The History of Ballroom Dancing

Ballroom dancing is a word used to the form of dancing men and women perform in formal suits on the dance floor during a grand event or special occasion. For steamy passionate night, one may perform the Tango and for those searching for some liveliness Fox trot would be appropriate.

This is the definition from the Webster dictionary, for ballroom dancing: “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. The word ballerina and ballet has the same origins as well.

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries dancing was very popular among the upper classes of England. It didn’t really catch on with the working class until the late 19th and early 20th century. In the early 1920’s an association called the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing set up a Ballroom Branch with the purpose to standardize all forms of modern ballroom dance.

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 Samba, Rumba, Paso Doble, Cha-Cha and the Jive are some names that come to mind when you talk about American Latin ballroom dances. Latin American ballroom is short for Latin and American - not a reference to Latin countries.

The modern ballroom dances vary in tempo (beats per minute) and rhythm (structure), however, they all involve a couple dancing in a closed hold. There are five main points where the couples come in contact. There exists three main points of contact during the dance-her right hand holding his left, and her left resting on top of his right arm. Her right side of the chest will rest against his chest while her left elbow will touch his left elbow as they dance the night way. This is the posture that the European Royal Court had been graced as couples float endlessly on the dance floor during grand social gatherings.

The strange right to right contact comes from an era when men danced while wearing their swords which was placed on the left side. 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. In Latin American dances, he postures varies from dance to dance. Just as the modern ballroom dance has been standardized, the Latin American dances have been programmed with a similar standardization for easy teaching.