Know The History of Ballroom Dancing
Perhaps when the word ballroom dancing is mentioned, you can see some images of women in flowing gowns with handsome men dancing the night away on the dance floor. 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 word “ball”, when referring to a social gathering as opposed to a child’s toy, comes from the Latin “ballare” meaning to dance. This is also the base word for ballerina and ballet.
In the late 18th and 19th century this form of dance is a craze among members of the upper class in 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.
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 Latin American Ballroom dances are the 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.
The modern day ballroom dancing consists of specific steps and tempo with couples dancing together. The couples come close through five points of contact. 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 two points of contact are her left elbow resting on his right elbow and the right side of her chest touching the right side of his chest. This posture dates back form the days of the European royal courts when royal couples and aristocrats dance gracefully during social gathering.
The time when men danced while still wearing their swords placed on their left side will help explain why the strange right to right point of contact between the women and the men. The sword can accidentally hit any of the dancers to, so they overcome this issue by a counter clockwise motion. 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.
February 20 2010 09:40 am | entertainment,games