I have just returned from a five-week stay in Buenos Aires and would like to express my heartfelt thanks to Argentina Tango for ensuring I had the time of my life.

I stumbled across their website pretty much by accident when contemplating going to the New Zealand Tango Festival earlier this year. While browsing the site I started giving serious thought to sign up for an intensive one-month tango course and so fired off an email with a whole load of questions.

I received a prompt reply from Carlos, who was very helpful and more than happy to elaborate on what would be involved. More than anything, he gave me the reassurance that my absolute beginner status would not be a hurdle and that learning the tango in one month could be done! Payment was straightforward and carried out online and we stayed in touch throughout the months prior to my arrival. I was picked up from the airport by Cynthia, who went through my entire schedule with me and gave me an insight on what to expect at the milongas.

I was put up in a great apartment in the heart of Palermo, a perfect location, with easy access to the Subte, shops, restaurants, cafés and beautiful parks. My lessons started immediately the day after my arrival and were structured in two daily blocks of two hours with plenty of time in between to allow for other activities or simply to rest my feet.

Throughout the course, I had a variety of teachers, each designed to come in at different stages of my progress. Carlos kept a watchful eye on this and regularly danced with me to get a feel for how I was doing. He also contacted my teachers to receive their comments and feedback. All my teachers were very inspiring and I thoroughly enjoyed working with each and every one of them.

The lessons were very challenging and rather reminded me of being back at school sometimes, but my enthusiasm never waned, thanks largely to the constant encouragement and good humor of my teachers. I really enjoyed the one-on-one setting of the lessons as it allowed us to go into a lot of detail and enabled me to understand the more technical side of the dance.

I started going to milongas after only a couple of days of lessons and while I did have my moments of succumbing to stage fright and feeling as elegant as an elephant, this improved over the course of my stay, as did my dancing and my self-confidence. I met many great people in the milongas and have every intention of returning to Buenos Aires.

Tango has become part of my life now and I cannot imagine being without it. I was very sad to leave Buenos Aires and to have to face reality once again. I was accompanied back to the airport, with Carlos making sure I went through passport control (just in case I changed my mind!) and boarded my plane to its rightful destination.

I had the most incredible five weeks; the tango was all I had hoped it to be, and more. It was an experience I will not forget and one that I would highly recommend to anyone contemplating something similar. Argentina Tango went out of their way to make my stay enjoyable and special, exceeding all my expectations. Therefore I am giving a big thank you from one very happy tango dancer.

Claire Weyland from Luxembourg, Luxembourg