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What Is History Of Ballroom Dancing?

Ballroom dance may well conjure up some romantic images of beautiful women in flowing gowns dancing in the arms of tall handsome men in tuxedos. This type of dancing can be elegant and sophisticated (like the Waltz) but it can also be hot, sultry and sexy (like the Tango or Paso Doble), or a good bit of lively fun (like the Fox Trot Jive or Quick Step).

Webster defines ballroom dancing as simply “Any of various, usually social dances in which couples perform set moves”. The word “ball”, when referring to a social gathering as opposed to a child’s toy, comes from the Latin “ballare” meaning 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 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.

One can enjoy the elegance of Waltz, the passion of tango and the liveliness of the Quickstep, the slow Fox trot and the Viennese Waltz as forms of modern day ballroom dancing. The American Latin ballroom dance can be classified as Samba, Rumba, Paso Doble, Cha-Cha and the Jive. The Latin American refers to Latin and America not to countries of latin origin.

Ballroom dancing consists of couples moving in specific set of moves in predetermined rhythm and tempo, dancing closely together. The couples come close through five points of contact. His left hand would be holding her right hand while the other rests on her 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 is the posture that the European Royal Court had been graced as couples float endlessly on the dance floor during grand social gatherings.

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. This is also the obvious reason for the counter clockwise movement, that serves to prevent hitting any of the people watching as he dances past them. In American Latin dancing, posture changes from one dance to another. Today, the American Latin ballroom dance has been standardized for the purposes of teaching.