Modern Ballroom Dance

Modern ballroom dance has evolved over the past hundred years or so and the sport now settles on a few dances that are danced most often, are most featured in competition and which are most accessible to amateur and professional dancers alike.

Modern Ballroom Dancing

The basic modern ballroom dances include five dances – the Foxtrot, the Waltz, the Viennese Waltz, the Quickstep and the Tango. The Latin dances that are included in modern ballroom dance are Samba, Rumba, Paso Doble, Cha Cha and Jive. The latter two dances are often favorites at competitions, with Jive often being the final dance of a competition.

The evolution of modern ballroom dance is a picture of dance that’s been influenced over many years by a wide array of different cultures. These include African, American, Spanish, European and Argentinean. Brazil has also played a major role in the development of many dances, particularly the Samba. Over time, many dances have lost their ethnic flare and instead borrow elements of the original dance but with tweaking to make the dance more modern and relevant to today’s style of ballroom dance.

The emphasis in modern ballroom dance is on not just the dancing, but costuming and character. Costumes are incredibly important to pulling off any dance, but particularly those that try to set a mood. The Quickstep, Paso Doble and Tango are dances that depend on costuming to tell a story, set a mood and reinforce the style of music that dancers are using.

If a couple is performing a Tango, for example, they might choose dark and dramatic colors, like black, purple or dark blue, for costumes. They might add some dramatic elements like a long tux jacket for him or a dress with a dramatic flair for her. The costumes can add or detract quite a bit from the dance, so paying attention to how the dance will look through costuming is important.

Now, by character, we mean that dancers often like to take on the character of the dance. They might create a character (or characters) in their mind (scorned woman, desperate man, newly in love couple) that will help to develop the dance. The story of the dance can be told through the costumes, through the dancer’s ability to play a role and through the use of music to propel the dance forward.

Also essential to modern ballroom dance performances is music. When dancers have a choice of music, they must find the music that best fits the dance. Music that’s heavy with an orchestral sound is likely not best for a Cha Cha, for example. Dancers should instead understand the origins of a dance and try to find music that’s suited to the dance they are performing.

In some competitions, dancers don’t have their choice of music and in that case, they must trust that the music they are given is best for the kind of dance they are performing. And, of course, dancers often have solid choreography chops and can make changes in the choreography to suit the music they are dancing to.