Ballroom Styles
Foxtrot
The foxtrot is a smooth progressive dance characterized by long, continuous
flowing movements across the dance floor. It is danced to big band (usually vocal)
music, and the feeling is one of elegance and sophistication. The dance is similar
in its look to waltz, although the rhythm is 4/4 instead of 3/4 time. Developed in
the 1920's, the foxtrot reached its height of popularity in the 1930's, and remains
practiced today.
Rumba
Rumba is a dance term with two quite different meanings.
In some contexts, "rumba" is used as shorthand for Afro-Cuban rumba, a group
of dances related to the rumba genre of Afro-Cuban music. The most common
Afro-Cuban rumba is the guaguancó. The other Afro-Cuban rumbas are Yambu
and Columbia.
In other contexts, "rumba" refers to ballroom-rumba, one of the ballroom dances
which occur in social dance and in international competitions. In this sense,
rumba is the slowest of the five competitive International Latin dances: the paso
doble, the samba, the cha-cha-cha and the jive being the others. This ballroom
rumba was derived from a Cuban rhythm and dance called the bolero-son; the
international style was derived from studies of dance in Cuba in the prerevolutionary period
Ballroom dance
Ballroom dance refers to a set of partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially
and competitively around the world. Because of its performance and
entertainment aspects, ballroom dance is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and
television.
Ballroom dance may refer, at its widest, to almost any type of social dancing as
recreation. However, with the emergence of dance sport in modern times, the
term has become narrower in scope. It usually refers to the International
Standard and International Latin style dances (see dance categories below).
These styles were developed in England, and are now regulated by the World
Dance Council (WDC). In the United States, two additional variations are popular:
American Smooth and American Rhythm.
Viennese Waltz
Viennese Waltz is the genre of a ballroom dance. At least three different
meanings are recognized. In the historically first sense, the name may refer to
several versions of the waltz, including the earliest waltzes done in ballroom
dancing, danced to the music of Viennese Waltz.
What is now called the Viennese waltz is the original form of the waltz. It was the
first ballroom dance performed in the closed hold or "waltz" position. The dance
that is popularly known as the waltz is actually the English or slow waltz, danced
at approximately 90 beats per minute with 3 beats to the bar (the international
standard of 30 measures per minute), while the Viennese Waltz is danced at
about 180 beats (58-60 measures) a minute. To this day however, in Germany,
Austria, Scandinavia, and France, the words Walzer (German for "waltz"), vals
(Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish for "waltz"), and valse (French for "waltz") still
implicitly refer to the original dance and not the slow waltz.
The Viennese Waltz is a rotary dance where the dancers are constantly turning
either toward the leader's right (natural) or toward the leader's left (reverse),
interspersed with non-rotating change steps to switch between the direction of
rotation. A true Viennese waltz consists only of turns and change steps. Other
moves such as the fleckerls, American-style figures and side sway or underarm
turns are modern inventions and are not normally danced at the annual balls in
Vienna. Furthermore, in a properly danced Viennese Waltz, couples do not pass,
but turn continuously left and right while travelling counterclockwise around the
floor following each other.
As the Waltz evolved, some of the versions that were done at about the original
fast tempo came to be called specifically "Viennese Waltz" to distinguish them
from the slower waltzes. In the modern ballroom dance, two versions of Viennese
Waltz are recognized: International Style and American Style.
Today the Viennese Waltz is a ballroom and partner dance that is part of the
International Standard division of contemporary ballroom dance.
Most people associate Viennese Waltz with "The Blue Danube".
Waltz
Waltz is one of the five dances in the Standard category of the International Style
ballroom dances. It was previously referred to as Slow Waltz or English Waltz.
It is a Waltz dance and danced to slow, preferably 84-90 beats per minute waltz
music. Preferably, the 1st beat of a measure to be accented. Waltz music is in
3/4 time.
Most of the basic figures have 1 step per 1 beat, i.e. 3 steps per measure.
Advanced figures may have 4-6 steps per measure, and this, coupled with
various turns, makes the dance very dynamic despite the relatively slow tempo.
At the same time, advanced dancers often use slow steps and elegant poses to
create contrast (sometimes referred to as "light and shade").
Waltz is usually the first dance in the Dance sport competitions in the "Standard"
category.
The dance is danced exclusively in the closed position, unlike its American Style
counterpart.
Like all dances of Standard category, it is a progressive dance.
Waltz is characterized by the pendulum swing body action. Other general
elements of ballroom technique important for Waltz are foot parallelism, rise and
fall, contra body movement and sway.
Timing: 3/4; Beat: 28-30 measures per minute; Count: "1 - 2 - 3" (with an accent
on "1"); Danced competitively since: 1923-1924.
It originated from the dances of several different peoples in Europe but its main
predecessors were the "Matenick" and a variation called the "Furiant" that were
performed during rural festivals in the Czech Republic. The French dance, the
"Walt", and the Austrian "Lindler" are the most similar to the waltz among its
predecessors.
The king of dances acquired different national traits in different countries. Thus
there appeared the English Waltz, the Hungarian Waltz, and the Waltz-Mazurka.
The "Waltz" is derived from the old German word "walzen" meaning "to roll, turn",
or "to glide". Nowadays the dance has three main forms: