Let’s Begin!

Module 13: OTHER TYPES OF BALLROOM DANCE ARGENTINE

TANGO
The Tango originated in Buenos Aires during the late 19th Century
and began as one of many different forms of tango dances. Modern
Argentine Tango styles are danced both in open (Tango Nuevo) and
closed embraces (traditional) that focus on the leader and the
follower moving in harmony with the passionately charged music.
The dance relies on improvisation by the leader since Argentine
Tango doesn’t have a formal basic structure like other dances.
Fortunately for learning purposes, teachers have fashioned a basic
form in order to teach beginners.
The tango is essentially walking with a partner to music keeping your
feet close to the floor as you move with your ankles and knees
brushing as one leg passes the other. Argentine Tango is different
from ballroom tangos in its posture, embrace, improvisational
techniques, movement, balance, steps and music. If your background
is in American or International tango, your introduction to Argentine
tango will be like learning a completely new dance.
 
FAXTANTINO
Foxtantino is a new fusion dance that connects the American and
International styles of Foxtrot to Argentine Tango. This dance was
designed specifically for the Ballroom community. It uses the
teaching methods, technique and language of the ballroom dances
so Foxtantino is easy for Ballroom dancers to learn and dance with
each other. Ballroom dancers are intrigued and fascinated with
Argentine Tango, but, many do not want to give up their dance
frame, their Ballroom culture and/or acquire new music appreciation
skills and fully enter into the Argentine Tango community. Foxtantino
provides Ballroom dancers the fun and excitement of Argentine
Tango while keeping to the style of dancing with which they are
familiar.
 
FOXTROT
The Foxtrot is truly an American dance, credited to Harry Fox and
dating back to 1914 when he was reportedly doing rapid trotting
steps with his partner to Ragtime music (the original form of Jazz),
and it was originally referred to as “Fox’s Trot”. Since those early
vaudeville days both the music and the dance have changed into the
more smooth and sauntering dance that we see today. Foxtrot is the
classic social Ballroom dance- In most old movies when you see a
large crowd dancing close with their partners to a big band, they are
doing Foxtrot.
Foxtrot is danced to jazz or Big Band music, the same style of music
that you would dance swing to. Speed is usually the deciding factor
that makes a song better for Foxtrot (danced with a 4/4 rhythm and
110- 150 beats/minute tempo) or for Swing (danced to 120-250 beats
per minute), but you can usually dance a slow swing to any Foxtrot
tune. In fact it is fun and not too difficult to go back and forth
between Swing and Foxtrot in the same dance.
Foxtrot is danced in a closed position (facing your partner and
holding them close). The walking steps are taken as “slows” (2 beats
per step) or “quicks”(1 beat per step), with the most common Foxtrot
rhythms being SQQ, SQQ or SSQQ, but ultimately the dancers may
use whatever rhythm that they choose, which allows them to change
their dance to fit the music.
Many people mistakenly think that Foxtrot is a difficult dance to learn
, but this is usually because

they are thinking of more complicated styles of Foxtrot such as

International Style and American Silver and Gold Styles, that are used
mainly in performances and competitions. Basic social Foxtrot
(sometimes referred to as American Bronze Style) is fun and simple
to learn, an excellent dance for beginners.
 
HIP HOP
Funk Hop is a combination of Hip Hop and Funk which blends quick
moves with smooth foot work. Funk is fast, powerful and passionate.
People like James Brown, Hammer and Michael Jackson have this
style. It is what you would see if you were to attend a house party in
Oakland. Funk is what you do at parties. Hip Hop is slower with a lot
of posing. It mixes modern dance and jazz moves. This makes it
more assessable and commercial. This is what you see in today’s
music videos. Many dances, such as Funk, Hip Hop, Boogaloo and
Krunk originated in the Black Urban World. Many of the best dancers
are not on television and would not be selected for a music video,
but their moves are used all the time. For a comprehensive
description of Hip Hop.
 
HUSTLE
The Hustle (Disco) was born in the Latin Clubs and Discos of the
1970’s. It has lots of open traveling movements, spins and
syncopations and is danced to, disco and house music with a pulsing
beat. The Hustle is often peppered with showy moves that
competitive dancers weaved into their repertoire throughout the late
1970’s and 1980’s; as it continued to evolve, Hustle began to borrow
from other dance styles. These included Smooth Ballroom, from
which it took traveling movements and pivots, as well as other
partner dance forms such as Swing, the Latin Rhythm dances, Martial
arts, Gymnastics, Ballet training, and good old fashioned attitude
making for crowd pleasing performance. Hustle combined dance
patterns and movements that influenced the way that most partner
dances are performed today.
Even today the dance continues to evolve, yet it has never lost its
basic count since the mid-1970’s of “&1-2-3”. The Hustle is the last
authentic American partner dance born and cultivated here in the
United States.
 
