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When you think about Ballroom Dancing, what do you think of first? Which aspects of Ballroom Dancing are important, which are essential, and which ones can you take or leave? You be the judge.

Ballroom dancing is judged on more than a dozen different points. Some of those are, Posture, Timing, Line, Hold, Poise, Togetherness, Presentation and Power just to name a few. With the number of dancers being evaluated judges rely heavily on the impression each couple makes in relation to the others. With experience the judges learn to do so quickly.

Posture: No matter how technically skilled you are, your ballroom dancing will never be graceful, elegant, or lend an air of confidence without the proper posture. Proper poster also improves balance, gives you more control and makes for a smoother dance. The old adage is “Persistent practice of postural principles promises perfection” gives you a clue to the importance of good posture in any ballroom dance.

Timing: Just as bad posture can blow you right out of the water, if your timing and the music’s timing don’t match – you lose. It wont matter how well you do anything else.

Line: The line refers to the line of your body from head to toe. The line can make or break any ballroom dance. Whether curved or straight, good lines will make you look graceful and elegant.

Hold: Dancing with arms, hands etc., in an incorrect position or breaking a hold at the wrong time will cost you points. Besides having your body parts in the right place you also need to keep your holds symetrical to your partner. In some ballroom dances one of the worst things you can do is to break your hold.

So far, we’ve uncovered some interesting facts about Ballroom Dancing. You may decide that the following information is even more interesting.

Poise: In smooth dancing, the stretch of the woman’s body upwards, outwards and leftwards into the man’s right arm will achieve balance and connection with his frame, as well as to project outwards to the audience. Poise like posture and line has everything to do with the image you project as you move around the ballroom.

Togetherness: When your bodies are correctly melded together you will be able to dance in total synchronization with your partner and appear to lead and follow with no effort.

Presentation: The judges will be looking not only for how you appear to them but how well you sell yourselves to the audience. Are you enthusiastic, happy, confident? It has to show. Even in dances like the Tango and the Paso Doble where the expressions are more somber you still have to appear assured and confident.

Power: Energy is a wonderful thing and one of the most important things in dances like the Quick Step or the Jive however, if over-done it just becomes wild movements.

Judges, like dancers each have different styles and different ideas of the importance of various criteria. One judge may put a greater value on technique while another thinks musicality and expression are more important. This can cause a discrepancy between the scores of one couple coming from two judges. Keep in mind that the judges see you for only a brief time so whatever happens to catch their eye is going to weigh heavily on your final scores.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his new GVO affiliate site: GVO

Nearly everyone got caught up in the dance craze by watching “Dancing with the Stars” this past season. There’s just something about the music, the dances, the level of competition, and the sarcastic responses from the judges. But there is also something else to be noticed with the professional dancers – their bodies. Not one single professional dancer had an ounce of fat anywhere on their body. What you saw was lean, toned, and muscular abs, arms, and legs. You probably would never think that ballroom dancing can produce such a workout, but it’s actually one of the best physical fitness programs available.

Ballroom dancing is much more than a slow dance around a moonlit dance floor. There are several types of dances involved with ballroom dancing, ones that involve twirls, kicks, twists, and bends. In fact, ballroom dancing gives you the opportunity to move your body in a way that you would otherwise never experience – not even in an aerobics class.

It’s no secret that most people looking to get fit or lose weight are intimidated by the gym. Not only are you surrounded by people with a better body than you, but often you find yourself having to wait for a machine or struggling to keep up in a class. Ballroom dancing is a great way of making exercise fun, and it’s an activity you can do together with your partner or spouse. Unfortunately, some people continue to live inactive lifestyles because they just can’t find a physical activity they like to do.

Truthfully, the only difference between you and Ballroom Dancing experts is time. If you’ll invest a little more time in reading, you’ll be that much nearer to expert status when it comes to Ballroom Dancing.

You may be surprised to learn that ballroom dancing can burn just as much fat and calories (if not more) than a session at the gym. Depending upon the style of dance, you can easily burn between 200 and 400 calories. For example, the foxtrot or the waltz provide an easy and gentle workout and will burn around 200 calories. This is comparable to a brisk walk in the park or thirty minutes on the elliptical.

On the other hand, dances like the jive or paso doble can burn over 400 calories, which is comparable to an intense step aerobics class.

