The Essential Guide to Ballroom Dance E-Book

Janet Cunningham-Clayton

• Herausgeber: Crowood
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

Ballroom dancing has become an increasingly popular pastime for all ages, inspired in recent years by reality TV dance programmes throughout the world. As one of the most inclusive dance genres, it offers both a social and competitive outlet for every ability. The Essential Guide to Ballroom Dance offers a comprehensive study of the main ballroom dance styles, including the Waltz, Foxtrot, Quickstep and Tango. Topics covered include a brief history and development of ballroom dancing; a beginner's guide to partnerships, positioning and footwork; dance-specific techniques, steps and routines; the mechanics, application and fundamentals of movement; musicality and choreography and, finally, exercises, diet and nutrition. With clear step-by-step instructions, 150 colour photographs, and a foreword by Anton Du Beke, this is an ideal companion for the beginner ballroom dancer. Janet Cunningham-Clayton is a former Senior British Ballroom Champion and has over twenty-five years of dancing experience, and Malcolm Fernandes has over thirty years experience in the ballroom dance industry with a particular specialism in music.

Leseprobe

THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO

Ballroom Dance

THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO

Ballroom Dance

JANET CUNNINGHAM-CLAYTONAND MALCOLM FERNANDES

Foreword by Anton Du Beke

First published in 2019 byThe Crowood Press LtdRamsbury, MarlboroughWiltshire SN8 2HR

This e-book first published in 2019

www.crowood.com

© Janet Cunningham-Clayton and Malcolm Fernandes 2019

All rights reserved. This e-book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication DataA catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78500 598 5

CONTENTS

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Preface

Introduction

1. The History and Development of Ballroom Dancing

2. The Dance Essentials

3. The Waltz – English and Viennese

4. The Slow Foxtrot

5. The Quickstep

6. The Ballroom Tango

7. Beyond the Basics

8. Musicality, Floor Craft and Routine Construction

9. Exercises and Nutrition to Improve Your Dancing

Conclusion

Index

FOREWORD by Anton DuBeke

PROFESSIONAL DANCER ON THE BBC’s STRICTLY COME DANCING

It is a joy to write a foreword to this wonderful book, written by two of my favourite people about my favourite subject matter, ballroom dancing. It is fantastic that here, Janet and Malcolm are able to share their wealth of experience and expertise, amassed over decades at the heart of the industry, that will be invaluable for anyone, wherever they may be on their dancing journey.

Anton DuBeke.

I have been lucky enough to know Janet and Malcolm for the past thirty years and we have spent many a happy hour together discussing this wonderful world of ballroom dancing. Anyone that knows me, knows that I have a deep interest in the history of ballroom dancing and its evolution over the past century. From the advent of the professional and amateur championships in the early 1930s to the huge icons of the dancing world from the likes of Phyllis Haylor, Josephine Bradley and Victor Sylvester, to Richard and Janet Cleave and Marcus and Karen Hilton. From the ruthless competition of the professional circuit, the pomp and pageantry of Come Dancing to the glitter and glamour of Strictly Come Dancing today, it truly is a unique world, which I have been lucky enough to be part of for most of my life.

For the absolute beginner with a passion to learn to dance, to the experienced dancer with a desire to have a greater understanding of the mechanics of the body and to improve technique, this book will be an invaluable companion. It will be taking pride of place on my bookshelf.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS FROM JANET

A life-long thank-you to two very special people in my dancing journey: Peter Elliott, who coached me, helped and encouraged me to ‘hold the dream’ (his quote); and Scott Draper, who coached me along the road to becoming the British Senior Ballroom Dance Champion and who hung in there with me through all the challenges that occurred along the way.

Many thanks to my practice partner, Donald Knight, who was always there for me to practise with and who was never too busy to help.

Great thanks to my coaches Kenny Welsh, Marion Welsh, David Sycamore, Denise Weavers and Vicky Barr, who, when I was beginning my dancing journey, taught me to aspire to the best technique. Their teaching is what I remember and continue to understand to this day.

Thanks go to my yoga teacher, Sarah Davey-Alexander, for her wonderful teaching abilities and application of the Alexander technique, which has improved my awareness of movement, and my strength and flexibility, as well as my posture, balance and poise. Thank you to my tai chi teachers, Dick Watson and Simon Watson, who trained me in tai chi, which helped me enormously in my dancing, especially in feeling, balance and control.

