28 February 2010
Hi there – I can’t believe it’s already the end of February – although the temperatures at the moment would make you think it’s deepest winter and not nearly spring!
I found the cover of my next release Bride in a Gilded Cage on amazon, and I love it.
I’m really excited about this book because it features my hero and the heroine dancing tango. Argentine tango. She’s half – Argentinian and a dance teacher and he’s grown up in the milongas in Beunos Aires dancing with beautiful women. Milongas are where people go to dance tango socially, and if you go to a class there will usually be a milonga afterwards. In Beunos Aires the milongas are in huge and beautifully ornate halls.
Tango is close to my heart because I’ve been learning it for about six years, here in Dublin. I read Kate Walker’s Hostage Bride and was captivated by the thought of tango. And everyone knows the famous tango scene in the film ‘Scent of a Woman’.
Not long after first reading about tango and seeing that famous scene in the movie, I was at a friend’s birthday party in Dublin, which was in a small Italian restaurant and people were dancing tango outside (it was late summer!), and it just blew me away. The sheer sensuality and grace of the dance is so beautiful. So when another friend suggested going to a tango workshop I went…and got so hooked that for the first couple of years I went a few times a week!
I’ve been dying to write a book set in Beunos Aires and feature tango, and I really wanted my couple to be able to dance it together, properly. There’s nothing more intense than watching a real couple dance a tango. And it’s not like the more widely known ballroom version of the dance. It’s no wonder that the argentine tango section of Strictly Come Dancing is one of the most popular slots in the series every year.
I hope I’ve done it justice anyway, and you can judge for yourselves when it comes out in June in the UK and Ireland. I’ll be getting author copies before then so keep an eye on the news section for a giveaway.
If anyone is interested in taking classes here in Dublin, check out this website..http://www.tangofever.net/ – it has lots of information on classes and milongas. Simona and Hernan who set up the classes initially were the couple I saw dancing that night, and they’re brilliant teachers. And there’s also the Dublin Argentine Tango Society who hold classes and social events.
I’ll leave you with a couple of clips to whet your appetite!
Enjoy!