Ballroom dancing has made a tremendous resurgence throughout the U.S., largely due to the success of the TV show, Dancing with the Stars.
Ballroom dance refers to a set of partner dances, which are
enjoyed both socially
and competitively
around the world. Its performance
and entertainment aspects are
also widely enjoyed on stage, in film, and on television.
In one common usage "ballroom dance" refers to the ten dances of International Standard and
International Latin, though Ballroom dance may refer, at its widest, to almost any
type of social dancing as recreation. If you are a fan of Dancing With The Stars you may have seen some of
these other dances placed under the umbrella "ballroom dance" include Nightclub
Dances
such as Lindy Hop, West Coast Swing,
Nightclub
Two Step,
Hustle, Salsa, and Merengue.
The categorization of dances as "ballroom dances" has always been fluid, with new dances or folk dances being added to/removed from to the ballroom repertoire from time to time, so no list of subcategories or dances is any more than a description of current practices.
As attested to by the stars on "Dancing with the Stars" ballroom dancing is a physically demanding sport that requires excellent conditioning as well as intense practice. Videos of the various ballroom dance moves are a good place to start to learn these routines. DVD lessons or courses are also good primers – and of course your local dance studio and the dance instruction they provide is probably the best, though certainly the most expensive of the your options to learn ballroom.
The WWW has many sites dedicated to ballroom dancing and lessons. These lessons include online video lessons and dvd courses. Regardless of how you decide to learn, the ability to view and review video footage or clips of specific dances and techniques is important. Video Surgeon greatly enhances the ability to learn from video by enabling you to: slow the video down, designate loop points for repeated playback, and video zoom-in. When all three of these features are used simeltaneously, Video Surgeon becomes a powerful tool for anyone that uses video to learn to teach ballroom dancing.