Thanks to Dick with his quotation of ‘you gain by your losses’. I certainly did when losing a partner, then gained Phil Holding with whom I became the British Senior Champion. Thank you Phil.

Thank you too to all the partners that came and went, departing but leaving life-changing lessons.

To my friends John Cremins, Chris Cremins, John Bowyer and Max and Sarah Davis, who all afford me the privilege to teach them and learn even more.

Many, many thanks to my amazing partner in my life Malcolm, Mr Wonderful, who challenged me to teach but who is the most challenging to teach!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS FROM MALCOLM

This book would not be on the bookshelf without my partner, mentor and friend Janet. My thanks to Janet for bringing about in me an understanding of ballroom dancing.

Thanks to all the dance promoters who had the faith and belief in me as a dance presenter.

My thanks to all the professional dancers who demonstrated their craft at my social dance balls and who were truly inspirational. Notable amongst these were: Arunas Bizokas and Katusha Demidova; Michael Malitowski and Joanna Leunis; Mirko Gozzoli and Edita Daniute; John Wood and Snieguole Wood; Sergey Surkov and Melia; Paolo Bosco and Silvia Pitton; Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace; Warren and Kristi Boyce; Pablo Alonso and Caro; and to the many amateur couples who were also inspirational.

SPECIAL THANKS FROM MALCOLM AND JANET

Our special thanks and gratitude to the talented photographer, Fredric Frennessen, for his skill and patience and the splendid photographs in this book.

Vicki Frennessen, thank you for Janet’s hairstyle and make-up, and your assistance in our poses for the photographs.

Shermain Philip, thank you for all your hard work creating the wonderful illustrations in this book.

Thank you to Ronnie Li and Sylvie Morton of Chrisanne Clover for the beautiful dance dresses worn by Janet and photographed in this book.

Thank you to Gerald Schwanzer of Dance Sport International London for the practice wear worn by Janet in the dance step photographs, and the peach ballroom dress worn by Janet in the book.

Thank you to Espen Salberg for your kind and helpful advice and the beautiful black evening dress like the one shown in the book worn by Janet.

Thank you to SupaDance International for the dance shoes as worn by Janet and me in the photographs.

Our special thanks to Steve, Sam and Pauline at WRD Records for consistently providing Malcolm with the best dance CDs.

PREFACE

Janet and I found our way into the ballroom dancing world via two entirely different routes.

Janet’s route was the more conventional of the two and is the one that will be familiar to hundreds of young girls and ladies throughout the world who have taken up ballroom dancing.

Like so many young girls, she was encouraged by her parents to learn to dance and was enrolled into one of the many ‘Victor Silvester Dance Schools’ abounding in London, this one being in Kilburn High Road. She was eight years old at the time. She then went through several years of dance lessons taking her medal examinations and finally attaining Gold Star status and Statuette. She remembers being presented her many medal awards by Lionel Blair, Judith Chalmers and Bruce Forsythe – days that are etched in her memory.

Janet Cunningham-Clayton.

Janet sadly stopped dancing when she was twenty to follow a full-time career working with horses, and resumed her dancing many years later. Her interest was rekindled through watching the BBC’s Come Dancing programmes on television. She was enthralled watching the wonderful Shirley Ballas dancing with her husband Corky, performing the Samba to the Samuel E. Wright song Under the Sea. She was also inspired by the Finnish professional dancers Sirpa Suutari and Jukka Haapalainen, and the British dancers Barbara McColl and Sammy Stopford.

She joined a local dance school in Watford, England and once again enjoyed inter-school competitions with her dance teacher. Her aim then was to dance on the British competitive dance circuit and her dream was to become the British Senior Ballroom Champion. She was encouraged in this goal by one of her early coaches, Peter Elliot, who frequently told her to ‘hold the dream’ when times were proving to be difficult. She soon found her first dancing partner, Don Knight, to practise with, which led her on to finding her first competitive dancing partner. As well as continuing her lessons with her coach, she started having lessons with other top coaches.

After the breakup of her first partnership, she travelled the length and breadth of England, and even abroad as far away as Australia, in her search for a dance partner. She was finally introduced to homegrown Phil Holding, with whom she finally achieved her goal, in 2007, of winning the British Senior Ballroom Championship in Blackpool, England. She also achieved eighteenth place in the World Senior Standard Championship at Antwerp in February 2008.

She talks of the constant support given to her by her dance coaches, on her long and truly enlightening journey. She often quotes an anonymous author:

Pupil, ‘Is the road uphill all of the way?’Teacher, ‘Yes, all the way to the very top.’

