Ballroom dance may well conjure up some romantic images of beautiful women in flowing gowns dancing in the arms of tall handsome men in tuxedos. The sheer elegance and gracefulness of the Waltz never fails to impress anyone and the passion of Tango definitely appeals to those who are burning with adventure and passion.
Webster defines ballroom dancing as simply “Any of various, usually social dances in which couples perform set moves”. It is interesting to note that the word ball originated form the word “ballare†which means to dance in Latin. This is the base for ballroom (a room for dancing), ballet (a dance), and ballerina (a dancer).
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. This form of dance is not common among people 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.
One can enjoy the elegance of Waltz, the passion of tango and the liveliness of the Quickstep, the slow Fox trot and the Viennese Waltz as forms of modern day ballroom dancing. The Samba, Rumba, Paso Doble, Cha-Cha and the Jive are some names that come to mind when you talk about American Latin ballroom dances. The word Latin America actually refers to Latin and America and not in reference to the 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. Normally, there are five points of contact. 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. 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.
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. The counter clockwise movement is also explained this way, it actually prevents the weapon from hitting any of the dancers while he dance. The posture varies for different dances in the American Latin ballroom. Today, the American Latin ballroom dance has been standardized for the purposes of teaching.