The Different Styles of Ballroom Dancing

There are two main styles of ballroom dancing which are the international style and the American style. The Rumba, Mambo, Cha Cha, Waltz, Foxtrot and Salsa dances are some of the most popular types of ballroom dancing enjoyed being enjoyed all over the world..

Salsa is a dance for Salsa music created by the Spanish speaking people from the Caribbean. Salsa dancing is a fine elegant mixture of African and European dance influences through the music and dance fusions that are the roots of Salsa. Salsa dancing is closely related to “dirty dancing”.

Salsa is usually a couple partner dance although there are also solo forms, line dancing (suelta), and Rueda de Casino where groups of couples exchange partners in a circle. The Salsa dance can also be improvised or performed with a set routine.

The Rumba style of ballroom dancing is sometimes known as the Latin Waltz. The American Rumba is a variation of a slow rhythmed Cuban dance called the “Son” that was brought to the United States in the 1920s. The Rumba is danced on the spot, rather than all over the dance floor, with hip and other body movements in a slow, quick, quick beat.

The Modern Waltz style of ballroom dancing comes from the Austria Waltzen styles of ballroom dancing popular in Austria and Germany in the early 1900s. The Boston Waltz became popular in the United States in 1834 and is a slower version of the Viennese Waltz. Today, the Waltz still remains as a slow type of ballroom dancing and the slower tempo has allowed the Waltz to have more figures, dips and steps added to it.

The Foxtrot is a form of ballroom dancing chereographed by Harry Fox in 1914 in New York City. The Foxtrot involves moving the back leg in a smooth action, although there are many versionss of the Foxtrot. The original Foxtrot was faster and not as smooth and stylish as some of the variations danced today. However, the faster Foxtrot style of ballroom dancing is still taught in many modern ballroom dancing studios and danced in many modern ballrooms.

The Cha Cha was originally called the Cha Cha Cha because its main tempo movement is based on a triple step. The Cha Cha style of ballroom dancing originated in the Cuban Mambo and became popular in the United States in the 1950s. The Cha Cha triple step is danced in between two rock beat movements. This dance form is perhaps the most popular ballroom dance style in the world.

The early tango was known as tango criollo. Today, there are many tango dance styles, including Argentine Tango, Uruguayan Tango, Ballroom tango, American and International tango styles, Finnish tango and vintage tangos. What many tango dancers consider to be the authentic tango is that closest to that originally danced in Argentina and Uruguay athough other forms of tango have developed into more mature dances in their own right.

The Jive is a dance style in 4/4 tempo that was originated in the United States from African-Americans in the early 1940s. It is a lively and uninhibited variation of the Jitterbug, a form of Swing dance.

Jive is one of the five International Latin dances. In competition it is danced at a speed of 44 bars per minute, although in other cases this is reduced to between 32 and 40 bars per minute. Many of the jive’s basic patterns are similar to these of the East Coast Swing with the major difference of highly syncopated rhythm of the Triple Steps (Chasses), which use straight eighths in ECS and hard swing in Jive. That is why the jive is closely related to lindy hop and jitterbug ballroom dance form.