I bump into... tango dancers ADAM and SHEILA

age: I didn’t ask, but they’re looking good
nationality: English and Scottish
type of visitor: once a week
drinking: two cappuccinos - each!
eating: nothing

I stumbled across the tango scene in Edinburgh 18 months ago, and immediately became obsessed with it. Famous attempts to describe tango include “a vertical expression of a horizontal desire”, "the happiness of being sad" and "having an affair for three minutes".

Adam and Sheila have been tango-ing much longer than me, and dance much better. They often dance together. Sheila and I don’t dance together much because I'm a bit tall for her (being a tall man is not an advantage in tango) but when we do dance I am always struck with her fluid, graceful movements.

Fancy giving tango in Edinburgh a whirl? Here’s how to go about it:

1/ Ascend the mysterious red stairs of The Counting House, on West Nicolson Street (google map here), on any Sunday at 5.45pm – there’s a free lesson for total beginners every week.

2/ After the free lesson, hang around for a couple of hours – or all evening – to watch the experienced dancers. The best of them will get across how beautiful tango can be.

3/ Hooked already? There are social dances every Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and practice evenings every Monday and Friday (details at Edinburgh Tango Society). And you will need classes, lots of them, for years. It’s a couple of months before the follower (generally but not always a woman) can dance well enough to inspire pleasure rather than endurance in her partner, and it’s about six months before the leader (generally but not always a man) can dance in a way that isn't hell for his partner.

One more thing – if your idea of tango is two people with roses in their teeth prancing around like highly strung poodles, think again. Real tango is an intimate, improvised social dance. See you in The Counting House...