The Tango

Tango is a ballroom dance that originated from Argentina. There are two broad styles of modern
day ballroom tango, which are the American Style and the International Style. Even though both
styles are very popular, the International style is preferred in dance competitions. The American
style, on the other hand, gives the dancers more freedom, whereby open moves such as alternate
hand holds, underarm turns, and side-by-side choreograph can be executed.

The Viennese Waltz

Viennese Waltz, or the Wiener Walzer in German, is another version of ballroom waltz. It
incorporates various types of rotary dance moves which include turning in clockwise and anti-
clockwise directions. When performing these moves, dancers execute non-rotating change steps.

The Foxtrot

Foxtrot is a ballroom dance that was popularized by actor Harry Fox. Foxtrot was originally
performed to big band music. However, after the release of the song Rock Around the Clock
during the 1950s, foxtrot became synonymous with rock and roll music. In the years that
followed, it was split into two forms, namely, the slow foxtrot, which is now referred to as
foxtrot, and the fast foxtrot, which is now called quickstep.

The Quickstep

Quickstep is a ballroom dance which is similar to foxtrot, but the dance patterns are very
different. The patterns in quickstep have an extra half measure as well as multiples of measure,
and the time beat that is usually followed is 2/4 or 4/4. Since quickstep was developed for jazz
music, the tempo of the dance is quite fast.

The Waltz

The Waltz is one of the dances that are included in the International Style ballroom dance
category. It follows a slow rhythm, and it is danced to about 30 bars or 90 beats per minute.
Usually, one step is taken for every beat, or three steps for every measure. Despite having a slow
tempo, the waltz can have advanced figures that may require six steps per measure, which may
be complemented with various turns. In dance sport competitions, waltz features as the first
singles dance in the standard category. It was previously called slow waltz.