A Brief History of Ballroom Dancing
When ever we search for the history of ballroom dancing , we can find so many interesting facts. 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. Ballroom dance is not just the Waltz. Ballroom dance 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).
Webster defines ballroom dancing as simply “Any of various, usually social dances in which couples perform set moves”. The word “ball”, when referring to a social gathering as opposed to a child’s toy, comes from the Latin “ballare” meaning to dance. This is the base for ballroom (a room for dancing), ballet (a dance), and ballerina (a dancer).
The history of ballroom dancing – late 18th and 19th centuries
Let’s look the history of ballroom dancing. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries ballroom dancing was very popular among the upper classes of England. It didn’t really catch on with the working class until the late 19th and early 20th century. In the early 1920′s competitive ballroom dancing was gaining popularity so the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (formerly known as The Imperial Society of Dance Teachers) formed a Ballroom Branch whose function was to standardize the ballroom dances.
The history of ballroom dancing says that, modern ballroom dancing revolves around five dances, the Modern Waltz, the Viennese Waltz, the Slow Foxtrot, Tango and the Quickstep. The Latin American ballroom dances are the Samba, Rumba, Paso Doble, Cha-Cha and the Jive. Latin American ballroom is short for Latin and American – not a reference to Latin countries. .
The modern ballroom dances vary in tempo (beats per minute) and rhythm (structure); however, they all involve a couple dancing in a closed hold. A closed hold involves 5 bodily points of contact between the couple. Three of these points involve the hands, his left hand holding her right, her left hand on top of his right upper arm (for the Tango her hand would go behind his arm) and his right hand on her back resting on her left shoulder blade. 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 dance posture goes all the way back to the ballroom dancing in the European royal courts and makes for a very elegant look as the couples float around the dance floor.
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.
In Latin American ballroom the postures vary from dance to dance with some using the closed hold and others where the partners hold each other with only one hand. Like the Modern Ballroom the Latin American Ballroom has been standardized for teaching purposes and has a set, internationally recognized vocabulary, technique, rhythm and tempo. The history of ballroom dancing is really amazing.
Though salsa is danced at approximately twice the tempo of the Rumba, the two dances share much in common. Salsa and Rumba music are both written in 4/4 time, with four beats to each measure. Two measures of music are required to complete one full basic step. In the music, the heavy beat is the one beat, the first beat of the measure. While the music tempo of rumba is typically 104 beats per minute, the music tempo of salsa is typically 180 to 210 beats per minute.
The Rumba was influenced by the Spanish and Africans with most of the development of the dance taking place in Cuba. The Rumba evolved in 19th century Havana, originating with the African Negro slaves who had been imported. The rural Rumba was originally for exhibition rather than participation. In some reference works the Rumba is said to be a pantomime of the movements of barnyard animals with the steady level shoulders depicting the movements of slaves as they carried heavy burdens. However, most look at the Rumba as a dance of love and sensuality with the woman tempting the man with her charms, teasing then withdrawing. Some go a step farther saying the dance is a pantomime of sex with the man dancing very fast in a very sensual yet aggressive manner with greatly exaggerated hip movements, and the woman responding with a defensive attitude. Whichever is correct, the Rumba is the most sensual of all the Latin ballroom dances.
The Viennese Waltz is a faster paced dance than the standard waltz which also makes it somewhat more challenging to do. Like the standard waltz the Viennese Waltz incorporates a simple, elegant rotation and swinging movements, though there should be no foot rise on the inner turns. The Viennese Waltz also requires a good deal of stamina, the equivalent, actually of the amount of energy that would be needed to dance a polka.
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Foxtrot dance steps can be attributed to a longtime vaudeville star known as Henry Fox who by 1914 was featuring in the New York vaudeville scene. Fox, who was dancing for the New York Theater latter, got married to Yansci Dolly, one of the members of the Dolly sisters group. These two were often seen doing sprightly dances in between normal shows at the New York Theater. The outcome pleased the crowd and in turn the audience started referring to the fox’s dance as the “Fox Trot”.
The Cha-Cha is a fun, flirty, lighthearted dance that gets its distinctive “cha, cha, cha” rhythm because there are 5 steps danced to four beats. Dancers work parallel with each other in well synchronized movements sometimes employing the “New Yorker”, a step where one of the dancers steps across the other and checks to change direction. Cuban motion, the hip motion derived from alternately bending and straightening the knees, is an important factor in this dance.
There’s a wide range of dance schools offering academic degree programs in the United States. Selecting a good Dance School in the USA will help you to fulfill your life dream. Whether it’s a pubic college or private college, we can see a uniform syllabus for each course.
