Beautiful women, lively music and men in formal suits waltzing away may well be the image you have in mind when anyone mentions ballroom dancing. 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.
The definition by Webster for ballroom dancing is “any of various, usually social dances in which couples perform set moves”. The word ball actually comes from the Latin word “ballare†which means to dance. The word ballerina and ballet has the same origins as well.
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. The Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing is set up with the purpose of standardizing the modern day ballroom dance.
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. When American Latin ballroom Dance comes to mind, here are some names of famous dances 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. There are five main points where the couples come in contact. His left hand would be holding her right hand while the other rests on her 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 dancing in the European royal courts and makes for a very elegant look as the couples float around the dance floor.
It may seem strange that the point of contact would be right to right chest, but it stems from the habit of the men dancing while wearing their swords placed on the left side. This is also the obvious reason for the counter clockwise movement, that serves to prevent hitting any of the people watching as he dances past them. In Latin American dances, he postures varies from dance to dance. The Latin American version of ballroom dance has been very much standardized for the purposes of teaching.