While walking on a treadmill or doing crunches are well-known exercises, they only work certain parts of your body – which leave you to workout longer in order to cover the rest. Ballroom dancing literally works every part of your body and every major muscle group. You are more likely to see results faster due to the challenge your body endures with dancing.

And if you don’t have a partner to take with you to dance class, don’t let that stop you from experiencing the glide around the dance floor. Many classes will pair you up once you arrive, and you may meet some great friends or something more! Most people who get into ballroom dancing have lots of fun, and are more likely to dance longer which extends the duration of their workout. So trade in your walking shoes for some dance shoes, and dance your way into better shape!

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his new GVO affiliate site: GVO

Are you looking for some inside in

formation on Ballroom Dancing? Here’s an up-to-date report from Ballroom Dancing experts who should know.

In 1965 Norman Martin, a leading social and competitive ballroom dance champion put together a group of dancers known as the United States Amateur Ballroom Dancers Association, Inc. or USABDA. Their purpose was to petition the Olympic committee to include ballroom dancing in the Olympic program. Unfortunately they were not able to accomplish that goal at that time. However, while working on their bid to get into the Olympics, the group was setting up their bylaws and came to the conclusion that there was a definite need for guidelines for the large number of Social Dancers and American Style dancers, as well as the International Style competitors.

While working to help the dancers compete nationally and internationally they also helped to set things in motion to insure the availability of floors, music and locations for a group that turned out to be the backbone of the USABDA, the Social Dancers.

The early years for the USABDA only saw a small number of members in New York state, a few in the Washington, DC area and a small number on the west coast. In 1978 USABDA started its mid-eastern chapter and the push was on to take their little group to a national level. The next few years saw chapters being formed in several other states.

Hopefully the information presented so far has been applicable. You might also want to consider the following:

Throughout the 80′s the USABDA recruitment efforts consisted of trying to get all amateur dance organizations to join them as a national organization with a regional chapter structure. In 1985 with their new bylaws in place the USABDA was given tax-exempt status by the IRS. With the unification process started the USABDA was officially recognized by what is now known as the International DanceSport Federation (IDSF). The USABDA now governs all forms of amateur ballroom dancing in the United States.

Over the last 12 years USABDA has promoted the growth of all forms of ballroom dance as well as coming up with a program to establish chapters in each state. They have enjoyed major growth in numbers of chapters, dancers, competitions, workshops and social dances each year. Each year the USABDA sends United States representatives to the World Games. The World Games provide a venue for Olympic recognized sports that have not yet been added to the Olympic program.

The USABDA’s quest to get their spot in the Olympics is still going strong. To date the ISDF has been granted full recognition by the International Olympic Committee as the worldwide governing body for DanceSport and the USABDA has been granted affiliate membership recognizing them as the national governing Body of DanceSport in the Untied States. The last remaining step is for DanceSport to be granted Program Status by the IOC at which time DanceSport would then be added to the Olympic program. With continued hard work and a little luck this will be accomplished in the near future.
The USABDA has grown into an organization with thousands of members who volunteer to help promote social and competitive dancing on college campuses and in communities across the country.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his new GVO affiliate site: GVO

Staccato steps, and sharp head turns set the Tango apart from the Fox Trot and the Waltz. This dance is extremely sensual and provocative. In general the hold used by the dancers keeps the couple much closer together than in other dances.

At one time it was said that the Tango was a dance performed between a prostitute and her pimp in the brothels outside Buenos Aires Argentina. Another explanation for the stance and movements of the dance is that the Argentinean cowboys (Gauchos) would show up at night clubs without the benefit of a shower so when a lady agreed to a dance she would dance in the crook of his right arm keeping her head back. The knees bent stance of the dance was basically the way the Gauchos naturally walked as a result of wearing chaps that get soaked from the sweat of their horses then harden as they dry.
The Milonga is the forerunner of the Tango. It also used the same sharp head and shoulder moves and the characteristic sudden stops of the Tango. The Milonga, early in the 20th century was entertainment meant for the high society of Brazil and it was during that time that the name was changed to the Tango
There is the American Ballroom Tango, the International Ballroom Tango and the Argentinean Tango. Unlike the American and International style of Tango the Argentinean Tango is danced in a close embrace utilizing intricate footwork and leg movements. Because the Argentinean Tango doesn’t require a great deal of movement it is well suited for nightclubs and other places with small dance floors. Unlike the Waltz, the sway and the rise and fall motions are to be avoided at all costs. The desired movements are very sharp and well defined.

