organizers (Ekaterina, Iri and Mary, from the left to the right below) as a friendly event, for old friends and for new one. My first impression was a colourful event where they tried to create the best conditions to share a good moment, dancing and chatting. My last impression - they succeeded.

For the 2016 edition, the KALEIDOSCOPE tango marathon was organised in the Center of Moscow (city edition) in an easy place to reach. It is really enjoyable when you don’t have to travel hours to reach a place out of the city. The marathon took also place in “The dome”, some kind of lounge bar complex. It is composed of several rooms prepared for the marathon: changing room, bar/resting room, dancefloor... The marathon was principally divided in 2 clear zones, a social zone - with the bar and a bid space to relax on sofas and chairs - and the dancefloor - with just few sitting places. I like this kind of dancefloor as you have nobody wandering around and disturbing the dance. It let you also more intimacy while you are dancing. It gave me an impression of El Corte with this placement.

The floor was quite good to dance. I didn’t complain at all. The long room allows 2 lines of dancers. The craft floor was good even if there is only 2 doors to let the dancers enter on the dance floor. A little of traffic on Friday but nothing compared to most of the events. After this first night, dancers took the reflex to enter deeper and this little issue disappeared. The sound was also great in all the room, near the DJ or in the back of the room. At night, few decorations create a soft light. The room stay as a quite place dedicated to the dance.

I can also say material conditions were pretty good for the event. However, what surprised me the most was all the work of the organizers to create even better conditions with attention, these “immaterial” conditions. I will just give you here a small glimpse of it as I am myself still discovering details in this marathon. From the beginning, each participant received a bracelet to play with words (if you want to understand this one, come to the next edition :) ) and a personalized programme full of kaleidoscope colours. You could also have a personalized glass, one more nice memory. I saw various time organizers checking if everything was all right “let’s see if everybody is enjoying, is everything all right ?”, “this girl don’t have chair, I will bring one to her”, “I will take care of my DJ with fruits”... With all these kind thoughts and the sharp attentions, you were just in the perfect situation to have a good moment.

The number of participants was not so high. At first, I was expecting a bigger event but this size is the one I like. Not too many people as you can’t recognize nobody and the good number to find easily the dancers with who you want to dance. From my few different experiences in Russia, I think it was the most Russian event. There was however almost 10 courageous foreigner girls but less men from abroad as I used to see. Political events and the multiple event in South of Europe in Summer are the main reasons for this situation.

A problem was surely the balance (more a problem for girls). During the afternoon, I didn’t see the difference leader/follower but at night is was clear that there were more women. However, it seems some women were here to spend a time with their friends and not really to hunt for dances all the time. No pressure so... I could not hold back a smile when a girl from Moscow told me with innocence “but it is a good balance for Russia”.

Russia is really a nice place to do to dance, eastern embrace... I had a lot of nice tandas during the week end with old and new friends, exactly as I announced it should be at the beginning :). Cabeceu/mirada were really easy in the social part. Too bad there was not more time. With this relaxed atmosphere, I really took my time and the week-end ended without I saw it.

The pre-party and the after-party took place in local milongas. The pre party was too crowded and too hot for me. I just danced with 3 friends I didn’t dance with since a long time. The afterparty in planetango was more calm. After midnight, a lot of dancers left as they had to work the day after. I stayed until 3 am and enjoyed the last tandas.

I also spent time visiting the city (centre of the city, museums, parcs) as the sun was really a good mate during this week end. Moscow is completely different when it is sunny that with snow (of course... but you should see it). I am seriously thinking to take a full week next time I will travel there.

And now, some feelings about the DJ (so if you don’t like to read comments about your favourites DJ, you can skip this part) - There was clearly different styles between the DJ and tastes for everybody. I liked this mix.

