Dance sports

• Dancesport is a combination of art and sport.
• Dancesport was previously known as competitive ballroom dancing.
• Dancesport involves partners (male and lady) competing against other partners dancing on the floor at one time.
• Dancesport provides an avenue to gain discipline of the body and mind of the dance athletes.
• There are five Latin dances: Samba, Cha-cha-cha, Rumba, Paso Doble, and Jive and five Standard dances: Waltz, Tango, Viennese Waltz, Slow Foxtrot, and Quickstep, which constitute the dance style (ISTD).
• Dancesport is being recognized by the international Olympic committee and is included in the Olympic program.
• The World Dance Council (WDC) and the World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) are the bodies governing dancesport.
• Posture in dancesport enables a dancer to stand out on the floor, which shows sophistication and confidence.
• Timing in dancesport means dancing on time with the music.
• Line in dancesport is the stretching of the body.
• Hold in dancesport is the correct position of the body with a partner in the closed position.
• Poise in dancesport is the stretch of the woman’s body upwards and outwards and leftwards into the man’s right arm to achieve balance and connection with his frame and project outwards to the audience.
• Togetherness in dancesport is dancing of two people as one on the dance floor.
• Musicality and expression in dancesport is the basic characterization of the dance with the particular music being played and the choreographic adherence to musical phrasings and accents.
• Presentation in dancesport is how the couple presents their dancing to the audience as well as the proper costuming and grooming.
• Power in dancesport is the energy that is controlled and not wild.
• Foot and leg action in dancesport is the use of lower extremities that creates balance, beauty, and strength.
• Shape in dancesport is the combination of turn and sway to create a look for a position.
• The documentation of the dance started only in the 1940s, named Western Swing by Laure’ Haile, a swing dancer and competitor, after she saw a dance of the white community.
• In the Latin dances, partners stand a few inches apart, either directly in front of each other or very slightly offset.
• In the late 1930s and through the 1940s, the term Lindy Hop, Jitterbug, Lindy, and Swing were interchangeably used by the media and the people showed different reactions to the dance.
• The Charleston and the Lindy Hop were popular in the African-American community, leading to the creation of Jive, a ballroom dance, on March 26, 1926.
• Basic Dancesport Terminologies include the name of the figure, step numbers, alignment, amount of turn, footwork, timing, line of dance (LOD), wall, center, and open facing position.
• The music for Jive was largely a swinging dance.
• In 1927, a dance enthusiast named Shorts George Snowden, while watching a couple dance, was asked by a reporter the name of the dance, which he named “Lindy Hop,” taken from the title of an article in a newspaper held by someone on a bench next to him.
• These various swing styles are used in the International Style version of the dance and are competitively danced in the U.S and all over the world, named the JIVE.
• The Basic Steps of Jive include Basic Movement, Basic Chasse’ to R and L, Fall Away Rock, Change of Places, and Open facing position.
• Many dance studios opened in different places across America between the 1920s due to the popularity of Jive.
• The communities began dancing the Jitterbug with contemporary jazz and swing music and incorporated into it tap and jazz steps.
• These dances were included in the competition of the Harvest Moon Ball in 1938.
• As the music changed between the 1920s and the 1900s, Lindy Hop, Jitterbug, Lindy, and Swing evolved across the U.S with many regional styles.
• In the mid-1930s, Jive was renamed from a tune entitled “Jitterbug,” a bouncy six beat variant.
• Lead and follow in dancesport is the non-verbal communication of the man and lady through shape, visual, and body weight.
• Floor craft in dancesport is avoiding bumping into other couples and continuing dancing without pause when boxing in.
• Intangibles in dancesport are how a couple “looks “ together performing their dances.
• Cha-cha-cha is a Latin dance that existed in Cuba.
• The music for the international ballroom cha-cha-cha is energetic and with a steady beat.
• The Cuban cha-cha-chá is more sensual and may involve complex polyrhythms.
• Ballroom Tango originated within the lower classes of Buenos Aires, especially in the “Barrio de la Ranas”.
• The rhythm of Waltz is easy, romantic melodies are in 3 / 4 time.