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The classic ballroom dances are Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango, Quickstep and Viennese Waltz. In practice, however, Waltz, Foxtrot and Quickstep are the most popular. The classic latin dances are Rumba, Samba, Paso Doble, Cha Cha Cha and Jive. Here the most popular amongst social dancers are Rumba,Cha Cha Cha and Jive.
Although considered by some to have passed their heyday, the ballroom and latin dances still enjoy much popularity, in the social context, throughout the world. In several Far Eastern countries, Japan and Taiwan, for example, there are still many enormous ballrooms, usually located in the larger cities, where people commence dancing at around 10 or 11 AM and continue through until 3 or 4 AM the following morning! The dances being done, are for the most part, the ballroom and latin dances mentioned above.
In Europe, America, Australia and other western countries, the large ballrooms are being replaced by nightclubs with small floor areas and several bars. Traditional ballroom and latin dancing is now to be found in town and village halls across the country. In addition to this, many people attend dancing schools and are members of dancing clubs, where they can enjoy ballroom dancing with like minded people and in a friendly social enviroment.
For those interested in taking part in this very enjoyable activity, by either attending a school to learn to dance or to brush up their skills, some contact details can be found at the bottom of this page.
There are a very large number of sequence dances in existance, and the popularity of the individual dances varies with area.
Sequence dances are so named because they are comprised of groups of steps or variations, which have been amalgamated in sequences, usually of 16 or 32 bars duration. These sequences are then repeated for the length of the tune being played. It is important therefore for the music being used, to be arranged in 8 or 16 bar phrasing. Country line dancing applies a similar principle, where the dance is constructed according to the music being played and therefore the participants will all be dancing exactly the same sequence of steps at the same time as each other.All other forms of dance mentioned in this site are constructed in a freestyle way. In other words,basic steps are developed and combined in various ways in order to produce a routine or composition, which is unique to the couple performing the dance.
Sequence dances, which are popular at almost every venue include
These forms of dance are not in the author's field of expertise, but have been included to provide a certain completeness to the site. The intention is to develop individual pages for each style on this site. In the meantime however, there is a vast amount of information available.
Details of Schools in all areas are obtainable from these Teaching Organisations