How To Do Ballroom Dancing

Ballroom dance! One word, which spells elegance, romance, and certainly chivalry. Which girl would not like to get wooed with a ball dance? Moreover, which man would not like indulge in chivalry and court his woman with a ball dance? Ball dance is downright quixotic; there is no doubt about it, with all the movies showing romantic setting and ballroom dance. It has been around for hundreds of years and acted as a social interaction between couples. Not only that, this beautiful form of dance has survived the test of time and provided a romantic atmosphere for men and women to meet, make friendship and have a good time. Plus it has a attached quality of luxury. Now which man or woman would not like to feel like Prince and Princesses? No wonder ballroom dancing is swaying back to popularity among masses too. In addition, if you want to court your girlfriend or boyfriend in a traditional manner, nothing can be more romantic than spending time ball dancing. Learning this dance is not only fun and entertaining, it is a kind of exercise too and who knows you might find your soul mate with it. So if you are tempted to learn this elegant form, read on to know the tips for learning ballroom dance.

Ballroom Dance Tips

Ballroom literally means a room where ball. i.e, formal social dances are held. It is danced by couples in closed hold. Some of the popular dance forms on which ballroom dancing is done are Waltz, Fox Trot or a Swing.
The first rhythm of the music is generally slow which equals to two beats and is danced by stepping on the first beat and waiting for the second beat. After you have stood together, you just bring your free leg adjacent to the supporting leg. It is a kind of stepping side to side with grace.
The second rhythm consists of quick equivalent to one beat and it’s a kind of march, keeping your weight on your right foot and step to the side of left foot, and then drawing your feet together.
Then comes triple which is a kind of one, two and stomping the foot. It is a kind of left-right-left and right-left-right.
For dancing, you need to have also a fair idea of the common ballroom music. Generally, all the dances are built in multiple of two beats. It just means that you can use eight notes for triple steps, quarter notes for steps, which are quicker, and half notes for slow steps.
However, the Waltz is different in the sense that it relies on quarter note with three beats per measure which makes it the easiest dances with its signature ¾ beat measures.
Another music, which is generally danced on, is Fox Trot and is built on the multiple of two. It is usually danced on slow and medium tempo.
Swing is also built on the multiple of two but with one distinct feature. It is built on the purpose of moving very fast and thus you can choose it for fast songs.
This dance entails keeping five points of contacts between couples. Generally, a man’s left hand holds the lady’s right hand and his right hand is placed on the left shoulder blade on the back of the lady.
The left hand of the woman rests on the top of the man’s right upper arm and her left elbow rests on the right elbow of the man.
It is also very generally accepted that a man leads and a woman follows in a ball dance.
When you are dancing in the crowd especially the first few times, the chances of collision to another couple is always there. The rule here is to move in counterclockwise around the floor.
In addition, when you are dancing keeping elegance is very necessary. So keep your weight on the ball of your foot instead of your heels. You can also make parallel your feet to your partner’s, keeping your right foot pointed in between your partner’s feet.
One trick of this dance is that when there is a slow song you need to take longer steps and when there is a fast song, to keep with it you need to take shorter steps.
Keep your feet closer and take definite steps instead of dragging your feet. Also when you are stepping the motion should arise from the hip allowing the legs to swing freely.
You can also practice it at home by thinking that you are standing in front of a clothesline. You need to cross it without ducking unpleasantly for it. Therefore, when you step forward it with the first foot, you can bend at the knees to clear the clotheslines, and after you have crossed the so-called hurdle, you can straighten your knees. Now you can step towards the right with the second step.

How to Cite

Related Articles

See also

More in 'Art & Entertainment'