Here are descriptions of different dance styles as well as dances Richard teaches.
American Smooth - All steps and styling are taught according to the American standard of social or competitive dancing.
International Standard - All steps and styling are taught according to The Ballroom Technique manual as published by the Imperial Society Teachers of Dancing Dance Examinations Board.
American Rhythm - All steps and styling are taught according to the American standard of social or competitive dancing.
DanceSport Competition - All steps and styling are danced according to current N.D.C.A. rules and regulations.
Social Dancing - Steps and styling are taught so as to be appropriate for small nightclub floors, as well as larger ballrooms.
Swing & Latin Dancing - All steps and styling are taught according to the American standard of social or competitive dancing.
Wedding - Dance steps and/or choreography are taught to your music selection, and steps and styling will be custom tailored to your ability, desires, and time allotted.
FOXTROT - The Foxtrot is danced to 4/4 timing, and is a progressive and turning dance moving counterclockwise around the outside edge of the dance floor.
The Foxtrot originated in the summer of 1914, in the Jardin de Danse on the roof of the New York Theatre by Vaudeville actor Harry Fox. Born Arthur Carringford in Pomona, California, in 1882, he adopted the stage name of "Fox" after his grandfather. As part of his act downstairs, Harry Fox was doing trotting steps to ragtime music, and people referred to his dance as "Fox's Trot."
WALTZ - danced in 3/4 time with strong accent on the first beat, and is a progressive and turning dance moving counterclockwise around the outside edge of the dance floor.
Colorful flowing ball gowns! Tails! Weddings! Beautiful music! Strong melodies!
Waltz: from the old German word walzen to roll, turn, or to glide, it is sometimes referred to as the mother of all modern ballroom dances.
Waltz: a dance born in the suburbs of Vienna and in the alpine region of Austria. As early as the seventeenth century, waltzes were played in the ballrooms of the Hapsburg court. The weller, or turning dances, were danced by peasants in Austria and Bavaria even before that time. Many of the familiar waltz tunes can be traced back to simple peasant yodeling melodies.
During the middle of the eighteenth century, the allemande form of the waltz was very popular in France. Originally danced as one of the figures in the contredanse, with arms intertwining at shoulder level, it soon became an independent dance and the close-hold was introduced. By the end of the eighteenth century, this old Austrian peasant dance had been accepted by high society, and three-quarter rhythm was here to stay.
However popular the waltz, opposition was not lacking. Dancing masters saw the waltz as a threat to the profession. The basic steps of the waltz could be learned in relatively short time, whereas, the minuet and other court dances required considerable practice, not only to learn the many complex figures, but also to develop suitable postures and deportment.
The waltz was also criticized on moral grounds by those opposed to its closer hold and rapid turning movements. Religious leaders almost unanimously regarded it as vulgar and sinful. Continental court circles held out obstinately against the waltz. In England, (a land of strict morals), the waltz was accepted even more slowly.
In July of 1816, the waltz was included in a ball given in London by the Prince Regent. A blistering editorial in The Times a few days later stated:
"We remarked with pain that the indecent foreign dance called the Waltz was introduced (we believe for the first time) at the English court on Friday last ... it is quite sufficient to cast one's eyes on the voluptuous intertwining of the limbs and close compressure on the bodies in their dance, to see that it is indeed far removed from the modest reserve which has hitherto been considered distinctive of English females. So long as this obscene display was confined to prostitutes and adulteresses, we did not think it deserving of notice; but now that it is attempted to be forced on the respectable classes of society by the civil examples of their superiors, we feel it a duty to warn every parent against exposing his daughter to so fatal a contagion."
Even as late as 1866 an article in the English magazine Belgravia stated:
"We who go forth of nights and see without the slightest discomposure our sister and our wife seized on by a strange man and subjected to violent embraces and canterings round a small-sized apartment - the only apparent excuse for such treatment being that is done to the sound of music - can scarcely realize the horror which greeted the introduction of this wicked dance."
