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Dances
The four styles of ballroom dance that we learn and teach are:
American Smooth: Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, & V-Waltz
American Rhythm: Cha Cha, Rumba, Swing, Bolero, & Mambo
International Standard: Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, Quickstep, & V-Waltz
International Latin: Cha Cha, Rumba, Paso Doble, Samba, & Jive
Our professional instructor goes over American Smooth and Rhythm while our Coaches teach
International Standard and Rhythm on the Friday leisure line classes.
The night club dances (Hustle, West Coast Swing, Argentine Tango, Salsa, Merengue to name a few)
are occasionally taught on Thursday lessons, and also a leisure line class specifically for Argentine Tango.
However for the most part, we concentrate on the American and International classes,
but experienced members will informally teach the dances on our student extra practices.
Waltz
Considered the most elegant of the ballroom dances and danced in a 3/4 timing,
the waltz is characterized by by its rise and fall, big, soft, sweeping movements,
and swaying action. The American style has large arm styling and big open movements while
with the International style, partners stay in closed hold, but display elegance none the less.
When dancing the Waltz, think elegant, smooth, and graceful.
Tango
An aggressive and passionate dance characterized by its sharp look, abrupt stops and staccato like movements.
Similar to the Waltz, partners can open up and emphasize large dynamic moves in the American Tango,
while the International Tango stays closed and focuses on its leg movements and quick turns.
When dancing the Tango, think dramatic and intense with sharp head turns and serious faces.
Foxtrot
A graceful and romantic dance that is characterized by its soft steps, classy feel, and jazzy attitude.
The foxtrot combines slow steps and quick steps and is meant to look effortless, elegant and smooth.
The American style changes step patterns depending on which level you are dancing at, while the
International style is continuously moving, using feather steps and weaves to glide across the dance floor with ease.
When dancing the foxtrot, think classy and gliding through your moves.
Viennese Waltz
A fast dance where partners rotate around each other while moving across the dance floor,
with slight rising and falling. It might seem intimidating to learn at first due to the speed of the music.
Balance and control is the key to making the Viennese waltz look elegant and effortless.
Similar to the other styles, the American style music is slightly slower to allow open movements,
while the international style remains in closed position.
Quickstep
Only found in International style, the quickstep is like the hyperactive brother of the foxtrot.
Danced to jazzy, big band style songs, the dance utilizes fast steps with runs, jumps and hops.
Although it houses some similar steps to the Foxtrot, the dance should be danced with a completely different feel.
The dance is quick, but should still look smooth, elegant and in light on the feet.
Cha Cha
A flirtatious and lively dance characterized by its triple chasses, or better known as, its cha-cha-cha steps.
The dance involves quick, small, compact steps with much emphasis on hip action and vivacious energy.
The Cuban motion, sharp look, and dance attitude gives the dance a feel of lightness and playfulness.
While American style steps onto a bent leg, International style steps onto a straight leg,
giving a different between its hip motions.
Rumba
The Rumba is an enticing dance of love and romance. Characterized by its exaggerated hip action and
expressive movements and arm styling, the dance is sexy and flirtatious with a lot of pushing and pulling
between dance partners and gives a dynamic, yet sensual look to the dance.
The American Rumba is faster in beat versus the International Rumba, and the leg technique difference
is the same as for the Cha Cha.
Bolero
A slow, graceful and sensual dance whose steps are similar to the International Rumba, but its technique greatly differs.
It combines a little bit of rumba, tango and waltz dance technique. Characterized by its slow rising and falling action
and slight hip action, the Bolero dances to dreamy and sensuous rhythms and appears light on its feet.
When dancing the bolero, think romantic, gracefulness and a gradual rise and fall.
Samba
A fast, fun and lively dance, the Samba is high on energy and big on rhythm and technique.
It has a slight bounce action with the bending and straightening of the legs as well as pulsating and
rotating action of the hips. Difficult to master, but the Samba loses its look without it.
Though Brazil has its own Samba, often seen danced at their Carnival celebration, it should not be confused
with Ballroom Samba, as the two, though similar, are different from each other.
When dancing the Samba, think happy, flirtatious, and exuberant.
Jive
A fast and vigorous dance that is well known for its speed. Though highly challenging to dance,
the Jive appears fast and light on its feet, full of energy, and lots of kicks and flicks while being very controlled.
The Jive does not move around very much and utilizes high knees and a hop look while keeping the feet under the body,
knees remain close together, and a strong, firm frame. When dancing the Jive, think light on your feet while
remaining calm and in control.
East Coast Swing
Just one of the many types of swing dance that exist in the world. East coast swing, often simply called just swing,
dances to rock steps and triple steps and is a more relaxed version of the Jive. The swing uses more hip action
during the rock step and uses a pendulum effect when moving to give the swing the “swing” look.
The Swing is danced to big band music of the 30s and 40s, and rock and roll songs.
When dancing the Swing, think groovy, swinging, and relaxed.
Paso Doble
A dynamic dance that was inspired after the Spanish bullfight and even contains some influences from Flamenco dancing.
The man represents the matador and dances with a strong frame, chest and head held high, and represent arrogance,
dignity and pride. The female on the other hand represents the cape but still dances similarly to the guy.
When dancing the Paso Doble, think swift and sharp steps with a big attitude.
Mambo
The ballroom version of Salsa, the mambo uses steps similar to Salsa only it steps on the 2 count of the
song rather than the 1. Mambo utilizes exaggerated hips, long, flowing movements and quick steps to give the dance
a sensual feel. It is important for beginning dancers of Mambo to practicing moving to the correct beat of the song.
When dancing the Mambo, think of salsa with fluid hip movements to show sensual, flirty and passion.
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