What Is Ballroom and Latin Dancing?
Ballroom dancing consist of two main branches:
1. American Style Ballroom Dancing
2. International Style Ballroom Dancing
American Ballroom dancing is composed of two subcategories. Those two categories are American Style Smooth and American Style Rhythm. American Style Smooth is composed of Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot and Viennese Waltz. American Style Rhythm is composed of Rumba, East Coast Swing, Cha Cha, Bolero, and Mambo
International Ballroom Dancing is composed of international standard and international latin. International Standard is Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, Viennese Waltz, and Quickstep. International Style Latin is composed of Rumba, Cha Cha, Samba, Paso Doble, and Jive.
A large percentage of the techniques and figures overlap from international style dancing to American style dancing. At a social level a good follower should be able to follow international style figures even if they’re trained in American style, and a good international style dancer should be able to follow American style figures even if they’ve been trained in international.
In the competitive world, international style dancing is more popular around the world. What’s considered to be the championship of ballroom and latin dancing, is held in Blackpool England every year and held in International Style Dancing.
If you are learning how to dance for social reasons, you will want to learn some other dances that are outside the scope of traditional ballroom. Those dances are salsa, merengue, bachata, and west coast swing. Across the USA, those 4 dances have become extremely popular and are critical to learning if you are interested in learning social dance. Within the American social ballroom world, two of the most commonly danced dances within traditional ballroom are Waltz, Tango, Rumba, East Coast Swing, and Cha Cha. If you are interested in learning how to dance, you will want to figure out your goals. If your goal is to go out dancing at a local latin dance club, you will want to learn salsa, merengue, bachata.
Ballroom dancing is a ton of fun and has become increasingly popular in the USA. I encourage you to try it and see if you like it. It is a great hobby that may be able to help you to stay in shape and enjoy life just a little bit more.
