“Dance! Both of you. Afterward I’ll answer whatever questions you like.” A few seconds later, as the old man strode confidently across the dance floor toward a young woman with a severe ponytail and a slit skirt, he was utterly transformed into a lithe, ageless tanguero who pressed the young woman tightly to him and guided her gracefully around the hall. While Max gawked at this unsuspected world, Monsieur Perdu grasped right away where he was. He had read about places like this in a book by Jac. Toes: secret tango milongas in school halls, gymnasiums or deserted barns. There dancers of all levels and ages and every nationality would meet up; some would drive hundreds of miles to savor these few hours. One thing united them: they had to keep their passion for the tango a secret from jealous partners and families who greeted these depraved, suggestive, frivolous moves with disgust and rigid, pinch-mouthed embarrassment.”
―
Nina George,
The Little Paris Bookshop
