Ballroom Dancing

Dancing – to move’s one feet, rhythmically accompanied with music.

Ballroom Dance – refers to a set of partners dances which are enjoyed both socially and competitively
around the world.
Ballroom – “ballare” means to dance.
- Is a large room in a hotel or resort with a polished floor used for dancing.
International Ballroom
1. Latin – American Dances
2. Standard Dances

Dance Sport- A competitive ballroom dance

LATIN-AMERICAN DANCE STANDARD DANCE
1. Cha Cha Cha 1. Waltz
2. Samba 2. Tango
3. Rumba 3. Viennese Waltz
4. Jive 4. Slow Foxtrot
5. Pasodoble 5. Quickstep
Trivia: In history, people indulge or participates in ballroom dancing for two (2) reasons:
A. To meet and new friends and socialized.
B. To find their future husband or wife (partner).

Ballroom Dance Steps/ Routine:

1. Cuban Motion
2. Rumba Walk
3. Chasse
4. Shoulder to Shoulder
5. Hand to Hand
6. New York 4

Areas of Latin- American Dances

CHA CHA CHA - a ballroom dance with small steps and saying hip movement, performed to a
Latin- American rhythm. It may dance into Cuban music like Latin Pop or Latin Rock.

Time Signature: 4/4

Year Discovered: 1953
Inventor: Enrique Jorrin
Country: Cuba
RUMBA or RHUMBA- Originated in the late 19th century among the black population of eastern
Cuban province of Oriente. The son is a vocal, instrumental and dance genre also derived from African
and Spanish influences. The Afro- Cuban rumba developed in the black urban slums of Cuba in the mid-
19th century.

- Mother of all dances

- Is a family percussive rhythms song and dance that originated in Cuba as a combination of
musical tradition of African to Cuba as slaves and Spanish Colonizers.
Cuban-Spanish- Rumba came from Latin word “rumbo” or “rumbear” means going to parties or dancing

Carlos “Vidal” Bolado – (Carlos Vidal) was the first to commercially record an authentic
folkloric rumba.

Types of Cuban Rumba –

1. Catalan Rumba – developed in Barcelona Romani Community
2. Flamenco Rumba – Spain (known also as Gypsy Rumba or Rumba Gitana
3. African Rumba – originated in Congo.

JIVE
In Latin dancing jive is a dance style that originated in the United States from African-Americans in the
early 1930’s. It was popularized by Cab Calloway in 1934. It is a light and bouncing dance of Latin
American and lively and uninhibited variation of dance
Other names of Jive:
1. Jitterbug
2. Lindyhop
3. Charlston
4. Swing
Jive came from the “jev” means to speak someone in an exaggerated, teasing or misleading way and or
in badmouthing.

SAMBA- A Brazilian dance of African origin with a basic pattern of step-close-step-close and
characterized by a dip and spring upward at each beat of the music. In the International
ballroom version of samba is a lively, rhythmical dance with elements from a Brazilian Samba.
The origin of samba is a Brazilian music style of infectious rhythm and complex origin. It
developed as urban music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the favelas or slums of Rio
de Janeiro. Its roots, however, trace back hundreds of years to customs and traditions brought
by Brazil by African slaves.
Samba- derived from the Kimbundu (Angolan) term “semba” which referred to an “invitation to
dance”

PASODOBLE – came from a French military march with the name “Paso Redoble”. It has both
Spanish and French characteristics. The steps often contain French terms, but the dance
resembles the nature of the bullfight. It is believed to have emerged from southern French
culture during the 1930s.
- The dance became associated with Spanish dance culture.
- Lively dance modeled after the sound, drama and movement of the Spanish
bullfight.