Catherine Neacat (Friday evening) - I really enjoyed the first part of the set with a lot of tangos I like. I danced a lot during this first part. But I didn’t really appreciate the second part. The energy was going down slowly  (tango singer / pugliesse / vals singer / more singers...) as for the end of a milonga. It was well controlled but I didn’t find it appropriate to finish the first set of a marathon.

Santiago Castro (Friday night) - Santiago put back the energy, just what was missing. I stayed two hours. The music was interested and dynamic. I left after a really nice milonga / chacareca. Time for bed after a first night of marathon...

Gabriela Ioana Manea (Saturday afternoon) - I missed the set of this DJ as I was wandering around in the city. I arrived for her last tanda... I heard only comments from satisfied dancers.

Semeon Kukormin (Saturday evening) - So I began to dance on Saturday with Semeon. For the first time, I heard him at a different moment as the big night moment. His musics were a little different as I have heard before. It was more dynamic but with still with the softness touch. He also adapted to the dinner break with a break of chacarera and zamba when dancers were leaving to rest.

Goran Niksic (Saturday night) - I liked the first part of his set but after some time, I didn’t feel any more the music, too drama maybe. Goran was still dancing behind his laptop and I was really surprised looking at him and thinking how different feelings can give a music to different people.

Peppe Sagliapign Di Gennaro (Sunday afternoon) - I liked only half of his selection of music. There was huge differences between each tanda with dynamic/slow, periods. I didn’t see the set as one entity. I was curious about his selection and I asked around to know if he was playing usually like that (at first I was thinking it was to give rest to the dancers because of the heat). And it seems it is his style. However, I really liked the choice of different/modern milongas, a good chance to avoid to hear on Sunday the same as during the whole week end and there was also interesting song. But I keep this impression of a roller coaster. I still have a mixed impression about it.

Prices:

marathon pass - 95 €

Free water

A bar in the event to have different beverages and additional sandwiches for example.

Food:

Snacks and fruits during all the week end. Fruits to hydrate and refresh during the afternoon, pancacke all Friday night, cakes and various more all along the marathon.

Two dinners, Friday and Saturday nights. Food was really nice for marathon food, with vegetarian food.

Accomodation:

Two hotels recommended need the event venue and also nice hosts.

Over the last 2 years I’ve heard several times about the Remolino festival. Eyes of Western men shine when they tell you how great the festival is. It seems to be a magical place full of beautiful followers waiting for you to dance. Legendary milongas where you can enjoy hours of warm tango in the cold winter of Ukraine. I was really puzzled by these stories and I was also surprised to hear a lot of positive feedback from the women. It seems it is not a dream.

Now, if we look seriously at the facts: 12 days of festival, 10 hours of dance per day (without counting the after-parties). Nice DJs every day, free workshops (DJ and circulation). Ok, let’s give a try.

Preparing a trip at the last minute during the festive season can be full of surprises. The bad ones would be the difficulties to find a suitable direct flight or accommodation in a country with cyrillic alphabet and the good ones would be the help of the event organizers and of the tango community. At the end, I got lucky with help and good advice. I traveled to Lviv as a Polish dancer would do, taking the bus from Warsaw to Lviv. It was quite special traveling hours in Poland when we were covered by snow and spending a few hours at the border for passport verification. If you don’t have time to enjoy the old-style travel, then just fly there.

The festival takes place at the top of the Hotel Dnister. The entire floor is reserved for the event. There is enough place to sit inside or outside. Lights give a soft atmosphere. The sound system is good, 4 music spots in each corner. The floor is good to dance and turn. There is also various places to enter. If the number of dancers get too high, the place to dance changes for a bigger place with a shuttle from the Hotel to go there. I already left when it happened but it seems it was a good place looking at the photos, even better from what I hear from dancers who said they felt like in an old Argentinian sport club.

