It is often thought that wild dance clubs only arrived in Spain in the late 1970s and 80s, once the dictatorship ended and the country had been freed from the ghosts of Franco’s conservatism. 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.
The dictatorship closed down many of them and severely condemned the free and carefree behaviour they harboured. However, traces of their existence can be found today in the country’s historical archives.
