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. These forms of dances can be slow such as the Waltz or they can be fast and upbeat such 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 actually comes from the Latin word “ballare†which means 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. This is not a common practice of the working class until late 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.
There are five major moves that make up the modern day ballroom: the Waltz, the Viennese Waltz, the Slow Foxtrot, Tango and the Quickstep. When American Latin ballroom Dance comes to mind, here are some names of famous dances Samba, Rumba, Paso Doble, Cha-Cha and the Jive. The word Latin America refers to the word Latin and America.
There is much similarity in the modern day ballroom dance as it was in the past and all consists of moves in predetermined rhythm and tempo. There are five main points where the couples come in 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. Other point come close as her right side of the set touches his left chest and the elbow, her left touches his right touch each other as they glide round the dance floor. This posture dates back form the days of the European royal courts when royal couples and aristocrats dance gracefully during social gathering.
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 would also explain the counter clockwise movement around the dance floor as the man would’ve stood on the inside of the circle so he wouldn’t inadvertently hit any of the people watching the dancers with his sword as he danced past. The posture varies for different dances in the American Latin ballroom. 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.
