The figures in the modern ballroom dances have now been standardised and categorised into various levels for teaching, with internationally agreed vocabularies, techniques, rhythms and tempos. But it was not always so.

These 'Standard Ballroom' dances have diverse origins, rhythms, tempos, and aesthetics, but have one thing in common: they are all danced by a couple (usually a man and a lady) in 'Closed Hold', maintaining five areas of contact between the partners while performing all the figures of the dances.

VIENNESE WALTZ
The Waltz is a dance performed to music with three beats to the bar. This means that if a step is taken on each beat, then each bar starts with the opposite foot to that of the previous bar. This can be a source of great difficulty for the beginner, but when mastered gives the dance a delightful romantic lilt.

Waltz music is still found in today's top forty pop and country charts.
Timeless classics still inspire young dancers such as:

Fascination - Al Martino
Theme from Papillon
Moon River - Henry Mancini

SLOW WALTZ

Slow Waltz came into being in the twenties - in Boston - as an advancement of Viennese Waltz, which beneath the known "round" movements already contained the new elements of "straight ahead" movement. Because of its origin it is also called "English Waltz".

Slow Waltz got a diagonal structure by dancing only a 3/4-rotation at clockwise and counter-clockwise rotation. This new mode choreographed by English dance instructors, has been accepted by the Imperial Society since 1927.

Because of its rhythmically swinging movements in combination with a soft, often sentimental music, Slow Waltz is considered to be the most harmonic of the standard dances. It is often danced at the beginning of dance events.

MODERN TANGO
The ballroom tango differs a lot from the Argentinean Tango. Even though they are both danced to the same music, the movements of the feet and the body are quite different. The ballroom tango is more structured, with sharper head and upper body movements and not so intricate footwork. The Argentinean Tango in contrast is much more orientated towards complicated foot patterns, softer body movement and flowing arm motions.

SLOW FOXTROT
This a dance performed by couples in ballroom hold to music with a 4/4 rhythm and about 120 beats/minute tempo. A faster dance of this nature was variously called the One Step or Two Step in the Victorian era in Western Society. This had one step per beat or two steps per bar. It was introduced as the Castle Walk into the nightclub performances of Vernon and Irene Castle, and popularised by Harry Fox in the stage show Ziegfeld Follies in New York in 1913.

Foxtrot music abounds in both popular and easy listening sections of the CD store:
Some Classic Cds:
Gold - Frank Sinatra
The Greatest Hits - Nat King Cole

QUICKSTEP
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 nature of Quickstep are very fast composed movements controlled by vitality, a change between quick and slow steps and by a swift speed of 50 beats per minute. Quickstep is cheerful, sportive and tricky. Obvious are the fast leg motions, intended to affect an easy playing impression.
From 1930 influences of swing music made Quickstep rhythmically free and easy to dance. Quickstep is the most thrilling standard dance: quick in its progressive movements, vivid in its bouncing steps, so that it is nowadays the most favourite ballroom dance. In contrast to Slow Waltz, with its lateral movements, Quickstep is danced in lines and circles.
Quickstep music can be found in many re-releases of 40s tunes or in up-tempo versions of popular songs:
• Sing Sing Sing - Benny Goodman
• Face the Music and Dance - Ross Mitchell