国标舞舞种介绍及历史

梁俊婷

TangoThe Milonga is the forerunner of the Tango. The Milonga had already the characteristic head and shoulder movements that suddenly switched over to stillness. In the beginning of the 20th Century the Milonga was danced in small theatres for the High Society from Brazil. in that period the name was changed from Milonga to Tango, the Milonga name carried to many memories from the ghetto's of Buenos Aires.

The Tango was introduced in Europe, actually in Paris in the Argentine community. Until 1907 the Tango was not accepted in London, the dance was to erotic and had many opponents. After some stylistic changes the Tango was excepted by Paris and London that was the time (1912) of the tango-parties, tango-teas and tango-soupier with professional tango demonstrators.

In 1920/1921 the Tango was standardised at the Conference in London, during the "thirties" the staccato actions merged in to the Tango choreography.
Viennese WaltzThe Viennese waltz originally comes from the South German Alps Area. During the 18th century the dances: Weller, Walzer and L鋘dler were found, this last dance the L鋘dler is originally the forerunner of our Viennese Waltz. Between 1800 and 1820 the steps and figures from the L鋘dler were reduced due to the speed of music and the 6 step Viennese Walz was born.

During the Sixties a lot of discussion was going on between Germany and the U.K concerning the number of Viennese Waltz variations allowed in Competitions. In 1983 the I.C.B.D. took the final decision: Natural and Reverse Turns, Natural and Reverse Fleckerls, The Contra Check change from reverse fleckerl to natural fleckerl danced over one bar of music

In my opinion the may add more figures to the Viennese Waltz to stimulate the developemnt more in a positive direction figures like: Throwaway Oversway, Natural Hinge line on right side, Natural Off-beat Spins.
Slow FoxtrotThe Foxtrot was introduced in Europe just before World War 1, from its origin the Foxtrot was a passional dance with slow and quick movements, they say the name comes from a musical dancer Harry Fox. The European dance teachers were not enthusiastic about the "wild" character of the Foxtrot and started to polish it more. Between 1922 and 1929 Frank Ford, with whom Josephine Bradley used to give demonstrations, developed the basic movements of the Slow Foxtrot. With his interpretation he won the 1927 "Star Championships" with partner Molly Spain. Many of the figures they danced are still used by today's competitors.

Strict tempo music was not yet invented in those days. The Foxtrot could be played at anything from 40 to 50 Bars/min, and it is easy to guess how styles had to be rapidly altered according to who was conducting the band! But once "Victor Silvestor's band began recording the problem was solved.
QuickstepThe Quickstep is derived from the Foxtrot. During the twenties many bands played the Slow Foxtrot too fast, 50 Bars/min, the large open steps from the Foxtrot could not be danced on this speed. The English developed from the original Charleston a progressive dance without kicks and made a mixture with the above mentioned fast foxtrot the called this dance "the Quicktime Foxtrot and Charleston". The English couple Frank Ford and Molly Spain danced on the 'Star' Championships of 1927 a version of this Quicktime Foxtrot and Charleston without the characteristic Charleston knee actions and made it a dance for two instead of solo. The figures were Quarter Turns, Cross Chass閑s, Zig-zags, Cortes, Open Revers Turns, and Flat Charleston. In 1928/1929 the Quickstep was definitly born with the characteristic chass閑s steps.

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The Latin Dances
SambaThe roots of the Samba are in Africa, but most of the development is done in Brazil, you will recognise the Samba from the Carnival Parties and Samba Schools in Brazil. In 1925 the Samba was imported into Europe. Although the samba was already accepted as a competition Dance, the great breakthrough of the Samba happened on the World exhibition in NEW York in 1939. Europe was really captured by the Samba in 1948/1949. Walter Laird with partner Lorraine developed he Samba enormously.
Cha Cha ChaCha-Cha-Cha is developed from the Mambo and a Latin dance that most people like to learn first. The name Cha Cha Cha is a sound imitation of the "shoes" from dancing Cuban women. The Cha Cha Cha was first seen in America and came to Europe almost at the same time with the Mambo the forerunner from the Cha Cha Cha. After the World War II the Mambo was pushed aside by the Cha Cha Cha which became really popular at 1956.

According to its roots the Cha Cha Cha music should be played passioned without any seriousness and with staccato allowing the dancers to project an atmosphere of 'naughtiness" to the audience. Recently it was decided to shorten the name to Cha Cha, Sorry but I don't see any reason for that.
RumbaThey estimate that the Rumba was brought to America by the African slaves. But arround 1928/1929 the actual steps and figures of this dance were not clear. Many people treated and danced it, like a new type of foxtrot with additional hip actions. After the World War II The rumba was further developed into the "Cuban Rumba" by monsieur Pierre and Doris Lavell which had a school in the Regent street, London but still the standardisation was a problem until Walter Laird started to write his Latin books his work was accepted by many official dance Associations and the standardisation was a fact.
Paso DobleThe Paso Doble is the only Latin Dance with is not coming from the "Negro" culture, the roots of the Paso Doble are in Spain. The peak in popularity of this dance was in 1926. After World War II the Paso Doble was accepted as a Competition Dance.
JiveJive is a rhythmical and swinging dance which influenced by the Rock & Roll, Boogie and the African/American Swing. The roots of the Jive are in New York, Harlem. In 1940 the jive was developed into the jitterbug and the English Jos Bradly and Alex Moore developed from that the International Competition Jive.

Back to Index Formation DancingHow and were formation dancing was started is not clear. Between 1920 and 1930 in Germany, England and France demonstrations were given by showteams who danced e.g. a Waltz with 4 couples on the floor, these couples danced the same figures in a synchronized manner. In that time no complex pattern were danced and all shows were done on live music. England was on of the forerunners in the development of Formation Dancing.

In 1932 Formation Dancing was shown by Mrs Olive Ripman at the astoria Ballroom. It was introduced as "pattern dancing" or "shadow dancing" which is exactly what it should show to the audience and judges. In that time teams of four couples were allowed to compete, today a Formation team should contain at least 6 couples and preferable 8.

In England Peggy Spencer started in 1938 a four-couple Quickstep team which competed in the first big Formation contest at the "Star" Ball in 1938 , the team of Mrs Olive Ripman won the competition. In the Netherlands at that time Mr Bronmeyer (sr) was one of the first initiators of team/formation dancing.

After the World War II Formation Dancing developed further and in several countries formation competitions were held. In England Formation Dancing (standard) was added to the "Open British" in 1957 winner were the standard team of Peggy Spencer . In 1961 the Latin Formation was added to this world famous dance festival in Blackpool and still every year Formation Dancing is on the program in Blackpool Tuesday evening the standard and Friday evening the Latin.
In Germany the first Official German Championship were held at 1964 well known coaches of that time (some of them are still active) were: Wolfgang Opitz (Hamburg) and Gunter Dreesen (Dusseldorf) the Opitz team "TTC im Harburger Turnerbund" won the first German Championships. But still in this period the British Teams were superior followed by Germany and Denmark, the teams from Freddie Pedersen Kopenhagen.
The first World Championships were in 1973 the winners were TC Harburg, Germany and they were the first team using a special prepared music composition on tape as we know today. In England it was not allowed to use these kind of tapes until 1985 maybe that's why the British teams are still far behind? The first major Championships and there winner were: