Beautiful women, lively music and men in formal suits waltzing away may well be the image you have in mind when anyone mentions ballroom dancing. The type of dance can be elegant and sophisticated like Waltz or it can be passionate and sultry like Tango or even lively like in Fox Trot.
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 term ballroom dancing has its root in the Latin word “ballare†which literally means to dance. Interestingly, 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 Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, an association for the development of ballroom dance, started a Ballroom Branch to standardize all form of modern day 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. Of course Samba, Rumba, Paso Doble, Cha-Cha and the Jive are just some of the most popular American Latin ballroom dance to name a few. The Latin American refers to Latin and America not to countries of latin origin.
The modern day version of ballroom dancing involves couples dancing closely together in specific tempo and rhythms. There are five main points where the couples come in contact. His left hand would be holding her right hand while the other rests on her 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 dance posture goes all the way back to the dancing in the European royal courts and makes for a very elegant look as the couples float around the dance floor.
The strange right to right contact comes from an era when men danced while wearing their swords which was placed on the left side. The sword can accidentally hit any of the dancers to, so they overcome this issue by a counter clockwise motion. In Latin American dances, he postures varies from dance to dance. The American Latin version has been standardized as much as the Modern ballroom dances.