Ballroom dance

Ballroom dance is a style of partner dance which originated in the western
world, and is now enjoyed both socially and competitively in many parts of
the world. Its performance and entertainment aspects are also widely enjoyed
on stage, in film and on television.

Contemporary ballroom dance technique has been extensively studied and
formalized. Medals Exams are a commonly accepted standard of measurement of
a dancer's technique according to conventional standards, franchise studios
in the United States classify them as Bronze, Silver, Gold and Gold Bar for
the social dancers. For amateur competitive dancers the rankings go
Bronze->Silver->Gold->Novice->Prechampionship->Championship (roughly
equivalent to the A->E rankings in Europe and Australia), then Rising Star
and Open Professional for the pro ranks. The International Olympic Committee
now recognizes ballroom dance as a sport, and some have pushed for its
admittance to the Olympics.

Most ballroom dances were social and/or folk dances before being formalized
as ballroom dances, and many of these dances are still danced as social and
folk dance.

Coming from grouping dances in competitions, the following divisions of
contemporary ballroom dance are recognized: International Standard and
International Latin. In addition, American Smooth, and American Rhythm are
widely popular in the USA. The former two divisions are called International
Style and the latter two are American Style.

As you may see below, both styles include dances with the same names,
however they are danced quite differently. Therefore in discussing dance
technique, the dance is named including its style, e.g., it is spoken of
American Style Rumba vs. International Rumba or American Tango vs.
International Tango. In a way, "Standard" matches "Smooth" and "Latin"
matches "Rhythm".

International Standard is sometimes called International Ballroom or Modern Ballroom.

In addition, "Social ballroom dancing" recognizes the Nightclub Dances
category. Nightclub dances are less formalized than the other ones. A number
of them are proudly called Street dances. Nightclub dances are danced
differently in different places and club/street styles differ from styles
taught in ballroom studios.

Standard and Smooth dances are characterized by travelling: couples travel
around the dance floor (along the line of dance, typically
counter-clockwise). Time may be 2/4, 4/4 or 3/4.

Most "Latin" and "Rhythm" dances are Stationary, i.e., do not travel much,
with the exception of Samba and Paso Doble. Time is 2/4 or 4/4.

As a historical curiosity, ballroom dancing competitions in the former USSR
included the Soviet Ballroom dances, or Soviet Program in addition to
Standard dances and Latin dances.

     International Standard
     -Waltz - Tango - Viennese Waltz - Foxtrot - Quickstep

     International Latin
     -Cha-Cha - Samba - Rumba - Paso Doble - Jive

     American Smooth
     -Waltz - Foxtrot - Tango - Viennese Waltz

     American Rhythm
     - Cha-Cha - Mambo - Rumba - Bolero - East Coast Swing

     Nightclub
     - West Coast Swing - East Coast Swing - Lindy Hop - Modern Jive / LeRoc
     / Ceroc - Nightclub Two Step - Hustle - Salsa

     Other
     - Argentine Tango
     - Polka

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