What Is History Of Ballroom Dancing?
When the word ballroom dancing is mentioned, what are the images that come to mind? 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).
This definition by Webster of ballroom dancing - “any of various, usually social dances in which couples perform set moves†reveals that the nature of ballroom dancing encompasses a wide variety of moves. The word ball does not originate from the toy “ball†but from the Latin word “ballare†which means to dance. This is the base for ballroom (a room for dancing), ballet (a dance), and ballerina (a dancer).
History books tells us that the people from the upper class in England used this fro of dance in social gathering backs in the late 18th and 19th century. People form the working class did not participate in such occasions and therefore were alienated from such gathering and therefore have no opportunity to partake in such lavish activities. 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 American Latin ballroom dance can be classified as 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.
Modern day ballroom dances do vary considerably in tempo, and rhythm and still they all consists of couples dancing closely together. A closed hold involves 5 bodily points of contact between the couple. Her right hand would be holding his left hand obviously while her left hand would rest on the top of his right arms. 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 is the posture that the European Royal Court had been graced as couples float endlessly on the dance floor during grand social gatherings.
A few decades ago, men danced while wearing their sword and this helps to explain the obvious right-tight contact between the men and the women. The sword can accidentally hit any of the dancers to, so they overcome this issue by a counter clockwise motion. It would be interesting to note that the posture change from one dance to another in the American Latin ballroom. The vocabulary, technique, rhythm and tempo of the American Latin ballroom have been standardized for training purposes.
Tags: , ballerina, ballroom dances, ballroom dancing, cha cha, dance branch, elbow, fox trot, history books, imperial society, jive, latin ballroom dance, latin word, left hand, paso doble, quickstep, rumba, social dances, sole purpose, south american countries, viennese waltz