Coming to a conversation near you. Nick Rice checks out a 400-year-old dance from Argentina

It's a pleasure to say the word Malambo. You can really wrap your lips round it. It sounds as though it could be a word from a faraway land, shouted in celebratory triumph; something synonymous with 'stupendous' or perhaps a dynamic game demanding skill and physical prowess.

Upon research it seems the word resonates with all these things and more. The Oxford dictionary defines malambo as a yellowish, aromatic bark used in medicine and perfumery and deriving from the South American shrub croton malambo. It's also the Malambo people of the Malambo region of Zambia. Finally, and what concerns us here is the Argentinian Malambo - the 400-year-old folkloric dance of the Pampas.

This poetic competition of the gauchos has become something of a phenomenon in recent years. As a cultural export it may always be overshadowed by the tango but nevertheless its popularity is booming. Luis Bravo, creator of the hit musical 'Forever Tango' has brought 'Malambo!' the musical to the world stage. The requisite movie star fanatics that accompany any new fashion are found in Hollywood couples Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffiths, and Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher.

From Los Angeles to New York, London to Rome the world's dance-floors are buckling under the beat of the Malambo. London's Ministry of Sound states that their's is being destroyed by it.

All this global success and popularity doesn't come without some compromises though, and the Malambo is often distorted in its international presentation. Some globetrotting gauchos performing around the world use modern day gimmicks in their shows. They make capers with fluorescent lassos and twirl luminous boleadoras. Malambo is also simplified in its description as a mixture of Flamenco and Tango, there is no relation to either. And despite the energy and undoubted enjoyment of all those crowded dance-floors it does run contrary to the fact that Malambo is the only individual dance in Argentinian folklore.

As for the DJs playing Malambo; there's no hope for them. In real Malambo it is the dancer who dictates. The dancer doesn't follow the rhythm of the music; the music must adapt and follow him. Every brushing 'cepillada', every stomping 'repique' and floating 'floreo' must be pursued and expressed by the musicians.

No matter though. Whether seen in its purest form in Argentina or with a little less authority overseas, the Malambo is a spectacle to be enjoyed. Incredibly, this dance of the Pampas has managed to broaden its already endless horizons.