The music for this ballroom dance is usually provided by an orchestra that has a piano, guitar, violin, flute and a bandoneon (an offshoot of a koncertina, which looks a little like a small accordion). The bandoneon is essential to Tango music.

Think about what you’ve read so far. Does it reinforce what you already know about Ballroom Dancing? Or was there something completely new? What about the remaining paragraphs?

The Tango has always been a very popular dance with Hollywood moviemakers. For example Arnold Schwarzeneggar and Tia Carrere danced a sexy, sultry Tango in True Lies , while Al Pacino showed Gabrielle Anwar the secrets of the Tango in Scent of a Woman and in a much earlier movie Rudolph Valentino Tangoed in The four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

What the judges will be looking for are lots of clipped movements, sharp head turns and stops, staccato actions, knees slightly bent at all times. They also expect the dancers to project the great emotion the dance needs to convey.

Although the Tango’s moves are staccato you don’t want your dance to look mechanical, but rather give the impression of feline grace. The woman should project a haughty attitude while at the same time seeming to meld into the man’s body. Your Tango should be firm and convincing, with catlike flexibility, the moves crisp with clear switches to complete stillness.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his new GVO affiliate site: GVO

Getting dressed for an evening on the ballroom dance floor is much different than getting ready for a night out at the club. With ballroom dancing becoming a popular American pastime, the attire is also constantly growing and changing. We’ve seen several styles of ballroom dancing dresses on television, thanks to the media’s recent interest in covering this elite activity. However, there are several differences in ballroom dress styles depending on the country.

American ballroom dresses are typically easy to distinguish from other nationalities. A primary trait of American dresses is that they “flow” much easier than those from other countries. For example, an American ballroom dress usually has at least two layers of skirt, along with other cuts of fabric flowing from the neck and back. In contrast, international dresses are known for heavier fabrics and feathers. Several American styles also are adorned with feathers, but are not the essential accent of the ballroom dress. Most international ballroom gowns are designed for appearance from one angle – either they look appealing from the front or back, but not usually both.

You’re most likely to find that American ballroom dresses are accented with sequins or jewels, and come in a variety of lengths. Most ballroom dresses do not extend all the way to the floor – this is probably because a long dress could become tangled in the dancer’s feet and lead to a disaster on the dance floor. However, the style of ballroom dress greatly depends on the type of dance being performed. For example, the paso doble is a popular style of ballroom dance that incorporates Spanish culture in the steps. It only makes sense that the dress would represent the theme; this particular dress would probably have sleeves, a ruffled knee-length skirt that twirls easily, and be decorated with lace.

You can see that there’s practical value in learning more about Ballroom Dancing. Can you think of ways to apply what’s been covered so far?

For more contemporary ballroom dances, the dress is usually very lightweight and moves well with the dancer. A popular look for the top of the dress is either halter-style or sleeves that dangle from the shoulder. Strapless-style dresses are not very common in ballroom dancing, probably because of the risk of falling off during a fast-paced dance or not fitting properly while moving about on the dance floor.

Most ballroom dresses come in a variety of colors and there are usually no limitations in this aspect. It is common American protocol for women to match their partner when it comes to choosing the color of their ballroom dress. However, the color can be anything the couple chooses, but it should be kept in mind that the shoes will need to match the dress exactly.

There are many options for finding a ballroom dress to match your needs.

Most women choose to have their dress tailor made, especially if it is for a competition. This can get pricey, so there are a few other options. The internet is a great tool for finding everything you need in a ballroom dress. Although you can’t physically try it on, most online retailers will allow you to send them your exact measurements and have an excellent return policy.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his new GVO affiliate site: GVO

Dancing is good for your overall health, for weight loss and for mental relaxation. Everyone loves to dance, including those people who just happen to be blind, deaf, missing limbs or confined to a wheelchair. Many groups have formed classes to teach these people ballroom, line dances, jazz ballet and anything else they may want to learn.

The Malta Wheelchair Dancesport Association is one of those groups. Wheelchair dancing had been practiced in parts of the world since the 1970′s but wasn’t started in Malta until 1999. The group holds classes to teach dance to disabled people using a format very similar to that used to teach non-disabled people. The classes are open to people who just want to learn to dance and those who want to dance competitively.

