Wild times in Madrid's roaring 20s: how Spain's youth partied hard before Franco took away their dance halls

• But evidence shows that 100 years ago (or even more) so-called “dancings” were happening in Madrid and Barcelona.
• In these clubs, boys and girls went to move their bodies for hours – and to find someone to end the evening with.

Dance fever

• The origin of these dance halls goes back to the interwar years (1918-1936).
• During those frenetic decades, big cities started to host new places for fun and socialising, such as cinemas, cabarets, modern bars and also commercial dances.
• In Madrid, before the outbreak of the civil war, there were around 50 such theatres.
• Halls might be humble or grand but all were defined by a large central dance floor.

Dancing – and flirting

• To begin with, the very nature of these venues demanded close encounters and contact between boys and girls.
• Even if you went there alone, you would dance with a partner and finding this partner was the mission of every young man.
• Boys and girls took advantage of their proximity to the opposite sex to exchange glances, get closer, talk and touch each other.