Ballroom Dance Steps

Learning ballroom dance steps can be as easy or as hard as you make it. That is, if you think that learning a new step will be hard, it likely will be. Think it will be easy? You have already fought half the battle.

Do You Know All The Ballroom Dance Steps?

But part of that battle is learning the specifics of a dance step. Let’s look at how a few dance steps work so you can feel more comfortable about learning them.

Foxtrot

The Foxtrot is a dance that is often taught to beginning dancers first. Relative to some of the more complicated dances, the Foxtrot is one of the easiest for beginners to learn. The Foxtrot involves a rise and fall action during the course of the dance and the dancers take long walking movements as well. The turns are similar to a Waltz, but they include that subtle rise and fall that defines this dance.

Music that’s written in 4/4 time is best for Foxtrot, because the dance is often performed with a combination of slow and quick steps. Each slow step takes two beats and each quick step takes one beat. For example, a dance figure in slow, quick, quick rhythm takes one measure, while a dance figure in slow, slow, quick, quick rhythm take one and a half measures.

Foxtrot is also a good dance for beginners because it can be danced to a variety of music with different tempo.

Jive

Although it’s a quick dance and can lead to error if not performed correctly, the Jive is also a good beginner’s dance. The Jive involves bouncy-type movements that originate from the balls of the feet. Dancers also use many kicks in the Jive.

The Jive originated from the Jitterbug; some call it an easier form of the Jitterbug since in developing the Jive, the lifts and acrobatic elements of the Jitterbug were removed.

The Jive is a dance that requires a good deal of energy as it’s very fast and it consumes a lot of energy as well. In competition, it’s often performed last.

Like the Foxtrot, the Jive is danced to music that’s written in 4/4 time. The same time value is given for triple, double or single Jive. The rhythm difference is determined by the speed of the music, which determines the number of steps necessary to perform the dance.

Waltz

The Waltz is a smooth dance that is always lovely to watch. It’s lovely if it’s performed right, that is. The Waltz is known mostly for its rise and fall action. The shoulders of the dancers should move smoothly, be parallel with the floor and not move up and down.

If the music allows, the steps in the Waltz should be long. On the step forward, your weight is taken off the heel, and then placed onto the ball of the foot. A slow rise to the toes should begin at the end of the first beat, and continued to the second and third beat of each bar of the music. At the end of the third beat, the dancer should lower to the normal position by lowering the heel of the foot that is carrying most of the dancer’s weight.

The Waltz is usually danced to music that’s written in ¾ meter with 29-31 measures per minute.

Many beginning dancers are surprised to find how specific the dance moves really are. It’s a science as well as an art.