HOW DANCES BEGIN

Ballroom dancing is one of several social activities which cannot be cut off from the world and its environment. It is a living thing influenced by local and world events, and sensitive to changes going on around it. War, fashion, music, increased mobility, social upheavals, popularity of film and television, new attitudes, women’s liberation -- all these have had repercussions  on the dancing scene. 
       Like any other living thing, a dance must develop and grow, or disappear.  It cannot remain unchanged. Once a popular dance becomes staid and standard that it stops growing, its days would be numbered. They would then be shelved just like other one-time popular dances as the minuet, gavotte, mazurka, schottische, the polka, and in recent years, the Big Apple, Lambeth Walk, Mashed Potato, the Stroll,  and the Twist. The Twist though, and a few others such as the Lindy, are still used as variations or syncopations of other popular dances. 
       What then are the characteristics of a dance which turn out to be a hit? 

      The first is an easily recognizable and ear-catching rhythm which must be absolutely new to the ballroom. A new dance is born of a new rhythm. So far we cannot trace any rhythm ever returning to take on a second lease of life. 
      Such dances as the Waltz, Tango and Foxtrot, were all rhythms new to the ballroom when they were introduced. These dances were also characterized by a rhythm in a usual and familiar time of 2/4, 3/4, or 4/4, which made them easily recognizable by people. 
       Another characteristic of a successful dance is that its rhythm should be such that the steps of no existing dance can be satisfactorily fitted to it without some subtle change to alter the whole nature of the steps. Social dancers for instance had so much difficulty with the Rumba, until bands started to  play music with the true feeling of Latin America, and not some tune very much like the Foxtrot. 
       Where did the rhythm of dances which became popular come from? As far as it can be traced, in every case it comes from a folk dance. Over centuries every kind of rhythm was tried out, many being discarded, some going on to become popular dances. 
       The Minuet and the Gavotte came from the peasants of Poitou and Provence, respectively, both in France. The Waltz originated from the Ländler or folk songs of southern Germany, while the Polka came from Bohemia. 
       In North America, many of the rhythms came from the colored people, such as the Foxtrot, a rhythm which had its origin in Africa. 
       From Latin America,  rhythms such as the Tango from the Argentine, the Rumba, the Cha Cha Cha and the Samba have become favorites worldwide. 
       Contrary to the belief of many dancers, the actual steps of a new dance are not particularly important. As a prominent British dance teacher writes: “In the past, the steps associated with a new dance in the early days of its ballroom career rarely proved a permanent part of the dance. Quite often they  were complicated and sometimes positively eccentric. Even when taken from the original folk dance they needed a good deal of adaptation to become acceptable in the smart ballrooms of their day. 

      Citing Victor Silvester in his book "Modern Ballroom Dancing":
      “The original steps of the Minuet, the Gavotte, the Waltz, the Polka, the Tango and the Foxtrot differed considerably from those used when the dances were at the height of their popularity. However, although the first steps are not of prime importance, of course they must be in keeping with the spirit of their times; no one would expect the mincing steps of the Minuet to last five minutes in the ballroom today. 
       “As soon as a new dance appears, its steps are tried by  hundreds of dancers and teachers. In the light of their impressions, modifications will probably be made: movements changed or omitted, or new ones included, much as it happened in the days of the Minuet and the Waltz. 
       “The manner in which a new dance spreads socially is interesting; in its country of origin, from being a folk dance of the people, a simple, fascinating rhythm moves on to be taken up, in a modified form, by the sophisticated. In other countries, the very opposite happens. The dance is picked up on its own ground by holiday makers and travelers and taken back, to catch on in their home countries. 
       “For the last four or five hundred years, this has been the pattern of movement followed by all successful ballroom dances.” 
      And as in the case in the Philippines, these same dances are further modified through use of a different music, tempo, and additional or new step patterns.