Herşey Aşk’tan – All Comes from Love. The name of a shop near Galata Tower. The symbol is lovely and of course, I have earrings!
I really enjoyed my visit in Istanbul. And now that I am back in Berlin I miss certain aspects.
It helped that the weather was sunny and warm-ish and that I could see the sea almost anywhere I looked.
I went to several milongas and found that possibly due to the many different studio locations’ sizes, that the milongas were small and not as packed as I would have assumed them to be. But I found some nice dancers at each milonga and even managed to dance with several new dancers at each. It seemed that each milonga I went to had a different set of people attending. Only a couple of times did I see the same, one or two people a couple of nights in a row. Interesting.
I was so happy to share Restorative Exercise with a handful of eager and attentive students. What a great thing to see bodies change and make sense of the information quickly.
Teaching Ladies Technique is always fun for me and I couldn’t believe that 3 hours of it was too short!!! The biggest thing I notice time and again is the stopping of momentum on pivots.
I don’t think you can have energy efficient pivots if you don’t fully understand where your body is.
Some more highlights included of course the visit to the Spice Bazaar. Zeynep had interviewed 
one of the stall owners for her documentary and highly recommended I go to stall 51 – Ucuzcular. What a wonderful highlight. The owner, Bilge, gave me a tasting of several of the spice concoctions: delicious flavors and scents filled my head! A creamy garlicky powder to add to sauces or dips. A spicy but delicate mix for a rub. A chef’s delight for sure. A must visit if you ever go to Istanbul.
Sharing Raki and Balik – an anisette like beverage that really does go well with fish (balik).
Irfan and I performed and I still don’t have the videos of that! So that will have to be a surprise at a later date.
I ate my way through several turkish lira of my favorite dried mulberries (dut) and cashews. And the day before I left, cherries showed up on the market stalls! Absolute heaven for me!
I received such wonderful feedback from the students I taught. I really can’t imagine doing anything but teaching!
Here I share more lovely pictures from my visit.
I am in Berlin for most of the month of May. I am looking forward to substitute teaching at TangoLoft again for several Saturdays (see my calendar for the schedule). Also, I will be heading to Hamburg to see Graciela Gonzalez. She is part of a Festivalito there and I can’t wait to see her and take class with her again and I will be translating for her as well. It will be my first time in Hamburg.
Some of you have missed me so much that we have had the opportunity to skype and do some lessons and body alignment work that way. SO let me know if you are interested.