Soviet Ballroom Dances

[pygmalion]

Fun fact about ballroom: Did you know that, while the Soviet Union existed, there were special, custom made, Soviet ballroom dances? Interesting. I wonder how much politics (I mean governmental politics) plays a role in ballroom dance, if at all. I also wonder whether those dances still exist, after the demise of the USSR, and whether they're being exported to other places in the world, as Russian dancers move out and influence dance on the world scene. Looks like time to google. LOL.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Ballroom_dances

[Lonedar]

I'm from Latvia myself, and I must say I haven't heard of these dances (except Polka, of course).

I'm 17 now, so I think it could be because they lost their
popularity after the collapse of the USSR.

The classical ballroom dances - Viennese Waltz, Rhumba, Foxtrot, etc.
are becoming increasingly popular, though. And, whats more interesting, not among the older generation, but among the studens, mostly up to the age of 25.

[pygmalion]

I'll try to get more info, Lonedar. Or maybe someone else in DF knows more. The best I can decipher is that the dances were based on traditional folks dances, so they may have been from specific countries or regions. And I'm guessing the popularity, on a ballroom competitive level, disappeared with the fall of the Soviet Union.

[pygmalion]

Boy, that was easy. Apparently, the Soviet Union had its own category of dances, similar to the way Australia has the New Vogue dances. Here's a link with a little more info. 8)


http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Soviet-Ballroom-dances

[pygmalion]

Hmm. The saga continues. Here's an article about a Cossack military school which opened in 1996, and which teaches boys aged 11 - 17 everything from hand-to-hand combat to ballroom dancing. Hmm.

http://www.ithaca.edu/russia/cossack.htm

[pygmalion]

It looks like dancesport is alive and well in former Soviet countries. Here's a web page for Dancesport Latvia. I'll post some other as I find them. :D

http://www.dancesport.lv/index_intro.htm

[Kitty]

It looks like dancesport is alive and well in former Soviet countries. Here's a web page for Dancesport Latvia. I'll post some other as I find them. :D
http://www.dancesport.lv/index_intro.htm

pygmalion,as a sport dancesport in Eastern European countries is even more alive than here. Social ballroom dancing is not popular there. (althought lately this started to change)

[pygmalion]

Yes. Especially Russian dancers have had a huge influence on the American dance scene.

There's a thread on that somewhere. Importing dance pros, I think. If I can find it, I'll link to it. :D

[pygmalion]

Here it is Importing Dance Pros (http://www.dance-forums.com/viewtopic.php?t=1971)

[DancingMommy]

When I visited Moscow in 1989, we were taken to a Ballroom Dancing School and got to see some of the native dances.

One I remember was a "Candle" dance... Wish I could post video, because we have some AWESOME footage....

[redhead]

OMG that's funny. I remember my mom brought me to the ballroom when I was 7, and all they did was Sudarushka, Russian Lyrical and then Barynya and Tsyganochka (kind of Gypsy Girl). No Standard, no Latin first year for little kids.
Out of all of them, I only liked the Gypsy dance - everything else wasn't fun. And I got kicked out eventually 'cause I got bored and refused to do Barynya (and I only went back after turning 20 here, in the US) ... Ah, good old times :lol:
Anyway, ballroom studios there used to be (and I think still are) very serious about training athletes. I mean they won't take a 6-year old in the studio (no matter how much parents are willing to pay) if they think the kid doesn't have the right body type! By the time you kids turn 10, you won't find any good studio that will teach them since they're too old to achieve anything! (well it's not so strict with boys since more girls dance). At least that's what I saw

[Dancing4Life]

I remember those.... we've spent 5 years in the Soviet Union, that's where I started to dance. And I remember competing in Rylio and Sudarushka, the others have faded in my memory but those two have stayed.

I always thought that these dances were for kids. I don't remember seeing any of the older dancers do it, just us little ones (I was about 10).

We did learn a little bit of cha-cha and rumba, but I when we moved to another country and I took up dancing again that was quite a culture shock, so the 'Soviet way' must have been quite different...

What a fun discussion! Thanks for bringing the topic up!

[the best]

I was born and grew up in Soviet Union and I have to tell you that I don't remember anything about special ballroom dances. It was more encouraged to dance folk dances than ballroom. Actually, it was considered that ballroom dances it is like extinct like dinosaures. However, people always liked to dance valtz - they called it Boston valtz. Viennese was popular too. Of course politicians tried to tell people that from the point of view of politics - it was wrong to dance ballroom because before revolution the laborers and farm workers did not dance them. They danced folk.