A lot of the disapproval was voiced by the older generation, but seldom mentioned is the fact the reigning Queen (Victoria) was a keen and expert ballroom dancer with a special love of the waltz!
But as history repeats itself over and over again, the antagonism only served to increase the popularity of the waltz. The bourgeoisie took it up enthusiastically immediately after the French revolution. Paris alone had nearly seven hundred dance halls! A German traveler to Paris in 1804 stated, "This love for the waltz and this adoption of the German dance is quite new and has become one of the vulgar fashions since the war, like smoking."
Reportedly, the first time the waltz was danced in the United States was in Boston in 1834. Lorenzo Papanti, a Boston dancing master, gave an exhibition in Mrs. Otis' Beacon Hill mansion. Social leaders were aghast at what they called "an indecorous exhibition." By the middle of the nineteenth century, the waltz was firmly established in United States society.
Music plays an important role in dance, and every dance is dependent upon the availability of the appropriate music. The waltz was given a tremendous boost around 1830 by two great Austrian composers - Franz Lanner and Johann Strauss. These two composers were by far the most popular during the nineteenth century: they set the standard for the Viennese Waltz, (a very fast version of the waltz). By 1900, a typical dance program was three quarter waltzes and one quarter all other dances combined.
Around the close of the nineteenth century, two modifications of the waltz were developed. The first was the Boston, a slower waltz with long gliding steps. Although the Boston disappeared with the first world war, it did stimulate development of the English or International style which continues today. The second was the hesitation, which involves taking one step to three beats of the measure. Hesitation steps are still widely used in today's waltz.
Fortunately, the violent opposition faded out and the Waltz weathered an exciting and varied career, emerging today in two accepted forms, both reflecting the main characteristics of the dance. They are known as the Modern Waltz and the Viennese (Quick) Waltz.
TANGO - is a progressive dance moving counterclockwise around the outside edge of the dance floor.
Phrasing is an important part of Tango. Most Tango music phrased to 16 or 32 beats of music. Tango music is like a story. It contains paragraphs (Major phrases); sentences (Minor phrases); and the period at the end of the sentence is the Tango close.
In the early 19th Century, the Tango was a solo dance performed by the woman. The Andalusian Tango was later done by one or two couples walking together using castanets. The dance was soon considered immoral with its flirting music!
Ballroom Tango originated in the lower class of Buenos Aires, especially in the "Bario de las Ranas". Clothing was dictated by full skirts for the woman and gauchos with high boots and spurs for the man.
The story of Tango as told is that it started with the gauchos of Argentina. After months of riding the range and herding cattle, they would go to the crowded night clubs to drink and dance. The girls, knowing that the gauchos had been “alone’’ for long periods of time, would tease the men as they danced with them, sometimes letting them think that they might have a chance, then turning their heads and acting stand-offish. This of course made the men more aggressive, or macho, in their pursuit of the women. The man danced in a curving fashion because the floor was small with round tables, so he danced around and between them.
The dance spread throughout Europe in the 1900's. Originally popularized in New York in the winter of 1910 - 1911, Rudolph Valentino then made the Tango a hit in 1921.
QUICKSTEP - is danced to 4/4 timing, and is a progressive and turning dance moving counterclockwise around the outside edge of the dance floor.
As Ragtime music evolved into Swing through the 1920's, new dances such as the Charleston, the Shimmy, and the Black Bottom became popular.
The Charleston was said to have originated in the Cape Verde Islands (Raffe, 1964, 60). It evolved into a vigorous round dance done by Negro dock workers in the Port of Charleston (Rust, 1969, 89), and was first performed on stage in New York in 1922 in a black revue by George White. It became popular in white society after inclusion in the stage show 'Running Wild' in 1923 by the Ziegfeld Follies, which toured U.S.A. (Rust, 1969, 89), and was danced with wild swinging arms and side kicks to music at 200 to 240 beats per minute (Sadie, 1980,4/159). As it gained popularity worldwide, the wild character of the dance induced many sedate ballrooms either to ban it altogether, or to put up notices saying simply 'PCQ', standing for "Please Charleston Quietly" (Rust, 1969, 89). The Charleston step and the Scatter Chasses were introduced into the Quickstep by Wally Fryer and Vi Barnes in London in the 1940's, and continue to be an identifying characteristic of the dance.