When it comes to the competitive dances there are two groups, Combi (one partner is in a wheelchair the other is not) or Duo (both parties are in wheelchairs). They learn all the Standard Ballroom dances and the Latin American Ballroom dances. For those who are just interested in social dancing they offer courses for line and solo dances.

Sometimes the most important aspects of a subject are not immediately obvious.

Keep reading to get the complete picture.

Wheelchair dancers use their upper bodies and arms to perform the same movements in the same manner as non-disabled dancers. Also, no different from non-disabled dancers, some are good and some aren’t but ALL dance because they love it. The dance classes have the added benefit of teaching both the wheelchair users and their helpers more and better uses of their chairs encouraging them to become more independent

The Gallaudet Dance Company is comprised of about 15 students all of whom are deaf or hard of hearing. Gallaudet is the worlds only accredited Liberal Arts University for the hearing impaired. The dancers rely on many things using their vision and sign language to communicate.

For years hearing people have bought into the theory that the deaf “hear’ by feeling vibrations through the floor. Although that may work when standing still on a surface that will conduct the vibrations it wouldn’t do much good when you are moving, jumping, or standing on a concrete floor. The Gallaudet Dancers practice for hours on end to develop an inner sense of the timing for each dance. This is accomplished in part by watching an instructors counting out the rhythm of the dance. The instructor will give a sign for each step in much the same way hearing dancers will get a vocal count from their instructor.

Deaf and hearing-impaired dance students work had to remain “in time” with or without music. The most important things for teaching these students to dance are a visual count, high quality sound systems and use of sign language.
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Hundreds of viewers watched fascinated as Heather Mills competed for several weeks on Dancing with the Stars with one prosthetic leg. Not only was it difficult to tell which leg it was most of the time but she performed some high difficulty moves that the other dancers didn’t even attempt!

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his new GVO affiliate site: GVO

When you think of athletic competitions, chances are you probably don’t think of ballroom dancing. Most people tend to think of football games, tennis matches, or track and field meets. While all of these certainly qualify for an athletic competition, you probably already know exactly what to anticipate as a spectator.

However, ballroom dance competitions shed a different light on athleticism and are by far entertaining to watch.

Until recently, ballroom dance was something associated with older generations or the wealthy. Around the late 1980′s, ballroom dancing began to take light once again but faded around 1995. It remained on the back burner of America’s athletic competitions until 1999, when it suddenly gained popularity and has remained stable ever since. With the media taking an interest in ballroom dancing over the past few years, more and more people are learning and competing in ballroom dancing.

Some of the most popular ballroom dance competitions are hosted by Access Dance with competitions held nationwide. Competitions are held all year long with prizes ranging in money to vacation packages. The competition is divided into three main categories: youth, amateur, and professional. This allows everyone of all ages and ability levels to compete in ballroom dancing.

Hopefully the information presented so far has been applicable. You might also want to consider the following:

The Maryland Institute of Technology (MIT) also hosts an annual ballroom dance competition. The competition is open to members of the MIT ballroom dance team and anyone else who would like to compete. The competition is divided up according the style of dance you want to enter – for example, the mambo, jive, paso doble, etc. Each dance is classified into two categories, beginning and intermediate, with everyone invited to compete at the championship level. The cost for entering this competition ranges between $10 and $40 depending on your skill level and which category you are entering.

Perhaps the most notorious ballroom dance competition is “Dancing with the Stars”, aired twice annually on ABC. This highly addictive dance competition features celebrities from various backgrounds, from the entertainment industry to athletes. The most recent champion of ballroom dancing, Apollo Anton Ono, is a gold-medal Olympic speed skater who had no prior knowledge of ballroom dancing prior to the competition. The prior season of “Dancing with the Stars” also produced a winner from the athlete genre, Emmitt Smith, a former NFL player for the Dallas Cowboys. This competition pairs up celebrities with no ballroom dance knowledge with professional partners who teach ballroom dance. It begins with ten couples and each week, viewers eliminate a couple by voting for their favorite. It was after the first season of “Dancing with the Stars” that people took an interest in ballroom dancing and the craze soon spread all over the world. Now, over twenty countries host their own version of this televised ballroom dance competition.

