Social and Ballroom Dances

Introduction
Long gone, we have been surrounded by different folk dances we learned by nature and
within its origin, also with some dances with foreign influences. At present, these folk dances
have been elevated into a form of social dances creating 'more complex dance routines to
enjoy by people of different ages as form of highly entertaining dance genres. Some of the
historical dances being molded as social and ballroom dances are the Mazurka, Polka, Minuet,
etc. These dances have had its evolution into the classifications of the social and ballroom
dances. The meaning of ballroom dances varies from the dance genres of today.

Brief History of Social and Ballroom Dances

People are exposed to several ballroom dances as performed in social gatherings as a
sort of entertainment. These began and recorded toward the end of the 16th century. As a
token of gratitude to Jehan tabourot with his pen name "Thoinot- Arbeau" when he first
published and studied social dance throughout the Renaissance period of the 16th century. It
was first recorded with five basics dance steps as Shakespeare acknowledged the dance as "cing
pace".
Minuet, in 1650, originally a peasant dance was introduced in Paris and performed by
King Louis XIV and was viewed to public. Until the close of the 18th century, ballroom dances
began to reign in England for social events. Associated with its close hold, a basic ballroom
dancer's position, Waltz, on the other hand, held its modern hold as well as the Polka and
Mazurka wherein the couple danced freely with different dance variations in line with the
ballroom and social dances of today.
In the 20th century, the ballroom modern dance became popular on the screen when
dance referred to as a competition known as the dance sport was modulated by the World
Dance Council (WDC), from beginners to numerous professional levels namely the International
Standard and International Latin.