Ballroom Standard
“Two bodies, one architecture of time.”
History & cultural context
Ballroom Standard unites five dances: the Waltz, Tango, Viennese Waltz, Slowfoxtrot and Quickstep. Their roots lie in nineteenth-century social dancing and early twentieth-century dance halls, but their competitive form was codified in England in the 1920s, when teachers agreed on common steps, holds and tempos.
The Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing created its ballroom branch in 1924, and the Blackpool Dance Festival, first held in 1920, became the sport's most famous stage. Couples move anticlockwise around the floor in closed hold, and the art lies in shared balance, rise and fall, and a continuous line.
Masters, schools & legacy
Victor Silvester, world champion in 1922 and later a famous bandleader, helped popularise strict-tempo dancing. Today the World DanceSport Federation and the World Dance Council organise international competitions, and ballroom remains both a competitive sport and a social dance taught in studios around the world.
Dances of this world
Further reading
- Ballroom dance — Wikipedia
- Blackpool Dance Festival — Wikipedia
- Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing — Wikipedia
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