Ballroom Dancing - A Brief History

When you think of Ballroom dancing, you commonly think of flowing gowns and dark tuxedos. You also think of beautiful, willowy, women and tall, dark, handsome men waltzing their way colse to the dance floor. However, ballroom dance is not just the Waltz, it is a lot more. From the elegant and stately waltz, a hot, sultry and sexy Tango or Paso Doble, or a good bit of enchanting fun like the Fox Trot, Jive or Quick Step, ballroom dancing is all of these.

Technically, ballroom dancing is defined as "Any of various, usually public dances in which couples perform set moves". However, the word "ball" (not the child's toy) comes from the Latin "ballare" meaning to dance and forms the base for the word ballroom (a room for dancing), ballet (a dance), and ballerina (a dancer).

Ballroom dancing was very popular among the gentry (or upper class) of England, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and didn't certainly catch on with the working class until the late 19th and early 20th century.

It wasn't until the early 1920's that competitive ballroom dancing began gaining popularity. As a result, the Imperial community of Teachers of Dancing (formerly known as The Imperial community of Dance Teachers) formed a Ballroom branch whose function was to standardize the ballroom dances.

Today, contemporary ballroom dancing revolves colse to five dances comprising: the contemporary Waltz; the Viennese Waltz; the Slow Foxtrot; Tango; and the Quickstep.

Latin American ballroom is short for Latin and American - not a reference to Latin countries and its dances are the Samba; Rumba; Paso Doble; Cha-Cha; and the Jive.

The contemporary ballroom dances all involve a merge dancing in a concluded hold and vary in tempo (beats per minute) and rhythm (structure). A concluded hold involves 5 bodily points of touch in the middle of the couple. Three of these points involve the hands, the males left hand holding the females right, the females left hand on top of the males right upper arm (for the Tango the females hand would go behind his arm) and the males right hand on the females back resting on her left shoulder blade. The other two points of touch are the females left elbow resting on the males right elbow and the right side of the females chest touching the right side of the males chest. This dance posture provides a very elegant look as the merge floats across the dance floor and has its origins in the European royal courts.

There is some speculate that the right side-to-right side touch of the concluded hold may have originated from a time when men danced while wearing their swords, which were hung on their left sides. Additionally, this theory would also justify the counter clockwise movement colse to the dance floor as the man would've stood on the inside of the circle so he wouldn't inadvertently hit any of the population watching the dancers with his sword as he danced past.

The dancing posture for Latin American ballroom varies from dance to dance with some dances using the concluded hold and others where the partners hold each other with only one hand.

Both contemporary Ballroom and Latin American Ballroom has been standardized for teaching purposes and has a set, internationally recognized vocabulary, technique, rhythm and tempo.

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The History of Ballroom Dancing

Ballroom Dancing is when a integrate performs any of the discrete group dances that consequent a pattern of predictable steps. Examples of these dances are the tango, waltz, fox trot and quick step. It has an immensely amplified popularity spreading over Europe, the Americas and Asia. Ballroom dancing has had a relatively short but consuming history and has evolved from a recreational activity to a worldwide sporting event.

Ballroom dancing originated in England in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in which these dances, such as the waltz, were performed by the upper and elite classes of community in balls and parties. while the late 19th to the early 20th centuries, it became a trend among the working and middle class where they would go to gatherings and events in group dance halls. In the early 1920s, ballroom dancing competitions started to boom that in 1924, an club was formed called the Ballroom field of the Imperial community of Teachers of Dancing. The objective of this club was to standardize and formalize ballroom dancing techniques, sets of steps and music to which it was danced to.

In legitimate Dance Sport competitions and in group events, there are five approved dances. These are the contemporary and the Viennese Waltz, the Tango, the Slow Foxtrot and the Quickstep. These dances are standardized and categorized into segregated teaching levels and utilize vocabulary, rhythm and tempo and techniques which are approved internationally.

Although these dances come from very separate backgrounds and have special techniques, aesthetics, rhythms and tempos, they do share common qualities. All ballroom dances, as with all forms of dance, are expressions of feelings, thoughts and emotions. These dances may be stricter than other forms of dance and may limit the range of steps and body movement involved, but it is still one of the best expressions of love, joy and pain between two people.

Also, all ballroom dances are performed by only two people, regularly a man and a woman. These dances are performed in a safe bet position termed as the "Closed Hold". In this position, the integrate strictly remains in contact in five separate points or places. These five points consists of three hand contacts, one elbow contact and one chest contact.

The first hand contact occurs when the man's left hand holds the lady's right hand. Second is when the lady's left hand is settled at the top of the man's right upper arm. In the tango, the lady's left hand is settled behind the man's arm, not on top of it. The third contact is when the man's right hand is settled under the left shoulder blade on the lady's back. The fourth contact is when the lady's left elbow rests on the man's right elbow and both arms are kept in a horizontal line. The lady's arms are held favorably by the man's and permit her to consequent the man's lead with ease. This also gives the integrate the appearance of having a bearing of royalty. This is an important characteristic in the ballroom dances that came from Western Europe because these dances were performed in the royal courts. The last point of contact is where the right area of the chest of one touches the right area of his partner. This closeness allows very diminutive room between the partners' faces thus contributing to the dance's romantic appeal.

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