When I talked to Flavia Cacace (right) a couple of weeks ago, she claimed that this show featured some of the best tango dancers in the world. This was no idle boast; the dancing is terrific. But this is more than just a sequence of tangos; it’s the experiences of a group of people on a sultry night in a shabby bar in Buenos Aires. The bar itself is a fine piece of design — double height, with a towering rack of bottles, broken blinds, and a balcony hanging over the dance floor, where there are tables and chairs at which dancers sit and drink from time to time. The atmosphere is just right.

First on are the chubby bar-keeper Carlos (Teddy Kempner) and his tiny wife Rosa (Tricia Deighton). Throughout the evening they bring touches of comedy and sentiment amid the fiery dancing. Next on are the men, all dark suits, trilbys and macho greeting and posing. Then come the girls.

It’s a real meeting of friends and rivals. Now Flavia Cacace (playing Sofia) appears in a spotlight at the door, followed by Vincent Simone (Pablo), and we’re off on a marvellous evening of tangos, with all sorts of action going on between the dancers. The whole cast behave as though they’re on an evening out — some flirting while others dance, the men breaking into a fiery tango on their own, the girls seductive and slightly predatory, the men vain and slinky.

Pablo becomes jealous of El Gato (Leonel di Cocco) who is making passes at Sofia, but she can see easily enough that he’s a bit of a sleaze-bag and all ends happily. There are other small sub-plots, all helping to make life in this club realistic, but it’s the terrific dancing, backed by Singer Miguel Angel and the musicians of Tango Siempre, that make this such a gripping show.