She would like to add here the beneficial help she attained from her yoga teacher Sarah Davey-Alexander and her tai chi teachers who she refers to as also being instrumental in her success as a ballroom dancer.

Her motto has been: To have a meaningful journey you have to embrace everything – mind, body and soul.

You need your Mind to be able to assimilate information.

You need your Body to be able to perform it.

And you also need your Soul to be able feel it.

After retiring from the competitive dance circuit, she fatefully met me on the London social dance scene and on our first meeting on the dance floor, surprised me when she said that she so enjoyed dancing with me that first time and had a lot of fun. She said my dancing was soft, free and untamed.

Malcolm Fernandes.

I, on the other hand, couldn’t dance a step at that time. I had not had any formal, or indeed informal, dance lessons up until then and I immediately soaked up all the knowledge, information, teaching and instruction that she subsequently gave me, for which I will be forever grateful.

As I was, by then, not only hosting social ballroom dances but also organizing dance holidays and associated dance workshops, I suggested that she might consider taking dance teaching examinations and qualifying as a dance instructor, so that she could undertake the workshops on my holidays. This she did and she is now a qualified dance teacher.

My love of dance arose from my love of music. My love of music, I suppose, started when I was still an infant. I was told by my mother that before I was one year old she used to take me to dances with my father back home in Kenya. I used to be put in my Moses basket on the side of the stage while my father played guitar and my mother danced the night away. Although I didn’t have any ability to play music, albeit a desire to do so, I always aspired to be some kind of performer and to be on a stage.

I arrived in the UK from Kenya in 1968 with this vision to be a performer still burning. I went through school and college, and started my working life still not knowing how to realize my ambition. It was purely by chance that, in 1979, a friend of mine, knowing that I had a huge record collection, asked me to bring them along and play them at a local youth club event that he was organizing. That night is indelibly stamped in my memory. With one record player connected to a pair of speakers I engaged with the dancers, and my ability to play and present music that made people want to dance was awakened. I realized then that what I wanted to do was host public dances.

People seemed to like my style and I began getting lots of work everywhere, hosting weddings, parties and corporate events. That was the wonderful era of disco and people were dancing to the music of the Bee Gees, Gloria Gaynor and Earth, Wind and Fire. It was at one of these events that another DJ asked me to cover one of his regular engagements at the famous ‘Café de Paris’ in London’s Leicester Square. I didn’t know it at the time, but the Café de Paris was run by the Mecca Leisure Group and was then one of the last bastions of ballroom dancing still remaining in London. In November 1987, I hosted my first tea dance inside this beautiful dance hall with absolutely no idea of what ballroom dancing was all about.

The first thing I noticed, with absolute amazement, was that no sooner had the doors opened, than the people rushed down the beautiful iconic double staircase, put on their dance shoes and stepped out on to the dance floor, as soon as I struck up the first dance.

The second thing I noticed that afternoon was that these people were actually ‘dancing’. They seemed to know what they were doing and their feet appeared to be dancing predetermined steps. The men appeared to be ‘leading’ their partners and the ladies seemed to know what the men were doing and could ‘follow’ them. It must be said that this was my first introduction to hosting a ballroom event. It was on one such occasion that a very nice lady said, smilingly, to me, ‘That was wonderful dancing! You are Mr Wonderful’; and my stage name was born. I fell in love with this ‘new’ kind of social dancing.

Soon after that, I was being asked to host ballroom dances all over London. I quit my job, and my career as a professional dance presenter began. From then on, it has been my privilege to host ballroom dances in all the major dance halls in London and other cities in the UK. It has also been my pleasure to bring top class professional and amateur world champion dancers to perform at my social dances and balls. It was at one of these social dances that I met Janet, the lady who was destined to become my girlfriend, partner and mentor. I had no idea at that time that she was a former British Senior Ballroom Dance Champion. She began teaching me the techniques of ballroom dancing, of which I had no idea, moulding and forming me into a dancer.

INTRODUCTION

Ballroom dancing has many benefits to offer those wishing to take up this very popular pastime. Some of these many benefits are the social ones – making new friends and attending social dances and enjoying the company of friends in a convivial atmosphere.