Currently the Quickstep is danced at a tempo of approximately 200 beats per minute. It retains the walks, runs, chasses and turns, of the original Foxtrot, with some other fast figures such as locks, hops, and skips added.
VIENNESE WALTZ - danced in 3/4 time with strong accent on the first beat, and is a progressive and turning dance moving counterclockwise around the outside edge of the dance floor.
The Viennese Waltz is a rotational dance where the dancers are constantly turning either in a clockwise (natural) or counterclockwise (reverse) direction interspersed with non-rotating change steps to switch between the direction of rotation. A true Viennese Waltz consists only of turns and change steps. Other moves such as the fleckerls, American-style figures and side sway or underarm turns are modern inventions and are not normally danced at the annual balls in Vienna. Furthermore, in a properly danced Viennese Waltz, couples do not pass, but turn continuously left and right while traveling counterclockwise around the floor following each other.
As the Waltz evolved, some of the versions that were done at about the original fast tempo came to be called specifically "Viennese Waltz" to distinguish them from the slower Waltzes. In the modern ballroom dance, two versions of Viennese Waltz are recognized: International Style and American Style.
What is now called the Viennese Waltz is the original form of the Waltz and the first ballroom dance in the closed hold or "Waltz" position. The dance that is popularly known as the Waltz is actually the English or Slow Waltz, danced approximately at 90 beats per minute with 3 beats to the bar (the international standard of 30 measures per minute) while the Viennese Waltz is danced at about 180 beats (58-60 measures) per minute. To this day however, in Germany, Austria and France, the words "Walzer" (German for "Waltz") and "Valse" (French for "Waltz") still implicitly refers to the original dance and not the Slow Waltz.
The Viennese Waltz, so called to distinguish it from the Waltz and the French Waltz, is the oldest of all ballroom dances. It emerged in the second half of the 18th century from the German dance and the Ländler in Austria and in the beginning was disapproved-of on account of its "lasciviousness", e.g. because the ladies' ankles were visible, and because the man actually embraced the lady in public. Later it gained official acceptance and even popularity due to the Congress of Vienna at the beginning of the 19th century and the famous compositions by Josef Lanner, Johann Strauss I and his son, Johann Strauss II.
PEABODY - is danced to 4/4 timing, and is a progressive and turning dance moving counterclockwise around the outside edge of the dance floor.
The Peabody resembles a fast Foxtrot. Legend has it that the Peabody was created by a portly police or fire chief - Captain Peabody - who was so overweight that he had to dance with his partner to the extreme right side, just about side by side in dance position, creating the style which is so characteristic of the Peabody. It's primarily a dance with long, gliding steps. Dancers use many intricate quick steps set against a figure called the "open box". It is not considered a popular social dance anymore, but is still danced in competitions, and in the larger ballrooms where dance space is not a serious problem.
RUMBA - is a spot dance done in 4/4 timing, not moving along the line of dance. Cuban Motion, or Latin Hip Motion is used throughout.
Rumba is a dance organically related to Afro-Cuban music. Throughout the history one may trace several styles of dances called "Rumba".
Some dancers considered Rumba the most erotic and sensual Latin dance, for its relatively slow rhythm and hip movement. Rumba is actually the second slowest Latin dance, with the Bolero being the slowest.
American Style Rumba is characterized by the Cuban motion or hip sway arising from alternately bending and straightening of the knee, as opposed to Latin motion stepping on a straight leg, which is used in International Style Rumba.