Maybe it was a first experience for Remolino festival - there is gender balance. Yes, this year there is almost the same number of leaders and followers. What is usually common for marathons is in the case of a festival quite surprising. Everybody can also enjoy and dance. As usual, a lot of men wait at the beginning of the milonga while the women arrive later. So I took the chance in the beginning to send pictures of the pack of men waiting, to a Ukrainian tanguera traveling in Turkey with some comments as “Hey, Turkish dancers are in Remolino, not in Turkey!”. It was funny and she arrived before the end of the festival to enjoy it.

However, the not so bright side of the gender balance in festivals is what I would identify as the “laziness” of the women during the invitation phase. Why do the effort of the Mirada when you don’t have too much competition and when men consequently begin to come directly to your table? The march of the leaders between the tables trying to obtain a nod for a dance is really sad. The lack of refinement of the consent / non-consent even worse. Now, the good point of the bad side - if you want a good tanda - try to catch the few girls who are indeed using the mirada/cabeceu. You will not be disappointed. I also got one of my best invitation ever, hearing the beginning of a milonga and thinking “I want to dance with her”, going to look for her and meeting her half-way as she is also looking for me. Who said telepathic invitation is impossible?

The quality of the music was maybe what surprised me the most. I was there 5 days and I was only bored once by the music. Well, the music that one time was not bad, it was just not my taste, too many romantic songs for an afternoon. Usually, in big events, we can all complain about strange DJs. So, nice choice. There was also a break of chacarera during each milonga. I don’t dance it because I don’t like it so much but it is ok to see people enjoying dancing it. But, it was really boring when the chacarera took the place of a milonga. It happened several times and it was too hard to wait 2 hours to dance milonga… Lovers of valse would think the same.

Remolino seems to be full of DJs. I spoke with DJs, I ate with DJs, I danced with DJs… You also start to feel yourself as a DJ if you participate to the workshop dedicated to music. The first workshop was free. There, I learned how to cut music to prepare tandas and even if it will not be of any use during the next months or years, it was good to see the work behind small details of tandas. Tandas often give an atmosphere to the milonga but creating an atmosphere is not so easy. The milongas begin only at the end of the afternoon and you have time to visit the city. Lviv is full of nice building and churchs. The Christmas market is also a good place to drink hot wine and eat some specialities. There are also other little markets on smaller places. You can also find Polish monuments as one dedicated to Adam Mickiewiz as the city used to be Polish once upon a time. There are also a lot of cafés and restaurants. You can easily find a place to have a hot drink. I will not make a list. You should simply walk the streets and discover what you like. When you come from the center to go to the festival, if you climb into a park where children are sledging, you are on the good way.

For me, the event was a good, well organized and after 5 days of good music and tandas, I was completely out of energy and full of good moments. The comments from the girls was positive even if some would have preferred a higher dance level. As for the men, for sure if you go there thinking you will catch girls instead of thinking about tango, you’ll be greatly disappointed.

Prices:

Night milongas — 10€ per night Day milongas — 2€ per day Morning afterparties — free of charge Navigation classes — certainly free of charge

Location:

Dnister Hotel 6, Mateyka Street, Lviv 79007, Ukraine

Food/Drink:

You can eat and drink at the hotel. There is a special menu during the event to avoid to wait too much time at the restaurant (but you have to order your meal the day before)

The city is full nice places. You need 10-15 minutes walking to arrive to the firsts streets with restaurants. A lot of different styles. Just take care during New Year's eve.

Supermarkets are opened late (often 9 - 10 pm).

Accomodation:

You can stay at the festival venue - Hotel Dnister.

http://www.dnister.lviv.ua/en/rooms/

from €35 (standard room) to €90 (luxury suit) during New Year period (31/12-2/01)

from €28,5 (standard room) to €56 (luxury suit) other days

I stayed at a hostel near the hotel with other dancers and had really great moments (New Year's eve was really on top). I also like to meet people in this way. Maybe I will tell you the stories…

For now here are some pictures from my adventure: My Facebook Remolino Album

Entering into a world of art, Otoño en Paris is more than a Tango Marathon - it's a cultural landmark of Paris. Organizing it for the second year, Nina kept people happy with her kind smile and humble approach. 

