It's been a while since I have been dancing in Amsterdam in a marathon. I guess it's about 2 or 3 years ago - I remember a lovely location at the water, but ok dancing. Ah yes, it has been the year of the soccer world championship, because Germany won the final against Argentina! What an emotional rollercoaster for a tanguera, I remember!
But back to "business": with Soñando marathon some people tried to establish a new marathon, and a curious soul like me loves to go to new events. Coincidence helped as well, since I had a stop-over anyway in Amsterdam on my way back from Argentina, so why not extend it for a whole weekend and try this new event?
Another very beautiful location at the water - lovely views, a stylish interior, some surprises (dancing beside a big aquarium with lots of fishes) included. Unfortunately a stone floor, which wasn't announced and I missed to ask about the floor when I registered. So my knees sang hallelujah.
The crowd has been a mixture of encuentro folks (which I don't know well), and some marathonees. The age has been slightly older than a typical marathon, and the level of dancing has been slightly lower. But meeting new people is always interesting and makes the social life at the side more fun, and there is more to explore. (The weather did not really invite me to explore the city of Amsterdam, so I preferred to explore the people).
DJ in front of beautiful wall painting; credits: Jean-Pierre
The well stocked bar with impressing lamp! credits: Jean-Pierre
The DJ's were quite an exquisite selection, most of them made me very happy with their musical choices. My personal best DJ set has been from Karolina TK.
The selection of food included in the price was nice, though eating dinner from bambus plates with wooden (?) cutlery gave the meals a strange touch and taste. I still prefer re-usable porcellain plates and real silverware. Same goes for the coffee. One could buy some good coffee at the bar, but only in paper cups. I asked the bar staff about it, and they said they don't have enough cups for that many people. Hm.
As an accommodation recommendation many of us stayed in the Lloyd hotel - a very impressive architectural building. It has a colorful history (built as a accommodation for emigrants before they left the harbour of Amsterdam with direction Americas, later used as a hospital as well as detention centre, in the 1990's as an art space before finally remodelled as an unique hotel) and is worth exploring through all floors. It is located a 10 min walk from the marathon venue, directly at the water. Vis-a-vis of the hotel there is a nice cafe with home roasted coffe beans, where we often in the morning (haha!) stopped by for a good coffee. So for us bon vivants of tango it felt simply like a paradise!
As far as I understood the organizers will be back with another marathon soon, and I can truly recommend it for all of you dancers who feel a bit too old on a marathon and a bit too young in an encuentro ;-)
