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. They can be elegant and classy such as Waltz or can be fast as in Fox Trot.
The Webster dictionary defines ballroom dancing as “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. This is also the base word for ballerina and ballet.
History books tells us that the people from the upper class in England used this fro of dance in social gathering backs in the late 18th and 19th century. People form the working class did not participate in such occasions and therefore were alienated from such gathering and therefore have no opportunity to partake in such lavish activities. 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 Latin American Ballroom dances are the Samba, Rumba, Paso Doble, Cha-Cha and the Jive. 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. The other points come in contact through elbows and chests which rests comfortably on each other as they glide through the dance floor. The member of the European Royal Court had long used this posture to dance.
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 sword can accidentally hit any of the dancers to, so they overcome this issue by a counter clockwise motion. The posture varies for different dances in the American Latin ballroom. The American Latin version has been standardized as much as the Modern ballroom dances.