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. These types of dance can be slow and fast according to the kind of move they are doing.
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. It is good to note that the word ballet and ballerina has the same origins as ballroom too.
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries dancing was very popular among the upper classes of England. This form of dance is not common among people of the working class until late 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.
Today, ballroom comprise of five major moves - the Waltz, the Viennese Waltz, the Slow Foxtrot, Tango and the Quickstep. Here are some Latin American ballroom dances if you are inclined to know 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. Normally, there are five points of contact. Picture this three points of contacts-his left arm hand her right hands holding, his right arm resting on her shoulder blades while her left hand resting on his right arm. 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 is the posture that the European Royal Court had been graced as couples float endlessly on the dance floor during grand social gatherings.
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 would also explain the counter clockwise movement around the dance floor as the man would’ve stood on the inside of the circle so he wouldn’t inadvertently hit any of the people watching the dancers with his sword as he danced past. It would be interesting to note that the posture change from one dance to another in the American Latin ballroom. Today, the American Latin ballroom dance has been standardized for the purposes of teaching.