If you are interested in competing in ballroom dancing, a simple search of the internet will provide you with information regarding a competition near you. Even if you are just starting out, there are competitions for every skill level and ability.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit this new site for my swedish customers: Billigt Webbhotell – from SEK 10:- per month!

Ballroom dancing competitions have been broadcast on television for years. Men and women of many different ages and nationalities dance in costumes ranging from elegant to sexy to fun and amusing competing for titles in all categories of Standard and Latin American Ballroom. Television aired these strictly ballroom dance competitions where professional dance judges determined the outcome and the audience were merely onlookers.

In the last couple years there has been a new twist added to the Ballroom competitions thanks to the “reality television.” craze. Television shows like So You Think You Can Dance?, Ballroom Bootcamp and Dancing With the Stars have hit the airwaves with a tremendous reaction from viewers. Millions tune in each week to watch and root for their favorites.

The more authentic information about Ballroom Dancing you know, the more likely people are to consider you a Ballroom Dancing penicillin expert. Read on for even more Ballroom Dancing facts that you can share.

Ballroom Bootcamp airs on TLC (The Learning Channel) and is a wonderful series where three everyday ordinary people from all walks of life are paired up with three professional dancers and given five weeks to learn either the Cha-Cha, the Waltz, The Tango, the Jive or the Rumba. At the end of the 5 weeks they are matched against each other in an authentic Ballroom Dance competition where the judges decide the winner.

So You Think You Can Dance?, the brainchild of Fox television has its judges (some of whom are also the show’s choreographers) go to New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Atlanta and check out literally hundreds of dancers. Not all the dancers are ballroom dancers; many are students of jazz, break dancing, contemporary dance etcetera. Once the field has been reduced to the top 20 (10 men, 10 women) the dancers are paired up and the main competition begins. Each week each couple is given the dance they are to perform the following week. This may be one of the ballroom dances or they may draw one of the other dance forms, jazz, contemporary etcetera. They have 7 days to work with the choreographer and get their dance ready.

The television viewers vote on their favorites and each week the judges decide who among the 3 lowest vote getting couples will leave the show.

Dancing With the Stars on ABC is one of the favorites among television dance competition shows. Dancing With the Stars pairs a professional ballroom dancer with a celebrity. There have been sports celebrities, football and basketball players, female wrestlers and boxers and even an Olympic speed skater, entertainers, singers, actors, television talk show hosts and even one contestant who had a prosthetic leg. Each week the celebrities have to learn at least one new dance. Towards the end there are weeks where they have to learn two dances in a week. These are strictly ballroom (both Standard and Latin American) dances. The judges who have all danced professionally critique each dance and score the dancers with a high score of 30 points being possible. After each show the audience votes on their favorites either by phone or online. The audience votes count for 50% of the total with the judges scores accounting for the other 50% and each week the couple with the lowers score is sent home.

There’s a lot to understand about Ballroom Dancing. We were able to provide you with some of the facts above, but there is still plenty more to write about in subsequent articles.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit this new site for my swedish customers: Billigt Webbhotell – from SEK 10:- per month!

The following paragraphs summarize the work of Ballroom Dancing experts who are completely familiar with all the aspects of Ballroom Dancing. Heed their advice to avoid any Ballroom Dancing surprises.

Until recently, ballroom dancing was not considered to be a popular American pastime. In fact, most people thought of it as something best left to the older generations or the wealthy. Although ballroom dancing has existed for centuries in countries all around the globe, it wasn’t until the media took an interest in it that it began to take off. Now, ballroom dancing has grown in popularity, encouraging more people to take an interest in the fine art of ballroom dancing.

Currently, there are two television shoes that focus on ballroom dancing: “Dancing with the Stars”, and “So You Think You Can Dance”. Both of these shows cover various aspects of ballroom dancing and are reality-based. Basically, the contestants perform different dances every week, the viewers cast a vote for their favorite couple, and every week the couple with the least amount of votes is eliminated.

“Dancing with the Stars” is aired on ABC twice annually. The contestants are celebrities hailing from various backgrounds; actors, athletes, and entertainers. Prior to becoming contestants on the show, the celebrities have no prior knowledge of ballroom dancing and are paired with a professional dance partner. Each season begins with ten couples and one is eliminated every week. This past season, it was a close competition between Joey Fatone (formerly of n’sync), world champion female boxer Laila Ali, and olympic speed skater gold medalist Apollo Anton Ono.