Dancing on a regular basis will tone and strengthen the muscles, and generally increase overall fitness and aid weight loss. It is also a weight-bearing, bone-loading exercise, which helps prevent osteoporosis. It will also improve lung capacity and increase stamina, as it is a cardiovascular exercise. It will challenge the mental faculties through learning and subsequently remembering new steps and routines. New research has shown that it has a capacity of delaying the onset of dementia and even Alzheimer’s disease. Many take their dancing further and take medal examinations, which are both challenging and rewarding.

Passion for dancing may have been fuelled by watching one of the many reality programmes on the television or through seeing one of the many ballroom dancing movies, which sparked a yearning to learn to dance. Whatever the reasons for choosing to enter this wonderful world of ballroom dancing, dancing will bring you all the above benefits and a lot of fun as well!

This book has been mapped out in a way that should be easy for the reader to follow. By following this map from start to finish, without any deviation, the reader should gain a good understanding of how to dance and be able to become a competent ballroom dancer.

We begin with the history and development of ballroom dancing from its earliest inception to what is happening in the dance world today. It includes a basic understanding of music, in relatively simple terms, to make it easy to comprehend, giving an understanding of the relationship between music and the dance steps. Detailed explanations of dancing terms and techniques, including deportment – both individually and as a couple – are covered. The beginner steps of all the five dances are explained in detail to give you the confidence to step out on to any dance floor. This is followed by an introduction to more advanced choreography and techniques that will increase your repertoire of dance steps and how to dance them to a higher standard.

The book aims not only to cover ‘steps’ but to give the reader the knowledge of movement to enable them to dance these steps. This is absolutely vital in becoming a proficient dancer.

At the end of the book, there are exercises that have been recommended to increase your core strength and improve your flexibility and mobility.

The experienced dancer may benefit by finding that the information in this book will supplement and reinforce their knowledge and experience, and help them to develop their own dancing ability further.

If, after reading this book, you develop a passion for ballroom dancing, we suggest ways that will enable you to take your dancing further.

The steps have been deliberately kept as simple as possible, as the book aims to enable the new dancer to work on the fundamentals and foundations that will allow them to dance correctly from the very beginning, so as not to have to break bad habits further along the road that can be caused by trying to dance advanced choreography too soon.

Ballroom should be an enjoyable journey.

Learning to dance the steps correctly is vital to be able to perform the dance well. Improper actions will result in bad dancing. This can be likened to making a successful sponge cake, where the right ingredients in the correct amounts, baked at the correct temperature and for the right duration of time, must be adhered to. It is important to mix the ingredients in a specific way for the sponge to turn out perfect.

This will make the difference between an average and very good sponge cake.

An unknown author quotes: ‘countless unseen details are often the only difference between mediocre and magnificent’.

The key to successful dancing is to gain the knowledge of how to dance correctly, and many hours of practice.

So now let’s begin and enjoy the journey!

CHAPTER 1

THE HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF BALLROOM DANCING

From the dawn of humanity, humankind has been dancing:

•Cave paintings have depicted early people dancing.

•There are even hieroglyphics of people dancing on the walls of Egyptian tombs.

•Native American Indians danced to bring on the rains.

•The African Maasai people danced to demonstrate their sexual prowess.

•Samoans danced to frighten off their enemies.

•Japanese geisha women danced to entertain their male customers.

Dancing has been the mainstay of human social behaviour since the beginning of human history. Today, there are myriad styles of dance ranging from baton twirling to line dancing to synchronized swimming. In this book, we are going to introduce you to the joy of modern ballroom dancing, sometimes called the International Style of ballroom dancing. If you are new to ballroom dancing, your journey will begin here!

The word ‘ballroom’ originates from the Latin word ‘ballare’ a word that means ‘to dance’ and so the word ballroom presumably means a room where people come together to dance. The first annotated description of early ballroom dancing can be traced to around the sixteenth century. Towards the end of the seventeenth century, a simple choreography of dances was beginning to be written down and annotated.

It has been suggested that the classic ballroom hold that we see today originated at a time when men were regaled with their swords dangling on their left sides and so, to keep the lady’s arm away from the sword, the man would hold her left hand with his right hand at shoulder level away from the sword.

The waltz is undoubtedly the first and original of all the ballroom dances. In the nineteenth century, it began to become popularized in England. It developed from the European waltz (now referred to as the Viennese waltz), which was danced at a much faster pace by the folk people of Germany and Austria. The ‘English waltz’ or ‘classical waltz’ that we dance today, developed much later, around the 1920s, in – as you would guess – England! At first, this slower ‘English waltz’ met with huge indignation and opposition by society because of the scandalous proximity of the couple and the close hold of the man and woman, which was thought, at the time, to be rather improper, immoral and, indeed, shameful. Eventually, as morals softened, modern ballroom dancing began to evolve and develop. All this was socially engineered from the top of the social strata, downwards. The upper class were dancing at their ‘society balls’ and top hotels had their own resident orchestras playing dance music. Indeed, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had a penchant for ballroom dancing. So, if it was seen to be good enough for the ‘upper classes’, it was good enough for the rest of society.

