Folk dances with ballroom dance and latin dance (modern old time dance)

Sailor folk dances

Introduction, preface, abstracts

Folk dances with dance steps and dance figures from ballroom dances and latin dances:

tango, quickstep, foxtrot, rumba, cha-cha, samba, jive, mambo, salsa, charleston

20th century classical vivid couple dances used in and with traditional folk dance structures with its predictability and social interaction.

By dancing these dances you will in an enjoyable way learn and get a broad knowledge of the basic steps and most common figures of standard and latin dances.

Folk dance (as in Denmark and much of Europe):

Structured: in close connection with the music the dance follows a predetermined pattern which is the same for all dancers, with circle, chain and couple dance.

Predictable: both the Lady as well as the Gent know the plan for the dance, so the Gent does not need to worry about having a plan for the succession of dance figures, and the lady is not just a follower but is equal with the Gent in making the common task succeed.

Social: in these dances you get around in the ballroom to other couples and you get the opportunity to dance with other partners at random.

In folk dance (as in Denmark) we have the basic steps: polka, waltz, buzz steps (swing steps), hopsa, etc.

Here we will include in the good fold dance structure also the steps from the many dances that came to us in the 20th century from South, Central, and North America.

These West-Atlantic dances brought a different distinct rhythm and soon became popular and took over the dance floor. The dances have a different more flexible body movement, more juvenile approach, with in the beginning a more liberal view on details. This liberal view on details has vanished from the dance schools (e.g. tango), but we try to keep some of it here. For the dances here I have selected the more simple dance figures from available good video instructions.

Music for these dances: a pedagogical melody: I have intended for most dances to make a melody easing the learning of the dance: the main structure, like the change from circle to couple dance or to chain should be indicated by a change in the style of the music, and the details in the basic steps are emphasized by the individual notes: often one and only one note for each step (except for the simple walking steps). This includes shift of time signature from 4/4 to 6/4 in many situations. When the dances are learned a more West-Atlantic rhythm can be supplied. But until then it is intended that usual fiddlers should be able to play the music, so it is OK if the music sounds “rather Danish”. (So we here have new Danish dances to new Danish music?)

Many amateurs compose new melodies: hundreds of polkas, waltzes, etc. So if I have an idea for a dance here that is liked then a good new melody will probably also come one day.