What’s in a feather step? By Keith Morris
An easy question to answer one would think. The technique books tell us
Pretty straight forward really, until you start to analyse the mechanics of each individual step and what a forward step means.
Perfect 10: The jive By Rachelle Stretch
It may be the last but it is by no means the least. One of the fastest and most energetic dances, the jive developed throughout the 20th century and has been influenced by numerous different styles, which are reflected in the choreography danced today.
Perfect 10: The quickstep By Claire Saul
Social trends, fashion, music… just three of the factors that have shaped hold, tempo, style and many other aspects of dance over the years. We have already heard how in 1914, vaudeville performer Harry Fox gave his name to the “Fox’s trot”, adapting his complicated two-step routine to create a more manageable rhythm for his lady partners and simultaneously providing an antidote to the increasingly popular but rather suggestive “animal dances” of the ragtime era.
Perfect 10: The samba By Rachelle Stretch
The samba – notoriously the hardest of the Latin dances – captures the atmosphere of Rio’s carnival. It brings to mind street parties, with loud, infectious music, bright colours and scantily clad passistas in headdresses dancing through the night. But how relevant is this image to the samba danced in competitive ballrooms today?
Perfect 10: The foxtrot By Rachelle Stretch
The slow foxtrot is known to be one of the hardest dances to perfect in the ballroom world, because of the difficulties in mastering the technique and the co-ordination required to give the dance its character. The dance has not had a simple history either – being influenced by several dance styles and undergoing a number of transformations.
Perfect 10: The rumba By Alison Gallagher-Hughes
This article first appeared in a series called Perfect 10 in Dance Today (www.dance-today.co.uk) It’s a dance that has constantly evolved amidst a tussle of tradition, authenticity and innovation. Like most of its Latin brethren,...
World Amateur Ballroom Championship 1939 in Munich, a short video clip
Winners were John Wells (Elsa Wells’ brother) with Renee Sissons. They won it for the sixth time in a row (they also won Blackpool five times and were second once …1932-1937). Next were...
Viennese Waltz – PLEASE use the right music! From Michael Herdlitzka
In all (good) dancing, the character of the music will influence the performance of the dancers significantly. The “true” character of each of the ten dances is given by definition of our technique books and the tradition of teaching and performing. Therefore the use of music displaying the characteristic values of the dance concerned is essential.
Music, Speed and Story: Paso Doble By Michael Herdlitzka
By Michael Herdlitzka Quality of movement can be evaluated by the factors “contents” and “form”. Form describes how a movement looks like. Often in arts and also some sports there are rules or...
From Ragtime to Swing By Brigitt Mayer Karakis
A look at the development of Swing from its early roots in Ragtime and through the Charleston and other dances.
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