Everyone in the team contributed not only with their assigned duties but with plenty of smiles and jokes and made people feel right at home. 

One important thing about a tango event is the host. There is never a guarantee for perfection. At this event for example, the food arrived quite late on the Friday. But as long as the host is attentive and talks to people, arranges alternative foods while waiting like fresh fruits, olives, cheese and more.. Then.. You don't mind the delay. And just like a good partner, the marathon became better and better with time. The dinner Saturday was both timely and highly appreciated. 

The brunch was complete with delicious fresh croissants and a solid recipe was taken out to make the scrambled eggs. The big Italian archetype of a chef and his team spread laughters during all the servings. 

The dance floor was jam-packed in the evenings, but it was always moving and people very respectful. The afternoons and early evenings was however the most relaxed and fun hours of dance. Like always at Tango Marathons?

DJs kept a good level of energy throughout the entire weekend. Most appreciated was the Saturday night. The Turkish duo DJ Ramo and Gogo kept the night highly animated right until the finishing line at 6 am. They had plenty of local support from the big team of Turkish tangueros and tangueras. Could 20 dancers from Turkey be a representative number? DJ La Ros ended the official part of the Tango Marathon with a supreme grace and energy.

The dresses were a popular attraction with Tangolace & Two to Tango there with their special collections. Also the shoe section by TangocollectionParis was well explored.  

There’s always this little myth that Parisians are stuffy - well I actually am - but they completely busted that myth. 

A large crowd of both international and French dancers were warmly received in this capital city. And as an extra bonus we got to meet some new Parisians joining just for the after party.  

I made so many new friends! Here are all my pictures: LINK

Other info: 

Price for 3 days 120 EUR, Fri 7 - Sun 9 November including the Sunday after party starting 20.00. (Early bird price 110 EUR)

Included 4 meals and continuous flow of snacks, fruits, water, coffee, tea and smiles.

Location: Old move studio Albatros east of Paris in the neighborhood of Montreuil. Easy access from the centre with Metro 9 (around 10 stops, no change), good hotels like the Ibis and AirBnB offers close the the venue. 

Address 52, Rue Sergent Bobillot, Metro Station Croix de Chaveaux (nr 9)

Links:

The event on Facebook 

The Facebook page

Outside, more than 20 degrees for the second part of October, a sun so high and bright you could stay under for a sunbath, inside a warm atmosphere and smiles dazzling as the sun at the end of the dances. The place was completely decorated (painted) by Eva and it was really creative. At night, the lightning effects gave a new atmosphere and it seems the painting transformed in reality.

It was impossible to compete with the Nature during this week end and the beginning of the days were calm. But at the end of the afternoon, dancers arrived to share the homemade food before dancing untill the end... The atmosphere was friendly, indeed familiar.

The set of DJ was really nice. The beginning of the milongas were progressive with modern and traditional tango. José and Jonas did a great job to please the dancers. We also had the chance to hear live piano music to finish the Saturday milonga (but it was already Sunday because we didn't stop at midnight as we should). I though Germans were more punctual - in this case, it is good to be late.

There was no registration for the event but the parity was perfect. However, men had to wait for the women (we all know they like when we wait...). Dancers were coming from Germany, Luxembourg, Austria and Belgium! It was not a wooden floor but with their gentle care, it was really great to dance on it.

It was a long trip to arrive there but I don't regret it.

Here’s my pictures of the event: Karlsruhe Tango Marathon, 18-19/10 2014

Here's my pictures with the pandastic Thes (or pandalicous ?): Karlsruhe bonus - Sunnyday with thes

Other info:

Price: 35€ for two days (23 for Saturday and 17 for Sunday). Free coffee, tea and water. Homemade food at the place from 1€ to 4€ (soups, bretzels, sausages, antipastis and a lot of cakes!!!!) Accomodation: nice help to find places to sleep