Dancing consequently became a very popular and relaxing social pastime. People spent their hard-earned money in newly built dance halls. These were the places that people went to meet and socialize together. This, in turn, increased the need for dance bands and orchestras, which, in turn, led to the ‘invention’ and ‘creation’ of newer and newer dances for people to enjoy. Dance fever erupted and dance halls opened up all over Britain, North America and Europe.

In the early 1920s, people like Victor Silvester in Britain began to clarify, theorize, formalize and standardize, and began teaching these dances. Silvester was a London-based professional dancer and won the first ballroom dancing championship in 1922 with his partner Phyllis Clarke. He is credited with the ‘invention’ of the full natural turn and the double reverse spin in the waltz. He was a founder member of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) and he went on to open a chain of Dance Academies in London.

As a dancer, he was unashamedly aware that the bands and orchestras of the time did not offer the correct timing and tempos in the music they played that dancers required and demanded. He consequently formed his own five-piece band to provide this ‘strict tempo dance music’. He started laying down musical arrangements that were driven by the strict timing of the metronome. He later enlarged his band to form the ‘Victor Silvester Orchestra’, which he later further augmented by adding a comprehensive string ensemble for BBC radio broadcasts and called ‘The Silver Strings’. He is reputed to have achieved record sales of 75 million from the 1930s through to the 1980s.

As the popularity of dancing increased, more and more people wanted to learn to dance – dance schools abounded and dancing was exported to all parts of the Western world. All of this was happening in the era before the invention and arrival of television. Dancing at that time formed the major part of the Western world’s social scene. People met at dance halls and fell in love there.

To a large extent, the invention and spread of television killed off social dancing, as people began to stay indoors rather than go out to dance. Ironically, it now appears that with the revival of various dance programmes on TV today, ballroom dancing is making a resurgence all over the world. Coupled to this, there have been several hugely entertaining box-office hit movies featuring Hollywood stars that have tempted people back to dance halls and inspired people to learn to dance.

Notable among these are:

•The 1992 Australian romantic comedy Strictly Ballroom starring Paul Mercurio and directed and co-written by Baz Luhrmann. 2018 has seen it brought to the stage on Broadway and London.

•The 2004 American remake of the Japanese award-winning film of the same name, Shall We Dance, starring Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez.

•The 2006 Take the Lead starring Antonio Banderas as dance instructor Pierre Dulaine.

The ballroom dancing craze, which had its advent in the West, now appears to be sweeping across the globe. The former Philippine Senator Rene Saguisag described ballroom dancing: ‘It is exquisite!’ and ‘It is good clean fun, and we have lost a lot of weight!’ When General Alfredo Filler of the country’s armed forces was asked at his retirement what he wanted to do for the rest of his life, he is reputed to have said, ‘I want to learn ballroom dancing.’

In mainland China, people are now replacing their tai chi routine by practising their ballroom steps in the early morning parks of Beijing and Shanghai Bund. It even comes with dim sum in Hong Kong restaurants.

Millions of people have found the ballroom bug in Japan. It is not unusual for middle-aged and elderly women to leave their husbands at work while they tango and foxtrot away in the afternoons.

In Singapore, ballroom dancing has been added to activities like tennis and wine-tasting events and is now government funded.

Dancing in Australia was brought in by the British Colonial settlers. As they settled in the small towns all over the continent, dancing was their only form of entertainment. Indeed, in many of the outback towns there are still old dance halls used for social dances. The Australians have developed their own style of sequence dancing called ‘new vogue’, which has its roots in ballroom dancing figures.

The dance craze is giving birth to an expanding new profession of dance instructor and professional dance partner, who are mainly young, attractive, athletic males. They service the new Pro Am market, where they partner their students in exotic locations like Bali, Dubai and Milan.

People all over the world today are getting off their couches and heading to dance schools or dance halls to enjoy partner dancing again!