JIVE
Jive is a dance style that originated among African Americans in the
early 1940s. It is a lively and uninhibited variation of the Jitterbug that
belongs to the Swing dance group. Modern Jive, sometimes called
French Jive is a dance style that originated in the 1980s. It derives
from Swing, Lindy Hop and may include Rock 'n' Roll and others, the
main innovation being simplification of footwork. Moves from many
forms of ballroom dance including Salsa and Tango may also be
included.
Modern Jive is generally danced to music with 4 beats to the bar
from latest chart hits to Big Band music. Some styles may
concentrate on particular musical styles, such as swing. Modern Jive
is a male led dance but women are encouraged to ask men to dance.
 
MERENGUE
Merengue is mainly a club dance set to fast Latin music. It is
characterized by dramatically swinging hips and a closed hold
position. The couple steps side to side in sets of 8 to 2/4 music,
turning clockwise or counterclockwise and features a characteristic
hip swing and graceful arm flourishes. It is the national dance of the
Dominican Republic and there are a number of popular versions as
to the origin of this dance. One story claims the dance originated
with slaves who were chained together, and, of necessity, were
forced to drag one leg as they cut sugar cane to the beat of a drum.
The second story maintains that a great hero was wounded in the leg
during one of the many insurrections in the Dominican Republic. A
party of villagers welcomed him home with a victory celebration and
out of sympathy everyone dancing felt obliged to limp and drag one
foot. The Dominicans themselves
maintain Merengue is a combination of two dances, one African and
the other the French Minuet, from the late 1700's - to early
1800s.The Black slaves saw the ballroom dancing in the Big Houses
and when they had their own festivities started mimicking the
"masters’ dances". But the European dances were uninteresting so
the slaves added a special upbeat (provided by the drums), which
was a slight skip or a hop.
The original Merengue was not danced by individual couples, but
was a circle dance, men and women faced each other, holding hands
at arms' length. They did not hold each other closely and the original
movements of this dance were only the shaking of the shoulders and
swift movements of the feet. There was no blatant movement as
there is today as ethnic African dances do not move the hips. In fact,
African dances consisted of complicated steps and arm movements.
Ethnic dance does not have sexual shaking of the hips this is only
done in Hollywood movies. Not only is it performed on every dancing
occasion in the Republic, but it is very popular throughout the
Caribbean and South America. A lot of variety exists in Merengue
music. Ideally suited to small, crowded dance floors, it is a dance that
is easy to learn and very enjoyable to perform.
 
NIGHTCLUB TWO-STEP
The Night Club Two Step is an easy dance with a characteristic rock
step followed by a side step, which is actually a 5th position break.
The dance has 8 beats and rarely changes from the 1 & 2 count. The
tempo is 30-34 bars per minute and is often done to medium tempo
music.
Not to be confused with country two step, this club-style Two Step
dance style features a swaying lilt. It was created and popularized by
California dance teacher Buddy Schwimmer more than 30 years ago
when he was only 15.
 
PASO DOBLE
Paso Doble originated in France, but is reminiscent of the sound,
dramas and movement of the Spanish bullfight. Paso Doble means
"two step" in Spanish. It is a dance for the Man, which allows him to
fill the "stage" with strong three-dimensional shapes and movements
danced with "Pride and Dignity".
The woman's role varies depending on the interpretation of the
dance. The woman can take the role of the matador's cape, the bull
or even the matador at different times within the dance.
Characteristics of the Paso Doble are the "marching" flavor given to
the steps and the cape movements creating tension between both
dancers.
 
CHASSEZ CAPE
The CHASSEZ CAPE is when the man uses the woman as the cape in
order to turn her around. APEL is when the man stamps his foot as if
trying to attract the bulls' attention. During the dance the use of
castanets is simulated. The ARPEL is a commencement of a
movement with the stamping of the feet where the man and woman
walk in different directions.
Because of its inherently choreographed tradition, ballroom Paso
Doble for the most part is usually only danced competitively, almost
never socially – unless there is a previously learned routine.
 
SALSA
Salsa is not easily defined. Who invented salsa? The Cubans, Puerto
Ricans? Salsa is a distillation of many Latin and Afro-Caribbean
dances. Each played a large part in its evolution.
Salsa is similar to Mambo in that both have a pattern of six steps
danced over eight counts of music. The dances share many of the
same moves. In Salsa, turns have become an important feature, so
the overall look and feels are quite different from those of Mambo.
Mambo moves generally forward and backward, whereas, Salsa has
more of a side to side feel.