PAST PRESS COVERAGE

A star of the Royal Ballet will tomorrow join dancers of all abilities in Regent's Park in celebrating that most erotic of dances: the tango.

Not since the tango teas of the 1920s have the close holds and hip swivels of Argentina's national dance been so fashionable in this country's clubs and salons. Carlos Saura's film Tango, which features dance routines depicting requited and unrequited love, is still drawing crowds in the West End.

Tango "al fresco" is increasingly popular, and tomorrow Deborah Bull will join 100 dancers who have been turning out for the Sunday afternoon tango sessions at the Lion Tazza in Avenue Gardens. Organised by Kele Baker, of the Kensington Dance Studio and North London's Factory Dance Centre, the dancers have been spellbinding passers-by with the dance banned in 1907 in Britain because it was thought to be too erotic.

Ms. Baker, a former competitor in standard and Latin American ballroom dancing, said: "Moving with the music, you create steps, dancing very close with your partner, intimately with passion. You can let the dance carry you around the floor or do sensuous ornate figures that intertwine arms and legs."

Outdoor tango, technically called a milonga, has been popular for decades in Argentina. But in this country, tango has traditionally been danced in competitions and clubs, or at tea dances in some of the grander London hotels such as the Waldorf.

The open-air revival comes as Burn The Floor, a dance show that previewed in Bournemouth last month and comes to London in the autumn, is expected to do for tango and other ballroom dance forms what Riverdance did for Irish dance.

The hot summer has seen tango enthusiasts taking to the outdoors with Latin abandon this year. "People have asked me why we take such a risk with the weather," said Ms. Baker, who teaches Oxford students to tango. "But we have always been lucky and had brilliant sunshine.

"People tell me that the English don't want to dance outside because they find it too embarrassing and too public but that is completely untrue.

"We get an international crowd of all ages. People are transfixed. Joggers stop and stare, and they applaud after each dance. We are just social dancing. Tango dancing is mesmerising to watch but it is simple to do for a beginner."