Ballroom dancing is a word used to the form of dancing men and women perform in formal suits on the dance floor during a grand event or special occasion. 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).
If we look at the definition by Webster’s dictionary, for ballroom dancing, it is “any of various, usually social dances in which couples perform set moves”, it seems that the scope is wide and varied. The word “ball”, when referring to a social gathering as opposed to a child’s toy, comes from the Latin “ballare” meaning to dance. It is good to note that the word ballet and ballerina has the same origins as ballroom too.
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries dancing was very popular among the upper classes of England. It is not common among people from the working class until the arrival of the 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.
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. Latin American ballroom is short for Latin and American – not a reference to Latin countries.
Ballroom dancing consists of couples moving in specific set of moves in predetermined rhythm and tempo, dancing closely together. Normally, there are five points of contact. His left and would be holding hers while his right would rest comfortably on her left shoulder blades. Her right side of the chest will rest against his chest while her left elbow will touch his left elbow as they dance the night way. This makes a very elegant posture that starts from the early days of the English Royal court.
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 counter clockwise movement is also explained this way, it actually prevents the weapon from hitting any of the dancers while he dance. In American Latin dancing, posture changes from one dance to another. Just as the modern ballroom dance has been standardized, the Latin American dances have been programmed with a similar standardization for easy teaching.