Ballroom's Place in Society

[Warren J. Dew]

I can only speak to my personal experience but I believe affordability/cost of entry in the US is a major limiting factor to making ballroom as wide spread as it could be. When you grow up where your family can't afford all of your school supplies or everyday shoes over a certain price point, being driven to dance lessons with appointments at a studio or location that is not within walking distance, or needing special dance shoes seemed way more out of reach for me and the many of the families I knew.

I think money is a big factor, but more for adults than for kids. One of the studios my kids are driven to is on the "wrong side of the tracks" so to speak, and draws quite a few kids who walk to the studio. Many kids take only the group classes, which focus on technique. Younger girls show up to class in $20 department store block heels rather than in $200 dance shoes.

I get the impression that Latino culture is more supportive of ballroom than is mainstream affluent US culture.

 

[Pryn]

I think money is a big factor, but more for adults than for kids. One of the studios my kids are driven to is on the "wrong side of the tracks" so to speak, and draws quite a few kids who walk to the studio. Many kids take only the group classes, which focus on technique. Younger girls show up to class in $20 department store block heels rather than in $200 dance shoes.

I get the impression that Latino culture is more supportive of ballroom than is mainstream affluent US culture.

Thank you for sharing what you are seeing at your kids' studio. Its a great reminder that some families (where affordability can be a challenge) still do encourage and support the arts. Perhaps, dance will even create some new opportunities for those kids to earn a way to a higher level of financial security than their family's current circumstance allows.

And yes, as an adult, cost is a limiting factor. Even with $50 entry lessons and pricing packages, once the special rates end it can be hard to continue at that pace when balancing other financial commitments.

 

[DanceMentor]

Thank you for sharing what you are seeing at your kids' studio. Its a great reminder that some families (where affordability can be a challenge) still do encourage and support the arts. Perhaps, dance will even create some new opportunities for those kids to earn a way to a higher level of financial security than their family's current circumstance allows.

And yes, as an adult, cost is a limiting factor. Even with $50 entry lessons and pricing packages, once the special rates end it can be hard to continue at that pace when balancing other financial commitments.

Yes, I remember being very disappointed when I wanted to take dance lessons and finding out how expensive it was. I did an introductory package at Fred Aire and when I found out the prices, I was heartbroken. There was no way it was going to be able to do it.

But I realize there are a lot of opportunities for people to dance, and it doesn’t always have to involve formal instruction or expensive lessons. I was just at an event in downtown Los Angeles yesterday where there were hundreds of people dancing together with classes taught by people on a stage with a big video screen and everything was absolutely free. I should be part of our society because it’s so healthy in so many ways.

 

[chachacha]

I’d like to know a history of the competitive ballroom circuit, particularly in the US.

When did it really become a thing? A lot of these competitions we all know and love today came about within the last 50-60 years, they didn’t exist in the “heyday” of ballroom in the early 20th century.

 

[opendoor]

..exist in the “heyday” of ballroom in the early 20th century.

As far as I know, tango was the first to start with competitions. The first took place in Nice in 1907. The first world championships were still cross-style events. That is, couples who danced Argentine, English or French tango competed against each other. American style tango did not yet exist at the time. In the years that followed, the English dance teachers' association torpedoed these cross-style competitions. They broke away and renamed their English tango the International Standard tango.

Please ask fiesta how American style tango came about.

 

[fiesta0618]

I’d like to know a history of the competitive ballroom circuit, particularly in the US.

When did it really become a thing? A lot of these competitions we all know and love today came about within the last 50-60 years, they didn’t exist in the “heyday” of ballroom in the early 20th century.

The birth of ballroom dance as a standardized competitive endeavor can probably be pinned to the codification of the "English style" of Standard in the 1920s and 1930s. Not coincidentally, this is also when the Blackpool Dance Festival is first organized. The first "official" world championship is held in 1922.

The "modern" sport, as we would recognize it today, solidifies in the late 50s or early 60s with the formation of the WDC and ICAD (precursor to WDSF). The Latin style was added around this time.

The American styles were not added until the 1970s, and then only in the USA. The first World Championship for the American styles was not held until 2004...and even then, it was contested entirely by American couples.

@opendoor American Tango began as a fairly direct import of Argentine Tango around the turn of the century. We might speculate that the Tango championships you mention may have played a role. But the style was heavily modified by the influence of the Arthur Murray schools in the 1920s onward. Arthur Murray was focused on making social dances easy to learn and exciting to perform, even at low skill levels. This goal pervades the American styles to this day.

 

[opendoor]

..pinned to the codification of the "English style" of Standard in the 1920s..

This codification ultimately led to the extinction of the French tango.

..American Tango began as a fairly direct import of Argentine Tango ..modified by the influence of the Arthur Murray school.. on making social dances easy..

I wish you had explained the decline of the French tango with the advent of the American style. Because, according to the rare video footage available, both styles have a lot in common as a bridge style to the Argentine tango.

 

[fiesta0618]

This codification ultimately led to the extinction of the French tango.

I wish you had explained the decline of the French tango with the advent of the American style. Because, according to the rare video footage available, both styles have a lot in common as a bridge style to the Argentine tango.

That might just be accidental. Because the full story of the importation of Tango to the USA is that the Argentine style may have arrived first, but Murray was probably more heavily influenced by the English style. Which is ane of the reasons why Smooth Tango and Standard Tango have so many similarities--they share a more recent common ancestor with each other than with AT.

 

[Warren J. Dew]

That might just be accidental. Because the full story of the importation of Tango to the USA is that the Argentine style may have arrived first, but Murray was probably more heavily influenced by the English style. Which is ane of the reasons why Smooth Tango and Standard Tango have so many similarities--they share a more recent common ancestor with each other than with AT.

The tango craze was in 1914, in both England and the US. Here's an interesting discussion written by Vernon Castle:

Teaching Argentine Tango in New York, 1914 - Todotango.com

www.todotango.com

At this time the tango that was imported was probably closer to French Tango as a distinct English Tango did not yet exist. Vernon Castle says, "[t]he shoulders must not go up and down, the body must glide along all the time without any stops." To me this sounds much closer to 20th century American Tango - what Murray would have codified - than a dance showing the influence of English/"International" Tango, which is characteristically staccato.

American Tango really only started adopting English/Standard staccato styling around 1990 or so; this appears to have been initially for competition.