Reality television dance programmes now feature all over the world. Based on the British TV show Strictly Come Dancing, the format has been successfully licensed to a multitude of countries across the globe. The shows pair off well-known celebrities with professional ballroom dancers who compete against each other; their dancing is then judged by a panel of experts and subsequently voted on by the watching public to ultimately produce a winning couple.

Countries now broadcasting the franchised show include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China (including mainland Hong Kong), Colombia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Pakistan, Peru, Russia, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine and the United States, with more countries broadcasting it every year.

CHAPTER 2

THE DANCE ESSENTIALS

DANCE ATTIRE

Dance attire is different from everyday clothes. Wearing the right clothes will make dancing easier and more comfortable, enabling freedom of movement, while wearing any tight-fitting clothes will restrict your ability to move.

Men should wear light, fitted trousers and a shirt with sleeves worn over a vest to absorb perspiration.

Ladies should not restrict their movement by wearing tight-fitting skirts, as the man will not be able to walk forward inside the lady’s leg. Tightfitting tops will also restrict the lady in her hold. Specialized dance wear takes all of this into consideration. Ladies should also wear correctly fitting dancing shoes with suede soles and the appropriate heel height. This will make the dancing more enjoyable.

Dance attire skirt and top shown in dance material that breathes, suitable for dancing.

Ladies’ dance shoes shown with a heel protector.

Ladies’ dance shoes with suede soles, which are available from special dance-wear suppliers.

Dance wear can be obtained from a specialized dance-wear shop, which has a variety of dancewear clothes that are designed to give maximum freedom to move and are made with a suitable fabric that breathes and draws moisture from the body, where it can evaporate more easily. This will also prevent perspiration marks from forming.

Comfortable dance shoes, preferably with suede soles, should also be worn. It is advisable to buy dance shoes from reputable dance-wear suppliers because this will help you in many ways. Dance shoes are made to prevent damaging dance floors and to help prevent slipping and falling. Heel protectors can also be worn to prevent the heels of shoes wearing down very quickly. Normal outdoor shoes are not really suitable for dancing because most of them do not have non-slip soles and can be heavy. Stiletto heels are not very appropriate and will damage dance floors.

Please also remember your basic hygiene regime, as dancing is performed in close contact with your partner.

Men’s patent dance shoes, with suede soles.

THE MUSIC

It is necessary to have a basic understanding of music, because music is, ultimately, the tool that dancers perform with. Without music, dancing would seem very bland. As dancers, we interpret the dance through the music, as well as expressing the character of the dance.

The music.

Today the world is blessed in having, through digital media, compact discs, vinyl records and even live orchestras and dance bands, access to a huge wealth of dance music. Inspired composers, skilful arrangers and talented musicians all conspire to bring to our ears the music that inspires us to dance.

What Exactly Is Music?

Essentially, music can be defined as a series of sounds that are laid down by musicians in a predetermined way to form a musical melody. These musical melodies are measured in beats and bars, and together they are called ‘time signatures’. In the waltz, for example, this is stated as being in 3/4 time, meaning that there are three beats to each bar of music, having a tempo of between 28 and 30 bars per minute.

Both the foxtrot and quickstep are arranged and played in 4/4 timing meaning that there are 4 beats to each bar. So although both of these dances share the same time signature, the difference between the two dances lies in the tempo or speed in which these melodies are played. Foxtrot is played at 30–32 bars per minute, while the quickstep is played at around 50 bars per minute. Tango is played in 2/4 or 4/4 timing and has a usual tempo of 33 bars per minute. The Viennese waltz is played in 3/4 time at a tempo of between 50 and 60 bars per minute.

Whatever the dance, it is important that the speed or timing of the music remains constant throughout. This is often referred to as ‘strict tempo’ music.

HOW TO STAND CORRECTLY

Before taking the first dance step, learning how to stand correctly and on our own balance must be achieved. In dancing this is referred to as posture and poise. Standing on balance, on first thought, might seem to be very easy to achieve, but it takes time and practice to perfect. When watching good dancers, they will have mastered the three elements of balance, posture and poise.

The illustration demonstrates four incorrect standing positions and the fifth figure is the correct position.

How to stand – first four stick men show an incorrect posture; the fifth stick man shows the correct posture.

Balance

Balance is the most important and essential necessity in dancing. Without balance, you will not be able to dance correctly or comfortably. There are two types of balance: static and dynamic balance.

Consider this: if an object is dropped from the hand, it would naturally fall straight down to the ground because of the force of gravity acting on it pulling it downwards. The object would not veer to the left or to the right or backwards or forward – it would fall straight down.