CHA-CHA - is a spot dance done in 4/4 timing, not moving along the line of dance. Cuban Motion, or Latin Hip Motion is used throughout.
Owing to its’ Mambo roots, the Cha Cha was originally called the Syncopated Mambo. For this reason, many steps from the Mambo and Cha-Cha (and also Rumba) are interchangeable. Guajira, a product of triple Mambo via Danzon predates all the "social" versions. The Guajira rhythm, is still used as the basis for most Cubans and Puerto Ricans who are of the belief that the other versions were "anglicised" to suit the American market. As is usual with the more authentic forms of dance, a very limited variety of steps is used. It can still be seen danced in many South Florida night clubs.
MAMBO - is a spot dance done in 4/4 timing, not moving along the line of dance. Cuban Motion, or Latin Hip Motion is used throughout.
The Mambo dance originated in Cuba where there were substantial settlements of Haitians. In the back country of Haiti, the "Mambo" is a voodoo priestess, who serves the villagers as counselor, healer, exorcist, soothsayer, spiritual advisor, and organizer of public entertainment. However, there is not a folk dance in Haiti called the "Mambo."
The fusion of Swing and Cuban music produced this fascinating rhythm and in turn created a new sensational dance. The Mambo could not have been conceived earlier since up to that time, the Cuban and American Jazz were still not wedded. The "Mambo" dance is attributed to Perez Prado who introduced it at La Tropicana nightclub in Havana in 1943. Since then other Latin American band leaders such as Tito Rodriquez, Pupi Campo, Tito Puente, Machito and Xavier Cugat have achieved styles of their own and furthered the Mambo craze.
It first appeared in the United States in New York's Park Plaza Ballroom - a favorite hangout of enthusiastic dancers from Harlem. The Mambo gained its excitement in 1947 at the Palladium and other renowned places such as The China Doll, Havana Madrid and Birdland.
The Mambo craze did not last long, until recently when such movies such as ‘Dirty Dancing’ and Mambo King’ began showing at the theaters. Teachers agree that this is one of the more difficult of dances due not only to it’s speed and turns, but also it’s musicality. It takes a good sense of timing and knowledge of upbeats and downbeats to “break” on the 2 beat. One of the greatest contributions of the Mambo is that it led to the development of the Cha-Cha.
It’s renewed popularity is also due to a man named Eddie Torres. Eddie is a New York dance pro and Mambo fanatic who has launched a crusade to make sure the dance reigns in the ballroom once again. Torres has become the leading exponent of the style, steadily building a reputation as a dancer, instructor, and choreographer. He has become known as the "Mambo King of Latin Dance". Torres is determined to reintroduce dancers to what he believes is the authentic night-club style of mambo dancing, which in the 1990's is increasingly known as Salsa.
"It's a great time for Latin American dances," says Torres. "The Mambo is hot now, like it was in the '50's. It is a dance with many influences -- African, Cuban, Jazz, Hip-Hop, even some ballet. You'll never run out of steps."
Popular Mambo songs include "Mambo Italiano", "Papa Loves Mambo", "Mambo #5", "I Saw Mommy Do The Mambo", and "They Were Doin' The Mambo". 'Dance City', the superb CD album featuring Hernandez and the Mambo Kings Orchestra, stands on its own as one of the best recordings of its kind in years, an energetic big band-style session that recalls the glory days of Tito Puente and Tito Rodriguez.
Most people treat Mambo as a very fast dance. In essence, it is a slow and precise dance that doesn't move very much.
SALSA - is a spot dance done in 4/4 timing, not moving along the line of dance. Cuban Motion, or Latin Hip Motion is used throughout.
Salsa refers to a fusion of informal dance styles having roots in the Caribbean (especially Cuba and Puerto Rico), Latin and North America. There is a strong African influence in the music and the dance.
Salsa is usually a partner dance, although there are recognized solo steps and some forms are danced in groups of couples, with frequent exchanges of partner. Improvisation and social dancing are important elements of Salsa but it appears as a performance dance, too.
