The lights fade. A spotlight picks out
A man – sharp, dark suit, fedora
Slanted over the eye. He’s tensed,
Alert as a prowling panther.
Opposite a woman lights up.
Her hair pulled tight into a bun,
Her slender frame is poured into
A satin dress, red as the passion
In her eyes. Her leg is planted
Forward, parting the slit in her dress.

Sultry Argentinian tones begin.
They move in and circle closely.
Seduce me, her body challenges.
He clasps her. Breast to breast they strut
To one heartbeat. It quickens
As the music intensifies.
Their legs flick and trick staccato,
Intricately, intimately.

She leans into him yearningly.
He draws her over the dance floor
The sharp point of her shoe scoring
An invisible line over
The surface. They circle once more
Their legs in step, their bodies
In unison, their breath one breath.

The pace increases. They hasten
Towards completion. Her body
Arches. He stretches over her
And as the music pulses
Climactically, he spins her
Breathless to the ground.

The lights rise, Bernard and Glenys,
Their faces flushed, blink and smile
Awkwardly. Leaving the dancefloor,
Other couples grin, but Bernard
And Glenys stand resolute, ready
For cha-cha, samba, whatever
Is next. The band begins a rhumba.
They will never appear on Strictly
But in their heads they’ve just danced
At El Viejo Almacen.