Ballroom

The Waltz Dance is enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world

Waltz

The Waltz Dance is a smooth progressive dance characterized by long, flowing movements, continuous turns, and rise fall. Graceful and elegant. Waltz dancers glide around the floor almost effortlessly. At 28-30 bars per minute (3/4 time), the Waltz Dance tempo is slow at best, but the expressive quality of the music often invites very powerful and dynamic movement from dancers.

The Waltz Dance is enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world. It is also the traditional first dance commonly used for a couple getting married as their “Wedding Waltz”.

Foxtrot (Rhythm Dancing)

At 28-30 bars per minute (4/4 time) the Foxtrot has quickly developed into one of the most popular social dances. It is the easiest to pick up and the hardest to master. Today, the Foxtrot is danced to popular musical standards such as Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra. It is an extremely versatile dance and can be performed to such music as fast country-western as well as slow tangos. The foxtrot is a must have in a social dancers quiver and it can be relied upon when all else fails.
This is why the steps are regular. It is easy to keep the steps in a contained area, though the Foxtrot can easily cover the dance floor.

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 ¾ time. Dancing the Slow Foxtrot well takes a high level of technical expertise as well as a lot of dance experience and physical skill. Developed in the 1920’s, the Foxtrot Dance reached its height popularity in the 1930’s, and is today a favorite of many dedicated dancers.

At its inception, the Foxtrot was originally danced to ragtime. Today, the dance is customarily accompanied by the same big band music to which swing is also danced.

Tango

Danced at 32-34 bars per minute (2/4 time) Tango is a dance that branched away from its original Argentine roots by allowing European, American, Hollywood, and competitive influences into the style and execution. The characteristics of the Tango Dance which differ from the other 4 ballroom dances is that it has no rise and fall, the hold is more compact and has a staccato action.

Quickstep

The Quickstep Dance is a light-hearted member of the standard ballroom dances. The movement of the dance is fast (49-51 bars per minute (4/4 time) and powerfully flowing and sprinkled with syncopation’s. The Quickstep Dance is elegant like the Foxtrot Dance, and should be smooth and glamorous. The dancers should appear to be very light on their feet. It is very energetic and form-intensive.

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 Dance is the original form of the waltz. It was the first Ballroom Dance performed in the closed hold or “Waltz” dance 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 Viennese Waltz is danced at about 180 beats (58-60 bars) a minute.

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 directions of rotation. A true Viennese Waltz Dance 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 traveling counterclockwise around the floor following each other.

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