The name "Salsa" is the Spanish word for sauce, noting (in American Spanish) a spicy flavor. The Salsa aesthetic is more flirtatious and sensuous than its ancestor, Cuban Son. Salsa also suggests a "mixture" of ingredients, though this meaning is not found in most stories of the term's origin.
Salsa is danced on a core rhythm that lasts for two measures of four beats each. The basic step typically uses three steps each measure. This pattern might be quick-quick-slow, taking two beats to gradually transfer the weight, or quick-quick-quick allowing a tap or other embellishment on the vacant beat. It is conventional in salsa for the two musical measures to be considered as one, so the count goes from 1 to 8 over two musical bars.
Typically the music involves complex African percussion rhythms based around the Son clave or Rumba clave. Music suitable for dancing ranges from slow at about 120 beats per minute to its fastest at around 180 beats per minute.
Salsa is a slot or spot dance, i.e. the partners do not need to travel over the dance floor but usually occupy a fixed area of the dance floor, rotating around one another and exchanging places. Traveling is not ruled out, but is more used in a staged salsa performance. In a social setting it is bad etiquette to occupy too much floor by traveling.
MERENGUE - is a spot dance done in 4/4 timing, not moving along the line of dance, although it can and often does travel about the floor. Cuban Motion, or Latin Hip Motion is used throughout Dominican Republic and Haiti both claim origin to the dance.
There are three popular versions of the of the origin of the dance, the Merengue. One story alleges the dance originated with slaves who were chained together and, of necessity, were forced to drag one leg as they cut sugar to the beat of drums. The second story alleges that a great hero was wounded in the leg during one of the many revolutions. A party of villagers welcomed him home with a victory celebration and, out of sympathy, everyone dancing felt obliged to limp and drag one foot. The third is similar to the second, but has it the king’s son was born with an affliction that affected one leg. Fearing that his son might never attract and marry and thereby give him a grandson and continue providing heirs to the throne, decreed that all must dance as if they, too, had a lame leg, thereby not making his son stand out as lame.
By the middle of the nineteenth century, the Merengue was very popular in the Dominican Republic. Not only is it used on every dancing occasion in the Republic, but it is very popular throughout the Caribbean and South America, and is one of the standard Latin American dances.
There is a lot of variety in Merengue music. Tempos vary a great deal and the Dominicans enjoy a sharp quickening in pace towards the latter part of the dance. The most favored routine at the clubs and restaurants that run a dance floor is a slow Bolero, breaking into a Merengue, which becomes akin to a bright, fast Jive in its closing stages. The ballroom Merengue is slower and has a modified hip action.
The Merengue was introduced in the United States in the New York area. However, it did not become well known until several years after it’s introduction.
Ideally suited to the small, crowded dance floors, it is a dance that is easy to learn and essentially a "fun" dance.
SAMBA - originated in Brazil and is the national dance. It was and is danced as a festival dance during the street festivals and celebrations. First introduced in the U.S. in a Broadway play called "Street Carnival" in the late twenties, the festive style and mood of the dance has kept it alive and popular to this day.
The Samba is characterized by a soft, up and down pulsing, or flexing, of the knees. Recently, dancers have introduced another style, taking away most of the pulsing action and replacing it with a more accented latin hip action.
SWING - The history of Swing dates back to the 1920's, where the black community, while dancing to contemporary Jazz music, discovered the Charleston and the Lindy Hop.
One evening in 1927, following Lindbergh's flight to Paris, a local dance enthusiast named "Shorty George" Snowden was watching some of the dancing couples. A newspaper reporter asked him what dance they were doing, and it just so happened that there was a newspaper with an article about Lindbergh's flight sitting on the bench next to them. The title of the article read, "Lindy Hops The Atlantic," and George just sort of read that and said, "Lindy Hop" and the name stuck.
In the mid 1930's, a bouncy six beat variant was named the Jitterbug by the band leader Cab Calloway when he introduced a tune in 1934 entitled "Jitterbug".
