What Is History of Ballroom Dancing?
Ballroom dancing conjures up images of beautiful women in flowing gowns and tall dark handsome men in tuxes waltzing their way around the dance floor. They can be elegant and classy such as Waltz or can be fast as in Fox Trot.
Webster defines ballroom dancing as simply “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 also the base word for ballerina and ballet.
History reveals that this is a form of dance famous among the people from the upper class in England back in the late 18th and 19th century. The working class really didn’t catch fire with this form of activity until the early 20th century. The Ballroom Dance Branch was set up by the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing with the sole purpose of standardizing the modern day ballroom dancing.
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. Make it a point to note that the word Latin America actually refers to the Latin and American styles, not just the South American countries.
Ballroom dancing consists of couples moving in specific set of moves in predetermined rhythm and tempo, dancing closely together. Normally, there are five points of 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. 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.
It may seem strange that the point of contact would be right to right chest, but it stems from the habit of the men dancing while wearing their swords placed on the left side. The counter clockwise movement is also explained this way, it actually prevents the weapon from hitting any of the dancers while he dance. In Latin American dances, he postures varies from dance to dance. Like the Modern Ballroom dancing, the Latin American Ballroom has been standardized for instruction purposes and has a set, internationally recognized vocabulary, technique, rhythm and tempo.