Oh, how many people told me “You won’t find tango in Nairobi?” They didn’t know Mario Ruggier, a native of Malta and naturalized Canadian who came by way of Geneva two years ago to work in Nairobi in an engineering capacity for the U.N. also. (There are some 25,000 expats in Kenya.) Mario found that only ersatz tango—the ballroom stuff of stiff frame, bodies held apart, making like a tulip. So he began to teach the real thing, Argentine tango and now he has a good following. I was received with open arms and close embrace.
I could’ve danced all night
February 1, 2011 by
Original article here. [VIA Magazine, 1999, photo 2007, Kent Wade, Buenos Aires] On a nine-day cruise across the Atlantic, swinging to the Big Band sound of Tommy Dorsey was a breeze—especially for women traveling alone. By Camille Cusumano (photo, Kent Wade) A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle, I chanted […]
Rubbing up against a stranger (tango)
November 17, 2010 by
From National Geographic Traveler, October, 2010 NOW AND THEN, in Buenos Aires, I have the urge to rub against a man I’ve never met. When that occurs, I usually go to La Boca . . .
The Tango Lesson for Virgins
December 26, 2009 by
Teaching tango this morning to virgins – total beginners, I had them first just walk as they normally would walk, in a circle, the line of dance, which is always counter-clockwise. Next, I had them walk applying sensory awareness techniques that are commonly used in guided meditation, Feldenkrais, Pilates, Alexander technique, and the oldest known practice of SA on earth, yoga.
The Last Tango Christmas Show
December 25, 2009 by
December 23, 2009 Eugenio Maria follows me around like a puppy, trying to be heard over the din of music and chatter. He is telling me I’m beautiful or something similar. We’re milling around at the Christmas party awaiting the Tango Show at Jose T. Borda psychiatric hospital in Buenos Aires where I assist in […]
Tango and mi madre
December 17, 2009 by
They say that in dancing a three-minute tango you learn more about a person than you would over six weeks’ worth of coffee chatter. Well, how about when your partner is your mother? What’s left to learn?
Done it here ever?
October 26, 2009 by
I do it in bed all the time. I’ve done it on planes, on my bicycle, and even in my mother’s living room. This morning, like many, after dancing tango for hours the night before, I do it to release tension.
What makes a “real artistic tango dancer?”
April 29, 2009 by
Your question really got me thinking—how to answer this succinctly, when really, it took my whole book to write about tango, the art and wonder of it!
I pondered your phrase “a real artistic tango dancer”—whether you meant dancing for exhibition or for your own pleasure. In the end, I think the answer would be about the same because in essence all tango dancers have received a venerable art form. And as artists they are sort of avatars.
Yoga Journal covers Tango
April 15, 2009 by
These poses were struck in anticipation of publication of a short article I wrote for Yoga Journal, which will appear in the March 2009 issue in a section called OM. It’s about how my Catholic upbringing fed seamlessly into my yoga practice, which fed seamlessly into tango.
Dancing Street Tango in La Boca
April 14, 2009 by
I absolutely love walking up to the street dancers in La Boca and asking if they’ll dance with me. I’ve never been disappointed. They are so kind and willing and bravely accept the challenge. My friend Robert Levering (the best-selling author) was visiting the city and I wanted to show him how it works, how you can walk up to a total stranger and talk tango. We scouted out El Caminito and the tanguero in my video on my Home Page was not to be found. But I found my perfect stranger in Gustavo—seen in the two videos
Tango, an Argentine Love Story media coverage
November 4, 2008 by
I’ve had the pleasure of being interviewed by two savvy women, Felicia Pride and Olivia Giovetta:
You can listen to the podcast of my interview with Felicia here, at Seal Press’s site.
And read Olivia’s indepth interview of me, Zen of Tango, here.
Dancing with a Star
October 16, 2008 by
I had my first television appearance for Tango, an Argentine Love Story this morning on AM Northwest in Portland (KATU/ABC), channel 2 there. It was a lot of fun. Dave Anderson is a stand-up comedian, so it was all very lighthearted. I gave him an on-the-spot lesson . . . .
LitQuake: tango, single moms, sex over 60
September 6, 2008 by
authors from Seal Press, Joan Price and Rachel Sarah, with our esteemed publicist Andie East, present our books at San Francisco’s pre-eminent Literary Festival, LITQUAKE. I’ll present Tango, an Argentine Love Story. Read my a review on Tango here.
Happiness is a Warm . . . Book Review
September 6, 2008 by
Cusumano, Camille. Tango: An Argentine Love Story. Seal, dist. by Publishers Group West. Oct. 2008. c.272p. ISBN 978-1-58005-250-4. pap. $15.95. DANCE Tango has been the subject of several recent books, from Marina Palmer’s Kiss and Tango to Irene D. Thomas and Larry M. Sawyer’s The Temptation To Tango to Robert Farris Thompson’s Tango: The Art History of Love. Cookbook author and novelist Cusumano, as her web site (www.camillecusumano.com) declares, “is a writer who dances tango,” and here she recounts her journey toward self-awareness set in the context of an extraordinary year spent in Buenos Aires.
Why Tango is Yoga
June 23, 2008 by
“Lo que a muchos averguenza, a otros hacer gozar.” “What shames many, gives joy to others.” -Caption to a tiled mural that features tango dancers, Retiro subway station, Buenos Aires, Argentina Following is an excerpt from Chapter 8. Falling Down and Getting Back Up Again, in my travel memoir, Tango, an Argentine Love Story (Seal […]
Tango is Zen
June 19, 2008 by
Excerpt from Tango an Argentine Love Story (Seal Press). “Stay close and do nothing or you might miss it.” Tenshin Reb Anderson, Zen monk, speaking on enlightenment Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2006 . . . Tango’s spell for me was gradual, not sudden, but when it hit home, it moved into my life like a long […]
Around the world on a dance floor
January 19, 2006 by
I plan a trip to Paris, a city I love. It’s not the Louvre or the Left Bank, though, that draws me back this time, but a dance. I shoot off an e-mail to tango teacher Jean-Sébastien Rampazzi and hold my breath until he replies: “Yes, I can see you for a private lesson at la Casa del Tango.”