The bevy of beautiful women and men in formal suits may be the image you see when ballroom dance is mentioned. For steamy passionate night, one may perform the Tango and for those searching for some liveliness Fox trot would be appropriate.
The definition by Webster for ballroom dancing is “any of various, usually social dances in which couples perform set moves”. The word ball does not originate from the toy “ball†but from the Latin word “ballare†which means to dance. Interestingly, this is also the base word for ballerina and ballet.
This is a form of dance common to the members of the English upper class in the late 18th and 19th century. It is not common among people from the working class until the arrival of the 20th century. Later the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing created a Ballroom Dance Branch, whose sole purpose is to create a standard for the modern day version of ballroom dancing.
There are five major moves that make up the modern day ballroom: the Waltz, the Viennese Waltz, the Slow Foxtrot, Tango and the Quickstep. 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.
Modern day ballroom dances do vary considerably in tempo, and rhythm and still they all consists of couples dancing closely together. Basically, there are five main points of contact between the couples. There exists three main points of contact during the dance-her right hand holding his left, and her left resting on top of his right arm. 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 is the posture that the European Royal Court had been graced as couples float endlessly on the dance floor during grand social gatherings.
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. The posture changes in the American Latin dances. The American Latin version has been standardized as much as the Modern ballroom dances.