La Paloma

'I'm living with my mother, so I have to let off steam now and then,' the Spanish woman states, who has been a regular visitor of the dance hall La Paloma in central Barcelona for 28 years. The woman always sits at the same table and always dances in front. She is not the only regular of La Paloma. For many guests, the dance salon is a way of escaping the daily grind, a place to find comfort and distraction. Filmmaker Charles Leeuwenkamp followed some of the visitors, whose individual stories and memories set down the history and significance of this famous dance hall. La Paloma was founded in 1903 and has never moved. Famous artists like Picasso and Matisse already danced below the three-branched chandelier that still dominates the grand hall with the size of a factory floor.