Ballroom dance is a set of partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world. Because of its performance and entertainment aspects, ballroom dance is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and television.
Tap dance is a type of dance characterized by using the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion. The sound is made by shoes that have a metal "tap" on the heel and toe. There are several major variations on tap dance including: flamenco, rhythm (jazz) tap, classical tap, Broadway tap, and post-modern tap. Broadway tap is rooted in English theatrical tradition and often focuses on formations, choreography and generally less complex rhythms; it is widely performed in musical theatre. Rhythm tap focuses on musicality, and practitioners consider themselves to be a part of the jazz tradition. Classical tap has a similarly long tradition which marries European "classical" music with American foot drumming with a wide variation in full-body expression. Post-modern or contemporary tap has emerged over the last three decades to incorporate abstract expression, thematic narrative and technology.
The Charleston is a dance named for the harbor city of Charleston, South Carolina. The rhythm was popularized in mainstream dance music in the United States by a 1923 tune called "The Charleston" by composer/pianist James P. Johnson which originated in the Broadway show Runnin' Wild and became one of the most popular hits of the decade. Runnin' Wild ran from 29 October 1923 through 28 June 1924. The peak year for the Charleston as a dance by the public was mid-1926 to 1927.
Swing dance is a group of dances that developed with the swing style of jazz music in the 1920s–1940s, with the origins of each dance predating the popular "swing era". During the swing era, there were hundreds of styles of swing dancing, but those that have survived beyond that era include: Lindy Hop, Balboa, Collegiate Shag, and Charleston. Today, the most well-known of these dances is the Lindy Hop, which originated in Harlem in the early 1930s. While the majority of swing dances began in African American communities as vernacular African American dances, some swing era dances, like Balboa, developed outside of these communities.
The Balboa is a swing dance that originated in Southern California during the 1920s and enjoyed huge popularity during the 1930s and 1940s. The term Balboa originally referred to a dance characterized by its close embrace and full body connection. It emphasizes rhythmic weight shifts and lead-follow partnership. Different dancers in the same region at the same time also danced "swing," a dance characterized by twists, turns, and open-position movement. Over time, these two dances merged and became collectively known as Balboa. The original Balboa dance is now referred to as Pure Balboa, and the original "Swing" dance is now referred to as Bal-Swing or L.A. Swing to differentiate it from other types of swing. Because of its emphasis on subtlety and partnering rather than flashy tricks, Balboa is considered more of a "dancer's dance" than a "spectator's dance."
The schottische is a partnered country dance that apparently originated in Bohemia. It was popular in Victorian era ballrooms as a part of the Bohemian folk-dance craze and left its traces in folk music of countries such as Argentina, Finland ("jenkka"), France, Italy, Norway ("reinlender"), Portugal and Brazil, Spain (chotis), Sweden, Denmark ("schottis"), Mexico, and the United States, among other nations. The schottische is considered by The Oxford Companion to Music to be a kind of slower polka, with continental-European origin.
In ballet, a pas de deux [pɑ d(ə) dø] is a dance duet in which two dancers, typically a male and a female, perform ballet steps together. The pas de deux is characteristic of classical ballet and can be found in many well-known ballets, including Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, and Giselle. It is most often performed by a male and a female though there are exceptions, such as in the film White Nights, in which a pas de deux is performed by Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines.
A strathspey is a type of dance tune in 4
4 time. It is, simply stated, a reel played at a slightly slower tempo, with slightly more emphasis on certain beats. This emphasis can be the same measure to measure or vary throughout the tune, depending on the player. Cut-dot snap rhythms, or "Scotch snaps", are a feature of both. These are short notes before a dotted notes, which in traditional playing is generally exaggerated rhythmically for musical expression. An example of a strathspey would be the song "The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond", provided it is sung staccato:
The Electric is a four wall line dance set to Marcia Griffiths and Bunny Wailer's song "Electric Boogie".
Boogie-woogie is a form of swing dance and a form of blues piano playing.
The cha-cha-chá, or simply cha-cha in the U.S., is a dance of Cuban origin. It is danced to the music of the same name introduced by Cuban composer and violinist Enrique Jorrin in the early 1950s. This rhythm was developed from the danzón-mambo. The name of the dance is an onomatopoeia derived from the shuffling sound of the dancers' feet.
Bulgarian folk dances are intimately related to the music of Bulgaria. This distinctive feature of Balkan folk music is the asymmetrical meter, built up around various combinations of 'quick' and 'slow' beats. The music, in Western musical notation, is often described using compound meter notation, where the notational meter accents, i.e., the heard beats, can be of different lengths, usually 1, 2, 3, or 4. Many Bulgarian dances are line dances, in which the dancers dance in a straight or curved line, holding hands.
The Melbourne shuffle is a rave dance that developed in the 1980s. Typically performed to electronic music, the dance originated in the Melbourne rave scene, and was popular in the 1980s and 1990s. The dance moves involve a fast heel-and-toe movement or T-step, combined with a variation of the running man coupled with a matching arm action. The dance is improvised and involves "repeatedly shuffling your feet inwards, then outwards, while thrusting your arms up and down, or side to side, in time with the beat". Other moves can be incorporated including 360-degree spins and jumps and slides. Popular Melbourne clubs during the dance's heyday included Chasers, Heat, Mercury Lounge, Viper, Two Tribes and PHD.
In ballet, pas de trois [pɑ də tʁwɑ] is a French term usually referring to a dance between three people. Typically, a pas de trois in ballet consists of five parts:
- Entrée
- Variation for the 1st dancer
- Variation for the 2nd dancer
- Variation for the 3rd dancer
- Coda
Daichovo horo is a Bulgarian folk dance done to a 9 beat meter. It is unique in two ways: it is a circle dance, and yet it has a leader.
In ballet, a grand pas is a suite of dances that serves as a showpiece for lead dancers, demi-soloists, and in some cases the corps de ballet. It usually consists of an entrée (introduction), a grand adage, sometimes a dance for the corps de ballet, optional variations for the demi-soloists, variations for the lead ballerina or danseur or both, and a coda, which concludes the suite.
Sean-nós dance is an older style of traditional solo Irish dance. It is a casual dance form, as opposed to the more formal and competition-oriented form of Irish stepdance.
The Diplos Horos is a dance from Messenia in the Peloponnese, Greece. It is a dance where the dancers form a single circle formation into a double via the hand hold. The dance is a simple sta tria in formation but is accompanied by the song Διπλό Χορό Χορεύουμε, Διπλά Τραγούδια Λέμε.
In dance and gymnastics, a turn is a rotation of the body about the vertical axis. It is usually a complete rotation of the body, although quarter (90°) and half (180°) turns are possible for some types of turns. Multiple, consecutive turns are typically named according to the number of 360° rotations.
The natural spin turn is a ballroom dance step used in the Waltz. It is typically used to advance a couple 7/8ths of a turn down line of dance, although an underturned spin turn is also very useful for turning a corner. The natural spin turn is also considered an intermediary step toward learning pivots.
