BA is home to the tango. No other place on Earth can claim to be the capital of this dance form. But is it actually a dance? Or rather the purest form of manifesting a horizontal desire into a vertical form? We decided to find out by going to a beginners class, and then watching the pros in action.

Such basic steps; just 8 simple steps and the tango is yours. Simple isn't it? Getting up there and learning these simple steps is simple and straight forward enough. And in any learning class, there are those that try too hard and frown and frustrate; and there are others to whom it is all good fun and have an insight into a form of passion expressed, and in our case it was no different.

What I don't understand is why the expert dancers come along and get all upset when the newbies bump into them. Very strange...

But the tango is far more than just 8 simple steps. To dance the tango is to give expression to every element of passion within and each partner must dance the passion within the other. The dance is a barely concealed bubbling cauldron of passion ever threatening to explode out into the night! It seems like the dancers are dancing along a barely concealed wave of ever moving passion within them and between them.

First you feel the rhythm of the music coursing through your veins and your heart. The rhythm is one you intuitively feel and know; it lies dormant within you. Even though you may have never heard it before, once the music starts so does your blood and the passions rise!

Watching those that know how to give express to this passion is like watching art in motion. Cheek to cheek with eyes sparkling and faces displaying the passion that each dancer feels welling up from inside, hands clasped out in front and the other reaching round and behind each other's back; legs and feet moving in perfect unison and harmony, yet each doing their own thing, but with consent of the other. Feet and legs swing, swash and caress as the dancers move around each and with each other.

There is only one world while the music plays and each pair exhibit their own little place where only the music penetrates. To watch those that know this dance is reward enough to beginners like us.

One couple, at least in their 70's, were the intention of the dance manifest. He was grey-haired and upright, confident and very competent, poised and relaxed, dressed elegantly in black collared shirt and black trousers with smart black leather shoes. She was beautiful with a secret smile just for him. With her hair in a bun, a hint of make-up and a free-flowing dress and the modern classic shoes at the end of long stocking legs, she was all self-possessed charm and elegance. Watching them dance, it was clear that they knew how each other moved beneath the clothing, how their hearts beat and what they would do next. He led her and allowed her to fly. It seemed that her spirit flew out on the dance floor, but she never went anywhere without him and together they flew!

That's what tango does...done properly, it will make you fly. And so fine is the dance, that you can not help but be swept up in it all!