Debbie Goodwin - Bio

Debbie is the driving force behind the nonprofit Social Dance Cultures, the organization that houses Alma del Tango, where she served as director, teacher, and choreographer from 1996 to 2024. Following the San Anselmo, Ca studio’s closure in 2024, she is taking a pause from tango to explore new artistic pursuits.

Together with her husband and longtime tango partner, John Campbell, Debbie co-founded and led Alma del Tango. Originally established in Auburn, California, the program grew through a series of residencies in Sacramento, Davis, and multiple studios throughout Marin County before finding its permanent home in San Anselmo in 2008. There, it flourished into a vibrant cultural hub offering comprehensive Argentine tango instruction—from beginner through advanced levels—alongside a weekly práctica and monthly milonga. The program also hosted visiting masters from Buenos Aires, as well as accomplished tango musicians who taught and performed at the studio, enriching the community with direct connections to the living tradition of Argentine tango. At the heart of their work was a deep commitment to fostering an inclusive, connected community of dancers united by a shared passion for tango.

From 2004 to 2024, Debbie was also a founder and director of Tango Con*Fusión, an all-women’s dance company that explored innovative and contemporary expressions of Argentine tango.

A dancer since childhood, Debbie began teaching and performing Argentine tango in 1996. She has pursued extensive study in both the United States and Buenos Aires with a wide range of renowned tango masters. Her early foundation in jazz, tap, and musical theater continues to inform her expressive teaching style and nuanced choreography.

Debbie earned her Bachelor’s degree in Dance from CSU Sacramento in 1998 and her Master’s degree in Dance Education in 2001. Her master’s thesis production, an ethnographic study  ¡Tango! A Story of Sacramento’s Argentine Tango Community, played to sold-out audiences in October 2001, followed by ¡Tango! Rhythms of the Heart in 2002.

Over the years, she has conceived, choreographed, and produced a series of acclaimed, sold-out student and professional  dance productions, including:

• Tango, A Romantic Ritual (2008 & 2009)
• Tango House (2009)
• All About Tango (2011)
• Tango Tales (2012)
• Close Embrace: A Tango Love Story (2013)
• Tango Magic (2014)
• Tango Dreamscapes (2015)
• Me Llamo Tango (2015), San Francisco International Arts Festival
• Tango Night (2016), San Francisco International Arts Festival
• Sex, Women & Tango (2017), San Francisco International Arts Festival

Before dedicating herself fully to Argentine tango, Debbie founded an American Swing Dance program focused on teens  in Auburn, California, and directed The Rugcutters, a performance company active from 1994 to 2003.