Likewise, ballroom dance instructor and confirmed tango addict Chante Mordaunt, confesses, “For me, I suppose, its escapism. With whatever’s going on in my world I know that I can, for three minutes, lose myself in a dance and enjoy feeling the floor and connecting with somebody.”

Of course, you could say the same for many other forms of dance, (after all, its part of what makes dancing so incredibly uplifting), yet tango seems to possess a rather special kind of soul. Perhaps this is because it was a dance born out of the nostalgia of immigrants and the outcast sentiment of prostitutes, a risqué entertainment that was anti-establishment, bittersweet and very ‘street level’.

However, for all that, tango’s reputation for sexuality is more a result of trashy Hollywood stereotypes. For Andrew Gill it’s “not sexuality, but more sensuality.” He goes on to say, “I think you can have that because the movements are generally very elegant.”

“It’s not necessarily about trying to do a sexy move,” Adrienne confirms. “It’s more that you’re in a moment. I think that when people watch Argentine tango they see a sense of focus between the leader and the follower and it’s like an intensity, a wonderful vibe.”

Adam Souness, a recent arrival from the UK and twenty year tango veteran now living in Melbourne, believes that some mistake the erotic for the romantic. “There is a seductive element. Definitely. But it’s not about picking up, it’s something more subtle,” he notes. “I sometimes think of it as a kind sorrowful seduction, like a three minute tryst. It’s a dance of longing.”

It is perhaps important here to differentiate true Argentine tango from the ballroom version of popular imagination. Argentine has closer holds and is much less about trickery than it is moving together. And, of course, it is an avowedly social dance.

“The real tango of Argentina, the social tango, doesn’t get the level of promotion that lets it show its true colour,” Andrew explains. “What we see on things like Dancing With The Stars is almost a caricature of the dance and just doesn’t have the heart and soul of where tango really lives.”

Chante Mordaunt underlines this point. “Argentinean tango has a whole lot more passion than the ballroom version because the people and the communities that join together to do this are really inspired by that particular dance.”

And that passion lives on in Buenos Aires and elsewhere, with the emergence of the funkier Tango Nuevo breathing new life into the form. Meanwhile, the simple and elegant Vals and Milongeuro styles continue to be the backbone of tango. Together with the growing critical cachet of composers like the legendary Astor Piazzolla, it’s the core traditions that draw people in.

“Tango will always be beautiful,” Adam Souness states, “and that beauty will always catch the eye.”