Transformation Tango Workshop

Tango Samadhi

Exploring Tango as a contemplative dance

With Sonja Riket & Camille Cusumano

Saturday, October 1, 2011, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

San Francisco Zen Conference Center

300 Page Street, San Francisco (near Laguna)

Pre-registration – $75 ($85 at the door) –


Mail registration: Send checks or money orders to:

Transformation Tango, c/o Camille Cusumano, P.O. Box 475099, SF, CA 94147

Class size is limited, early registration is recommended

OPEN TO: Everyone, from pre-beginner to experienced levels – No dance experience necessary – No partner needed

WEAR: socks or soft-soled shoes (suede bottom), loose, comfortable clothing

BRING: your embrace and an open mind; a bag lunch – Beverages available on site – Cafes are in the area.

More information: Contact Camille at ocaramia@mac.com; or 415-425-6515; or Sonja Riket, intimate_embrace_tango@earthlink.net, (415) 661-1852.

Sonja Riket is a Somatic Movement Therapist, Certified Feldenkrais and Body-Mind Centering Teacher, and a faculty member at the SF Community Music Center. Her 30-year professional dance career combined with decades of meditative practices inform her unique approach to teaching Argentine  tango. Sonja is the founder of the San Francisco Somatic Wellness Program at the Women’s Building and the Tango Revolution Orchestra in residence at Caffe Trieste, downtown San Francisco. www.IntimateEmbraceTango.com.

Camille Cusumano is the author of Tango, an Argentine Love Story; she teaches tango to seniors around the Bay Area.

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP

This workshop for non-dancers and dancers alike is full of surprises and spontaneous creativity. Tango (“it takes two”) is a metaphor for life because it is a dance of improvisation born of a most primal human urge: to connect, or be intimate with self and other. The workshop includes learning to “tango walk” in embrace, sharing, writing, discussion, and more. Camille will chat briefly about the writing of her book and living and dancing in Buenos Aires.

From Sonja Riket: “Argentine tango is a way of walking. The movement explorations allow us to find stillness within and listen and respond to another’s presence. We will learn the basic steps as the music ‘dances’ us into a greater place of freedom. True partnership emerges in the interchange between the roles of lead and follow. These skills can easily transfer to our daily life and relationships.  As we move into the heart of tango a joyous creativity and spontaneity emerge in the spirit of improvisation. Within the tango embrace, a non-verbal communication of heart, body, and soul, we find common ground in our humanity. It is an antidote against isolation, separation, and fearful existence we are led to believe is necessary. What better way to come home to ourselves and to connect with each other across our differences than the non-verbal power of a musical and dance embrace, listening and moving together as one?”