Ma Yihua, right, says that tango has changed his life.[Photo provided to China Daily]

The Argentine dance is sweeping many off their feet in China LYU XIAOQIAN

The venue is a cafe, but those gathered inside have something other than caffeine on their minds as they prepare to get their pulses racing. It's a Saturday night, and the cafe in central Beijing is about to put on its weekly dance night, during which tango aficionados will, arm in arm, step back into the 1930s and cast aside the cares of the present.

However, if the tango is your thing and you are in Beijing you do not have to wait for a week for these kinds of get-togethers, for it seems that somewhere or other, every day of the week, a tango club, a swish hotel, or some other venue will be putting on something that appeals to you.

For dancers from all walks of life in China, from the very young to the very old, tango has become a pastime that appeals to their sense of glamour.

There are five professional tango clubs in Beijing, and every one or two months they invite an Argentine tango master to put on a workshop in which tango lovers at all levels can improve their skills and gain a greater appreciation of their art. In other big cities such as Shanghai and Guangzhou, tango is making its mark, too, and the first tango clubs are opening in second-tier cities such as Wuhan, Nanjing, Tianjin and Xi'an.

Tango lessons

China's love affair with the tango began about 13 years ago when several foreign tango lovers set up the group BeijingTango offering lessons before each of the two dance nights they organized each week. Eventually locals were joining in on the fun and after years of practice many have become not only highly skilled dancers, but highly proficient unofficial ambassadors, too, promoting Argentine culture in China.

Liu Zheng, who organizes the weekly tango party in Westside Cafe and Bar, the Beijing cafe mentioned above, is one of those for whom the tango has become a way of life. He was introduced to the Argentine dance 10 years ago when he attended a Latin party, and was instantly besotted as he saw the dance being performed.

"I was mesmerized by the music and the mood, and now I think I was fated to fall in love with tango."

In 2007 Liu set up TangoHui, a group that promotes tango culture in China. In conjunction with clubs it offers tango lessons and puts on dance events. As with Liu, many of these learners become hooked after their first brush with tango, and Diego Ma, founder of TangoChino, one of the first tango clubs in China, says it has taught several thousand people since the club opened in 2009.

Ma Yihua, a student of Diego, says that in the past three years he has spent more than seven hours a week on activities related to tango, including taking classes, listening to Argentine music and taking part in tango dance events.

Ma says that tango has done nothing less than change his life.