In the early 1940's, Lauré Haile, as a swing dancer and competitor, documented what she saw being danced by the white community. At that time, Dean Collins was leading the action with Lenny Smith and Lou Southern in the night clubs and competitions in Southern California. Lauré Haile gave it the name of "Western Swing". She began teaching for Arthur Murray in 1945. Dean Collins taught Arthur Murray teachers in Hollywood and San Francisco in the late 1940's and early 1950's.
From the mid 1940's to today, the Lindy Hop, Jitterbug, Lindy, and Swing, were stripped down and distilled by the ballroom dance studio teachers in order to adapt what they were teaching to the less nimble-footed general public who paid for dance lessons. As a result, the ballroom dance studios bred and developed a ballroom East Coast Swing and ballroom West Coast Swing.
In the late 1950's, television brought "American Bandstand", "The Buddy Dean Show" and other programs to the teenage audiences. The teenagers were rocking with Elvis Presley, Little Richard, and Chuck Berry leading the fray. In 1959, some of the California dance organizations, with Skippy Blair setting the pace, changed the name of Western Swing to West Coast Swing so it would not be confused with country and western dancing.
Swing Styles
Savoy Swing - a style of Swing popular in the New York Savoy Ballroom in the 30's and 40's originally danced to Swing music. The Savoy style of swing is a very fast, jumpy, casual-looking style of dancing.
Lindy style is a smoother-looking dance.
West Coast Swing: a style of Swing characterized by the lady dancing back and forth in a slot, with the man moving out of the way to allow the lady to pass by him, then moving back into the slot. Single, double, and triple time rhythms are all used throughout. West Coast Swing was voted the California State Dance in 1989.
Whip: a style of Swing popular in Houston, Texas, emphasizing moves spinning the follower between dance positions with a wave rhythm break.
Push: a style of swing popular in Dallas, Texas, emphasizing moves spinning the follower between dance positions with a rock rhythm break.
Supreme Swing: a style of Swing popular in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Imperial Swing: a style of Swing popular in St. Louis, Missouri.
Carolina Shag: a style of Swing popular in the Carolinas emphasizing the leader's nimble feet.
DC Hand Dancing: a Washington, DC synthesis of Lindy and Swing.
East Coast Swing: a 6 count style of Lindy popular in the ballroom dance school organizations, utilizing singe, double, or triple time rhythms depending mostly on the tempo of the music. It is danced primarily in a rotational manner in one place on the dance floor.
Country-Western Swing: a style of Jitterbug popularized during the 1980's and danced to Country and Western music. See East Coast Swing.
Cajun Swing: a Louisiana Bayou style of Lindy danced to Cajun music.
Pony Swing: a Country Western style of Cajun Swing.
Jive: the International Style version of the dance is called Jive, and it is danced competitively in the US and all over the world.
HUSTLE - Most Disco dances have strong roots in Swing, Samba, Cha Cha, Mambo, Merengue, and Tango. The Hustle is believed to have originated in New York in 1970. It went through many variations in the seventies, with line dances for groups of people, solo movements that came and went, and partnership dances. These partnership dances included The Basic Hustle, Latin, Spanish and Tango Hustle, and the most popular Street, Three-Count or Swing Hustle that originated in California as the street Hustle by skaters in Venice and Malibu. They have boiled down to two basic styles now - the Merengue Hustle, or four count Hustle, and the New York Hustle, or three count Hustle.
John Travolta and "Saturday Night Fever" made dancing the "in" thing for many people, especially men.
Popular disco music of the 70's included Bee Gees "Stayin' alive", "Night fever", "More than a woman", "Everybody Dance" (Chic) and Donna Summer's "Love to love you baby".
Hustle is danced to the contemporary pop dance music of the last 20 years. It is a fast, smooth dance, with the lady spinning almost constantly, while her partner draws her close and sends her away.
