Types of Ballroom Dances

Cha-cha is a modern rhythmic ballroom dance that involves small quick steps along with the swaying of the hips. Cha-Cha belongs to the Latin and North American dances, derived from the Mambo dance, it become very popular in the 50’s thus resulting for it to take Mambo’s place in popularity at that moment. Its name is taken from the frantic sound of the dancer’s shoes as they keep up with the lively playful upbeat tune. Aside from Cha-Cha or Cha-Cha-Cha, it is also well-known as “triple mambo” and “mambo with guiro rhythm” in the earlier days.

The dance pattern of cha-cha is not that complex as long as you remember the dance by your heart and body as you have to basically fit five steps in four beat. The first two steps are slow then the last three are fast accompanied by a little gliding step and strong swaying of the hips that is made by continuous bending and straightening of the legs. With at least 120 beats per minute and danced in 4/4 timing, the proper form of dancing cha-cha is by putting the dancer’s weight on their toes, furthermore, the bottom part of the dancer starting from their hips to their feet are the ones that moves to the beat while the torso and up only has minimal movement or if not, remains still.

Up to this time, dance competitions are still held in many places. And truly, even when many years have passed, cha-cha will remain as it is also used as cardio exercise and workout like in Zumba.

References:

Cha Cha (http://dance.about.com/od/partnerdancestyles/qt/Cha_Cha.htm)

Fun Facts about the Cha-Cha (http://www.ehow.com/info_8699862_fun-chacha.html)

Cha-Cha (http://www.caretodance.net/cha_cha.html)

Older than cha-cha, Swing is more like the general term for the different kind of dances that are created or just discovered around the 20’s to 40’s. Just some of the most popular ones are Lindy Hop, Charleston, Jitterbug, Shag, Blue, Balbao, East Coast Wing, West Coast Wing and various others. Swing rose to fame along with the Jazz music craze.

Featured in many different movies in early 30’s, Lindy Hop is what stayed until now. It is an 8-count dance that was first danced by the black community. Lindy pop is said to have developed in the streets of Harlem, New York. So basically, the basic step of learning how to Lindy Hop is by never stepping forward or backward with a straight foot, it’s always facing its sides. And with that it gives the effect of the swaying of the hips, and with a fast tempo dance music to match, Lindy Hop will surely get anyone on their feet.

References:

Swing Dancing History (http://www.buzzle.com/articles/swing-dancing-history.html)

Lindy Hop (http://www.beembee.com/2011/interesting-facts-about-lindy-hop)

Tango