Quick links to read about each dance:
Dance styles
Cha Cha
Simply known as the Cha-Cha in the USA, this dance originated in Cuba. The dance's character is fun, playful and a hip action is achieved by bending and straightening of the knee. Most dancers prefer to start on the first beat of a bar by doing a transfer of weight to the leader's right.
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Technique
The cha-cha is mostly danced in a proper dance form and includes hip movement with a minimal movement of the upper body. In other words, the top part of the dancer's body should remain still while the lowers part of the body such as hips, legs and feet will move to the music. The steps are small and staccato due to the speed of the music. The knees straighten and bend on the half-beats and hips move in a "Cuban Motion" also known as "figure eight". The dancer's weight should be towards his toes giving pressure trough the frame to the partner. Read more about cha cha here.
Slow Waltz
Slow Waltz, also known as "English Waltz," is perhaps one of the most popular slow dances. The dance is done in a closed frame position. The rising and falling actions are danced through the knees, producing the characteristics of traveling and swaying.
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Technique
The Slow Waltz is very commonly danced at weddings and other social occasions. It is romantic, elegant, and much easier than the Viennese version. Generally, it moves with a weighted step on every beat. Alternatively, the hesitation rhythm uses a weighted step on the first or accented beat of the measure holding for the next two beats. Furthermore, the count one-two-three, one-two-three is often used. However, some prefer counting a full six counts of a box pattern.
Rumba
This dance is slow, lyrical and romantic, offering you a great way to get more comfortable with on the dance floor. It is widely popular as a first wedding dance. Rumba is also known to be the dance that portrays love and vulnerability.
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Technique
the rumba technique is exactly the same for the man and woman although the woman will tend to be wearing a higher heeled shoe and therefore the technique looks even more pronounced due to the angle of elevation of her foot, also ladies are wearing a dress so their legs are exposed compared to a man wearing trousers. Cuban motion and figure eight are produced trough release of weight over a straight leg which makes the hips create a pendulum action from side to side and slightly diagonal in the direction of the next movement. Read more about rumba here or watch our free tutorial.
Foxtrot
Foxtrot is named after the famous actor, Harry Fox, who incorporated some trotting steps in his act. It is a traveling and graceful dance that incorporates big strides, pivoting of the feet and graceful turns. After mentioning the word "Foxtrot," most people imagine Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers sweeping across the floor in their tux and gown.
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Technique
For achieving good foxtrot technique most beginners need to become familiar with the slow quick quick timing of the three-step, focusing on the footwork and rise and fall to attain the flowing movement. Perfecting the footwork and action for foxtrot is what makes it exciting to master but it requires a lot of practice and strengthening of the feet and ankles.
Samba
The original Samba dance comes from Brazil. The International Ballroom Samba was created to accommodate partner dancing therefore its execution differs from the original Samba style of Brazil. Most steps are made with a bouncing action produced by bending and straightening of the knee.
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Technique
Samba is one of the five international latin Ballroom dances. Most steps are danced with a slight downward bouncing or dropping action. This action is created through the bending and straightening of the knees, with bending occurring on the beats of 1 and 2, and the straightening occurring between. Ballroom Samba and Brazilian Samba are very different and ballroom samba as a dance sometimes can look very disconnected from the origins if not done properly. Watch Free dance tutorial here.
Tango
Tango is one of the most dramatic, expressive and sensual dances. There are three types of tango that are popular around the world: Argentine tango, International Tango and American Tango. All three styles could be danced socially and performed competitively.
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Technique
From a technique standpoint, a good connection comes from both partners’ ability to create and maintain a horizontal and vertical connection. The frame and body contact that is produced horizontally is where the communication between the partners happens and how information is passed from one partner to the other. How dancers vertically use the floor to produce power, swivels, change of direction trough resistance is how both dancers gradually transfer their weight providing constant feedback to one another about one’s position and intention.
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There are 3 mainstream types of Tango: Argentine, American and International. All three styles are beautiful in their own way when danced with good technique.
Viennese Waltz
V. Waltz is known as a "Fast Waltz" and it is danced by two people who rotate around each other, gracefully flying around the room. The dance is both a social dance style as well as competitive. This dance style is perfect for a wedding dance routine.
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Technique
It's important for the partners to have good posture and move together as one unit.
Head, shoulders, rib cage are in upright, lined up position with a lifted feeling and lengthened and stretching up torso. Most beginners will approach it like Slow Waltz, but the amount of rotation and speed of music can soon prove them that this approach is incorrect. Viennese Waltz should have less Rise and Fall than Slow Waltz. Most dancers who learn Viennese Waltz already have experience with Waltz, and so they want to put a lot of Rise and Fall into it soon to find that this won’t work with the faster tempo of the music.
Salsa
Salsa is one of the most popular latin dances. Many people enjoy this dance as a form of social expression. The music is complex in rhythms and dynamics but very easy to learn. Salsa dancing is also one of the most popular social dance styles.
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Technique
Salsa technique use steps with bent knee to give earthier look. Do not step on straight knee like in the International latin devision Cha Cha or Rumba. Try to take small steps and stand up straight without over tensing your body. Lead by using the movement of body weight and shaping. Followers use their arms for styling. Make sure to make it believable and put a reason behind the action, it will help to make the action look more natural. Watch Free tutorial.
Quickstep
A fast and vibrant dance where dancers move quickly around the dance floor performing runs, chasses and hops, all while appearing to look light as air. The dance is a byproduct of combining elements of Slow Foxtrot and hops, runs and locks which are the characteristics of Charleston and Shag.
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Technique
Much like a fast version of the Foxtrot, Quickstep is ballroom dancers style composed of extremely quick stepping and syncopated feet rhythms in time to fast-paced music. This dance derived from a combination of the Foxtrot and the Charleston and gradually evolved into a very dynamic dance with a lot of movement on the dance floor. The dance as we know it today still retains many figures reminiscent of the original Foxtrot, but also incorporates fast footwork in hops, runs, skips, with a lot of momentum and rotation.
Jive/Swing
This dance is fun and energetic. During the War, American soldiers brought the Lindy Hop and Jitterbug to Europe where the Jive emerged as a popular dance style. In the United States, this dance is better known for its slower version of East Coast Swing.
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Technique
There are many different styles of swing dance. In general swing dances use mostly walks or sometimes rocking steps and moving or static triples or single steps which are called building blocks. A combination of hand positions: one hand, two hand, cross hand, hand shake and a few others is being used to partner dance. Some of the most popular dance positions are closed, promenade, shadow, etc. They use the same turns like clockwise (natural) or counterclockwise (reverse) turns for the lead or follow with any number of hand positions. Generally, swing dances have much in common but each style has some distinct features that distinguishes it from the other forms of swing. The differences are somewhat subtle but important to know when learning several forms of swing. Watch Free tutorial.