If you don’t have accurate details regarding Ballroom Dancing, then you might make a bad choice on the subject. Don’t let that happen: keep reading.

Laila remained a strong competitor through the very end, but was eliminated just before the finals. It became a very tight battle between Joey and Apollo, but in the end Apollo prevailed with his professional partner, Julianne Huff. This isn’t the first time an athlete has claimed the “Dancing” trophy – former NFL player Emmitt Smith took home the trophy the season prior thanks to the help and instruction from his professional partner, Cheryl Burke.

“So You Think Can Dance” is aired on the fox network is comparable to “American Idol”. It differs greatly from “Dancing with the Stars” because it involves amateur dancers who are not celebrities. The show covers many aspects of dancing, from street to hip-hop and of course, ballroom dances. Like most reality shows, it involves the audience eliminating a contestant every week until one dancer remains. That dancer takes home the grand prize consisting of $100,000, a new car, and a usually some kind of contract that employs them as a professional dancer.

Prior to these two shows making their debut, there were several dance programs that aired throughout the years. “American Bandstand” and VH1′s “Dance Machine” were two very popular shows that involved media coverage of dancing, however the focus was not really on ballroom dancing. (Although they can be accredited to starting the “dance craze” in America.) Thanks to the recent shows of “Dancing with the Stars” and “So You Think You Can Dance”, the desire to learn ballroom dancing quickly spread across America and many other countries. In fact, over twenty countries have their own versions of these popular television shows, increasing the popularity of ballroom dancing worldwide.

Now that wasn’t hard at all, was it? And you’ve earned a wealth of knowledge, just from taking some time to study an expert’ s word on Ballroom Dancing.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit my latest acquisition: Adsense Sites and make sure to download the free adsense sites package!

The fastest of all the Latin dances would be the Jive. According to some sources the roots of this dance are in New York’s Harlem area, others put the origin of the dance with the Negroes of the southeast United States where it resembled the dances of the Seminole Indians. Depending on which source you are looking at either the Negroes copied it from the Indians or the Indians copied it from the Negroes.

The Jive is a face paced, rhythmical dance that was influenced by a number of other dance styles including Boogie, Rock, African American Swing and the Lindyhop. In the late 1800′s the Negroes in the south held Jive competitions where the prize was a cake which is how the dance became known for a while as the Cake Walk.

Unlike the other ballroom dances the Jive doesn’t require moving around the dance floor, however, even though it looks like the dancers feet are flying every which way the feet should be directly under the body with the knees always close together. You’ll see the woman being twirled a lot and lots of kicks. The music that is associated with the Jive is commonly called Ragtime, possibly because the participants dressed up in their finest clothes (“rags”) or maybe because of the syncopation of the music giving it a ragged feel.

Ballroom Dancing – The Samba

You may not consider everything you just read to be crucial information about Ballroom Dancing. But don’t be surprised if you find yourself recalling and using this very information in the next few days.

When the Samba music plays its party time! The Samba originated with Brazil’s Rio Carnival and is comprised of several different South American dances. While walking and side steps are the main moves with heavy hitting rhythm and lots of hip action the Samba is the perfect party dance.

Slaves imported into Portugal in the 16th century brought along their dances (a few of which are the Catarete, Embolada and the Batuque). Europeans thought these dances were quite sinful as the dancers were close enough to have their navels touching. The Batuque was an incredibly popular dance – so much so that at one time it was outlawed. The Batuque was done in a circle with dance steps resembling those of a Charleston with a solo dancer in the center of the circle. Down the line carnival steps were added and members of Rio’s high society decided that once the dance had been modified to use the closed ballroom position it was then a proper dance.

Eventually aspects from all these dances and probably others combined emerging as the Samba we know today.

Some things the judges watch for in a good Samba are steps like the Volta (crossing in front of the body), the Samba Roll (moving the upper body in a circular motion while going through a six step turn), Botafogo (traveling walk that includes a direction change) and dancers who have a good balance of moving and stationary moves. They will also look for outstretched arms and the distinctive climax of the Samba where the dancers throw their heads back and their arms are splayed out to the side.

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By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit my latest acquisition: Adsense Sites and make sure to download the free adsense sites package!