Wednesday 9 November 2011

Twelve minutes of love

"Twelve minutes of love" a tango story by Kapka Kassabova -you may have heard this book being reviewed last week on Radio 3 and also Radio 4 "Excess baggage".When I heard the title, I must admit I wondered what I'd be in for - we all know what tango is about, don't we? From time to time, when we start a new course of classes or just a one-off workshop, we like to ask everyone in the group to say just one word or phrase perhaps, about what tango means to them. "Passion, music, shoes, dressing up, connection, frustration, tension, strictly!., Vincent & Flavia, embrace, hugs, desire, longing, and LOVE" ..have all featured and we survey each other joined in this pleasing awareness we share something special. The book is good, I think surprisingly honest and not as cliched as people may imagine. At the start of my read, I couldn't help but think " she is young and single and so of course, free to be able to pursue a globally stretching tango addiction without constraint (other than money..)" ..A little envy perhaps, bubbled up secretly, but then as Kapka told of her complex and painful relationships that she experienced through tango, I began to see the other side of things. This book can do two things, either fire up your desire to really throw yourself into tango fever wholeheartedly, or even perhaps warn you off it altogether! A choice to be made by all of us who teeter on the brink of tango obsession. Well done Kapka! Great tango truths .. and I still teeter.


Tango Malvern web site is http://www.tangomalvern.com

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