"Gent" Gent by ptitetoile

The old town of Gent is really nice (more infos to come)...

Gent is known for its exposition hall : the Flanders Expo... so it was great to do there a dance performance for the Cuban Tourist Office and the travel agency Jetair for their winter roadshows evening!

On Eastern Sunday, the famous "Noche de la Pasion" took place in the casino in Gent.
I guess that is the biggest tango and salsa event in Belgium...and also the oldier (15th edition) !!!
I went already there twice in the beginning of my passion for tango (four and three years ago) and I thought that I knew already what it was and it was not necessary a must... But it was the birthday of my friend Corine and that was what she wanted to do on this day, so I could not resist her! And I really don't regret it because I spent a great time!!!!
First , the show of the tango dancers (on the big stage in the salsa room) was amazing and breathtaking! And long!!!!! There were four great couples : a tango couple from Antwerpen (Luc&Nancy), two from Buenos Aires (Demian&Carolina - for pictures of them see Nijmegen- and Gustavo&Paula) and one from Paris (Veronique&Thierry). Each couple danced 3 or 4 times and the show lasted one hour!
I think that the favorite couple of the public was this time Gustavo & Paula : a new, refreshing tango, full of grace, intensity and originality!!! Tango with them was "aerial", light, floating... All move were extended and elastic to the extreem. They played with the balance on a very unusual way. The flexibility of Paula was impressive : was she an acrobat in a previous life? They mastered not only the modern tango but also the traditionnal tango. Really Inspiring....
The performance of Thierry&Veronique was also particulary appreciated : they were completely different : really close and deep into the ground/floor and that was impressive just for this reason! Their dance was precise, original, playful, based on improvisation...and their 40ies look was really charming and cute!
After the tango show came the salsa show : we could first appreciate a complete different music : the son, the father of the salsa, with exotic, flashy and funny dancers. In salsa also, we could then appreciate a original dance : a group of four girls - two were disguised in men and danced with their female partners !

After the show, I went to the tango giant ball room...Knowing that there would be a lot of people and that it would be more difficult to find a partner that I knew to dance with, I did not had so much expectations. In the beginning, it was much too crowded but it was OK to stay there without dancing and just watch. At half past twelve, there was a "surprise act" by the tango couples that made us the joy to dance again, this time in the middle of us, one or two of their choreographied or improvised tangos. After that, a lot of people went away and there was enough place to dance and I had a lot of fun dancing in a so big room, extending my moves and doing so much boleos and saccadas as my partners allowed me to do :-) The second part of the live music of the orchestra (after the surprise act) was also very good (for me, better than the first part) and energizing. After having dancing a while, I went with my friend to the salsa room to evacuate all the energy that still remained at 3 o'clock!!! And I danced a lot with new dancers and also dancers from Brussels... The floor was a bit too slippery but the music was really good : all the best salsa "tubes" !!!! The DJ was the DJ of the salsa club "Los Romanticos" in Brussels... At 4.30 am, it was time to go to bed....and we left the casino with a smile!