When the word ballroom dancing is mentioned, what are the images that come to mind? Those who prefer to start off with something slow would love the gracefulness of the Waltz and those who are adventurous may prefer to try out the Tango, a dance so passionate it can make heartbeat and temperatures rose even by merely watching them.
The Webster dictionary defines ballroom dancing as “any of various, usually social dances in which couples perform set moves”. The phrase ballroom dancing has its root from the Latin word “ballare†which literally means to dance. This is the base for ballroom (a room for dancing), ballet (a dance), and ballerina (a dancer).
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries dancing was very popular among the upper classes of England. The working class really didn’t catch fire with this form of activity until the early 20th century. In the early 1920’s competitive ballroom dancing was gaining popularity so the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (formerly known as The Imperial Society of Dance Teachers) formed a Ballroom Branch whose function was to standardize the ballroom dances.
There are five major moves that make up the modern day ballroom: the Waltz, the Viennese Waltz, the Slow Foxtrot, Tango and the Quickstep. The American Latin ballroom dance can be classified as Samba, Rumba, Paso Doble, Cha-Cha and the Jive. Latin American ballroom is short for Latin and American – not a reference to Latin countries.
Ballroom dancing consists of couples moving in specific set of moves in predetermined rhythm and tempo, dancing closely together. There are five points of contacts between couples. Three points involve the hand, where his left hand holds her right and her left hand will be on the top of his right upper arm, and the Tango would need her hand to go hand his arm while other right hand will rest on her left shoulder blade. The other points come in contact through elbows and chests which rests comfortably on each other as they glide through the dance floor. This makes a very elegant posture that starts from the early days of the English Royal court.
This right side-to-right side contact of the closed hold may have originated from a time when men danced while wearing their swords, which were hung on their left sides. The dance involves some counter clockwise movements, this is also attributed to the existence of the sword during a dance and this movement helps prevent the sword form hitting any of the watching audience. The posture varies for different dances in the American Latin ballroom. The vocabulary, technique, rhythm and tempo of the American Latin ballroom have been standardized for training purposes.