By Kapka Kassabova

Another book I picked up in the last few months sort of randomly and enjoyed was ‘Twelve Minutes of Love’ by Kapka Kassabove. I think I picked it up in one of Inverness’s charity shops like Highland Hospice or Carr Gomm (where I work). I have a real love of music nowadays (and my whole life really). And dance and music go together like bread and butter!

So I picked up this book knowing only that Tango was an Argentinian dance style. I wanted to try a new subject.

The protagonist starts off in Auckland, New Zealand, seemingly a bit lost in life. She lives with her parent’s, has a job, has a male friend who may or may not fancy her, but ultimately she seems unfulfilled. So the book starts with her signing up for Tango classes. She quickly signs up for different days of the week with different instructors because she can’t get enough of the style of dancing. I suppose a good question that occurs to me now is why Tango and why not Salsa or Swing dance for example?? And I don’t have an answer to that.

Anyway it begins to come to light that the protagonist (the author?) was previously perhaps a bit introverted and probably (this is me deducing) that she enjoys the attention of dancing (which is completely fine of course). So really the book is as much about meeting new people, relationships, dating and travel explored through the Tango dance.

The author starts off in Auckland but ends up travelling to Buenos Aires for a dance festival. In a way the dance reminds me of the game chess which I have myself travelled to play in different parts of the UK. By playing strangers you bond over a shared activity and of course the game can be addictive. Of course Chess is overwhelmingly a male activity (sadly). Tango is male female which the protagonist clearly gets a kick out of. In Buenos Aires the protagonist finds most joy away from the tourism trail of the Tango festival and amongst the authentic Argentinian dancing halls. The protagonist is of course quite brave leaving the tourist trail all on her own to go off and dance with her limited Spanish!

The next location the protagonist ends up is in New York where she meets various characters, some old faces from Auckland and BA. She reflects that both BA and NYC have their own styles of dancing and in each environment the dance has evolved a different way.

Next the protagonist ends up in Berlin, she ends up here because she falls in love with one of the Tango guys and he wants to move to Berlin but the relationship quickly declines and breaks.

Overall the book is an enjoyable read and better if you enjoy discovering people and travelling to exotic places with a purpose. For a topic I don’t usually read I was very pleasantly surprised.

To end off I will just say I tried Salsa dancing for the first time 3 days ago partly inspired by this book. That was here in Inverness.