Merlin (yes, this is his real name) was born in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany, where he spent the first six years of his life. Thereafter, he lived near Zürich, Switzerland for four years, before he moved back to Germany – to the lovely Alpine town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. There, he was a successful ski racer for many years. During his freshman year in college, he attended the first practice of Ballet Folklórico de Stanford, and since then has hardly missed any practice. Ballet Fólklorico has become his passion – to the extent that he has set up a ballet practice room in the abandoned swimming pool in his house (with a giant Mexican flag as decoration), spontaneously performed dances of the region of Jalísco with a mariachi group in the pedestrian zone of Mittenwald, Germany, and has danced ballet on a flight from Germany to San Francisco (in the bathroom area, when nobody was watching).
However, Ballet Folklórico de Stanford means much more to Merlin than just dancing. The group has become his family in the US, and he cannot imagine life at Stanford without it. Thank you for everything!
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