Learn 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. They can be elegant and classy such as Waltz or can be fast as in Fox Trot.
This is the definition from the Webster dictionary, for ballroom dancing: “any of various, usually social dances in which couples perform set moves”. The word ball does not originate from the toy “ball†but from the Latin word “ballare†which means to dance. This is also the base word for ballerina and ballet.
History books tells us that the people from the upper class in England used this fro of dance in social gathering backs in the late 18th and 19th century. It is not common among people from the working class until the arrival of the 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.
Today, one can enjoy the elegance of Waltz, the sultry Viennese Waltz, the Slow Foxtrot, passionate Tango and the Quickstep as forms of enjoyable ballroom dancing. The American Latin ballroom dance can be classified as Samba, Rumba, Paso Doble, Cha-Cha and the Jive. Latin America refers to Latin and America, and not in reference to any particular South American 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 of these points involve the hands, his left hand holding her right, her left hand on top of his right upper arm (for the Tango her hand would go behind his arm) and his right hand on her back resting 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 elegant posture was used since the days of the European Royal Court.
A few decades ago, men danced while wearing their sword and this helps to explain the obvious right-tight contact between the men and the women. 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 ballroom the postures vary from dance to dance with some using the closed hold and others where the partners hold each other with only one hand. Today, the American Latin ballroom dance has been standardized for the purposes of teaching.