Here is a brief, very basic primer for beginners in tango, which I wrote for Inspira Travel, an agency here in Buenos Aires for whom I’ll lead some tango-themed tours in November. You can check out their site, too, for great trips all around Argentina. Tango music is something the most unschooled among us recognize […]
Flat Stanley does Buenos Aires
May 13, 2009 by
Flat Stanley is the mascot for a group of second graders in Centreville, Maryland. His travels around the world help the youngsters learn geography because Stanley returns home from his visits (via mail) with tons of photos – and videos in this case. I hope I have done my part to put tango on the map for—and in the hearts of—young people.
Mendoza Travel Writing Workshop—What you get
May 8, 2009 by
“We work in the dark,” wrote literary giant Henry James of the great task of writing. Here is an opportunity to nurture that passion for writing to life in a place of fabled light, Mendoza, the province of Argentina’s spectacular wine country. Over seven days in the luxurious and comfortable lodgings of Posada de Rosas, […]
Mendoza Writing Workshop Schedule
May 8, 2009 by
Day One: Transfer from airport to lodgings 1:00 p.m. on: informal buffet lunch at the Posada, siesta 5pm-7:30 p.m.: Orientation to Mendoza (tour) 8:00 p.m.: Argentine barbeque (asado) dinner at the Posada Day Two: 8:00-10:00 a..m.:. Breakfast 10:00 – 1:00 p.m.: Workshop “Musings in Mendoza – Setting a Goal” 1:00: Depart for walk to San […]
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.
Travel Writing Workshop, Mendoza, Argentina
April 23, 2009 by
Anyone can craft an image-rich postcard to send home, but how do you fashion prose with your personal style intact and the substance that give it broader appeal, longer shelf life, and publishing opportunities?
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
Milonga Heaven – Oscar Casas
March 5, 2009 by
his is Oscar Casas one of the best tango teachers for all levels in Buenos Aires–and all the world. Mary Ann, Oscar’s wife and partner in teaching, filmed us at the end of a private class. Oscar is out of this world, but so down to earth in his approach to tango.
Patagonia story, Honorable Mention, Solas Award
March 2, 2009 by
n late 2007, I took a break from my busy dancing schedule in Buenos Aires and visited Patagonia for the second time – a 3M place—myth, magic, mystery. While there I met Ronan Lawlor . . .
I’m delighted to announce that my story, Missing in Patagonia, about that heart-wrenching experience, received an Honorable Mention in the Third Annual Solas Awards Winners for 2008.
My Tango Precepts
February 27, 2009 by
I would like to expand a little on what I meant by my third tango precept, Accept what’s offered. In my book, Tango, an Argentine Love Story, I describe how I distilled four guiding precepts for attending the many milongas (where tango is danced) here in Buenos Aires. I distilled the four pithy adages from […]
Chapter 5. Even Gauchos Dance Tango
February 27, 2009 by
From Tango, an Argentine Love Story By Camille Cusumano It’s a Friday night in late September when I decide to go to the milonga at Salon Canning. Every time I sit down after dancing, I feel something like a loving jolt, so intense is the tap on the back I keep getting from a woman […]
How not to reek of the stinking rose
February 26, 2009 by
I will not give up eating garlic, not even for tango dancing. I will modify my habitual need. If I know I’m dancing within the next 12 hours, I would avoid garlic in its raw form. Cooked garlic seems to run through the system more inconspicuously and more quickly. The best way to rid your […]
Eating Argentina
February 26, 2009 by
First law of tango-thermodynamics:
A tango dancer has to carry her weight.
• How to eat garlic and not reek
• Maple Walnut Pancakes (recipe, below)
• Fagioli Toscana (recipe, below)
I love the food here in Argentina. It doesn’t reflect the abundance and diversity of the food in my home, San Francisco Bay Area, but no other place does. Still, fresh ingredients are plentiful, the wine is getting better all the time (and still cheap). You can compose your own fresh salad in most restaurants from a long list of ingredients that usually include radichetta (a chicory), arugula (rucula), romaine, tomatoes, sugar beets (remolacha), grated carrots (zanahoria), peas (arveja), corn (choclo), and more. Naturally, there is a huge Spanish influence, but also the food culture is very Italian.
Chapter 18. Tango Rapture
February 20, 2009 by
An excerpt from Tango, an Argentine Love Story “The stillness shall be the dancing and the darkness the light.” -“East Coker,” T. S. Elliott ” . . . Happy is what I feel as I cross town in a taxi with my five suitcases in tow. I love that it’s summer in January here, and […]
Shape Magazine calls Tango “moving memoir”
January 14, 2009 by
Shape Magazine calls Tango “moving memoir”
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
January 14, 2009 by
“Music was like a placenta, conveying emotional and intellectual information.” From Marina de la Riva, a Cuban Brazilian singer Rio de Janeiro. I was there only five days, but enjoyed every minute of it. I had no idea how clean the place would be — granted, I was mainly in a 10 to 20-square mile […]
Three Cups of Tango = Peace
December 28, 2008 by
December 27, 2008 Today, ten days short of the official holiday, I had a little epiphany. It is a Saturday which has evolved into “church” day for me, the one day a week when my routine is actually predictable by the clock. I’m up and out by 8 a.m. (applause) to swim before attending the […]
Tango book errata
December 27, 2008 by
This is why erasers have pencils . . . err . . . you know.
Please join me in commenting on any other mistakes you have found in Tango, an Argentine Love Story. Please do so soon, so we can get them all sent to the publisher’s before the book goes into its next printing. Which may be soon.
Tango for armchair observers
December 16, 2008 by
You are coming to Buenos Aires the birthplace of tango. Que barbaro!-that’s local slang for How far out! You can spend upwards of $100 to see show tango (also called fantasia tango), with its fancy tricks, costumes, and highly choreographed routines. Strolling around San Telmo, Recoleta, or La Boca barrios, you are sure to stumble upon street tango, also designed to impress tourists. But, best of all, for 10 to 15 pesos (about $3 to $5), you can also see the dance of lovers the way it has evolved in halls and salons in its true improvisational mode.