How Can I Learn Ballroom Dancing?

By Kinley McFadden

The increased popularity in dance competition shows on television has created a huge interest lately in ballroom dancing. This is a good thing! It is fun and can be easy to learn. That is easy to learn ballroom dancing, not necessarily easy to master! But it is fun learning the dances and can help you get in shape too. Most community centers offer classes and there are numerous tapes and DVD's offering instruction.

Possibly the most well known dance would be the Tango. It is usually performed with a man and a woman and is known for being very sensual. Couples must really connect with the music as well as each other. The pair is often in a close embrace, mainly at the chest or hips while the man leads the woman across the floor.

For a romantic dance, select the waltz. This is usually performed in time featuring very flowing movements. Perhaps you have heard of the 'box step.' This is the fundamental step in the waltz, which basically maps out the dance. It gets its name from the fact that a 'box' is formed with the couple's feet. Picture this: The man steps forward with his left leg, then to the left then back, then to the right. This forms the box. (The woman dancer does the opposite.) This dance can be performed to faster paced music but has recently been done more slowly.

Also a romantic dance choice is the Foxtrot. A slower dance, the steps take two beats of music followed by quick steps that take one beat. From this dance we get 'Slow, slow, quick, quick.' This dance is usually done to big band music but other genres can also be the backdrop.

One of the most fun ballroom dances is the Cha-Cha. The Cha-Cha is of Latin origin and is very high energy. This dance uses five steps per four beats, which is where we get the phrase 'one, two, cha cha cha.' The main characteristic of the Cha-Cha is the many hip movements.

There are other ballroom dances: The Mamba, the Samba and the Salsa to name a few. There are several common features to these styles, but they all have certain qualities that make them all unique. Watching seasoned dancers combine several styles into one performance can be a lot of fun.

If you want to really learn ballroom dancing, watch people in action and follow-up by viewing some DVD's or video tapes at home. But really the best way to learn is by taking classes. This gives hands-on experience that you can't get from videos alone. Take your partner and head off to a class. If you don't have anyone who is interested in going with you, that's no big deal. Classes almost always have others who are going it alone and you can hook up with one of them. Enjoy! - 31486

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Frye Vintage Boots For Your Next Saturday Nights of Dancing

By Seane C. Hess

Frye boots have had a long record of being top spec boots for both males and females. When girls need to take a look at the different styles available you may want to take a quick tour on the women's Frye boots websites. Then you will have a great idea of the styles you for which you have interest. Your shopping trip will be more easily managed when you have a better concept what you want and where to look.

Line dancing is still a well-liked saturday evening event for country music fans all over the country. There are Line dancing clubs that meet one evening during the week and learn the new dances to new songs that have just come out. A teacher who has been trained by executives trains the local clubs. The weekly class are great exercise, and a large amount of fun with friends and dancing. Then on weekends, or perhaps twice a month they go out dancing. These locations alter from dance clubs, bars, to outside country and western shows. But all dancers need to have their Frye dancing boots for the most fun.

ComfortableFoot.com just posted their Top 11 Line Dancing Songs for Wearing Frye Boots on their blog. Here are some (check their site for the full list):

11. "It's a Business Doing Pleasure With You" by Tim McGraw

10. "How Do You Like Me Now?" by Toby Keith

9. "Good Times" by Alan Jackson

8. "Neon Moon by Brooks and Dunn

7. "Play Something Country" by Brooks and Dunn

6. "The Shake" by Neil McCoy

5. "Billy's Got His Beer Goggles On" by Neil McCoy

4. "Achy Breaky" by Billy Ray Cyrus

3. "Watermelon Crawl" by Tracy Byrd

2. "Boot Scootin' Boogie" by Brooks and Dun

And, the NUMBER ONE LINE DANCING SONG OF ALL TIMES IS:

1. "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk" by Trace Atkins.

It is ironic that the #1 song is a touch offensive if you watch the video. Actually , the video is a lot offensive. However, the track has a great beat to it and if you disregard the majority of the words and never watch the video, you are ok. - 31486

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The Story Of Genuine Belly Dancing

By Tanik Nertt

Belly dancing is a term used in the West to explain traditional Arab dance. Belly dancing is extremely an inadequate term, since all parts of the body are employed in traditional Arab dance or raqs sharqi, that is the proper terminology for the most poular style in the West. Raqs sharqi truly places additional emphasis on the hips instead of belly dancing.

Belly dancing comes in many styles of style, depending on the region and country of origin. Some designs are totally Western interpretations.

Raqs sharqi, which means Oriental dance in translation, is the kind performed in restaurants and clubs within the West. This dance is usually performed by ladies, though generally by men as well. It's an improvisational dance that is most typically performed solo.

Raqs baladi, that means that dance of country, is the people vogue of belly dancing performed at social events by men and girls in Middle Japanese countries.

The origins of belly dancing are unknown and usually fiercely debated. One theory is that it was developed by ladies to aid different women in childbirth or to demonstrate childbirth. There is no real evidence of this, but, and whereas this may justify half of the dance, it definitely would not justify all that is concerned in belly dancing.

Another theory explains that the belly dance began in Northern Africa and unfold through the Caravans to different Middle Eastern countries. There's conjointly a theory that belly dancing saw its origin in Ancient Babylon. This theory follows that previous to Islam, the ladies danced and the lads played drums at social events. When Islamic times the women were not permitted to bounce, and also the ritual fell to slave girls.

The primary recorded encounter with belly dancing was when Napoleon invaded Egypt and his troops discovered Gypsy dancers. It gained popularity within the 18th and nineteenth centuries when, during the Romantic Movement, artists used it to depict romanticized version of harem living in the Ottoman Empire. It was about now when oriental dancers began engaging at exhibits and also the World's Truthful, inflicting additional of a stir than several of the technical demonstrations.

Belly dancing extremely gained national attention at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. It's here that entertainment director Sol Bloom is credited with having concocted the phrase. There's, however, no evidence that he ever used the term and newspapers of the day were using the French terminology, danse de ventre, to describe the Oriental dancing. Nonetheless, the fact that uncorseted girls were gyrating their hips at many exhibitions of the World's Honest brought shock to some Victorian sensibilities and set the term belly dancing into the common lexicon.

Such popularity spawned tons, if not thousands, of dancers around the country to claim their acts as authentic, when most of them were improvised solos routines. The dancing became thus popular that it had been the topic of many early films by Thomas Edison. A little later, Hollywood sought to exploit the Western intrigue with the orient in films like The Sheik, Cleopatra, and Salome.

Nowadays, belly dancing is a terribly excepted and appreciated type of entertainment worldwide, although we have a tendency to can never apprehend who is doing the authentic dance and who is not. - 31486

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