U Can Dance Studio St Louis for dance instructions in ballroom, wedding first dance, ballet, tap, Jazz, hip hop

U Can Dance offers ballroom group dance lessons  and private dance lessons in St Louis. Our group dance classes are at all different levels and range in size from 4 to 30, no partner is needed. Dances that we teach at U Can Dance are listed below.  Start Today 314-209-9228!

International Style

International Standard
Slow Waltz - Tango - Viennese Waltz - Slow Foxtrot - Quickstep
International Latin
Cha Cha - Samba - Rumba - Paso Doble - Jive

Within the international style of DanceSport are two categories of dances, Standard and Latin. In England (e.g., at the Blackpool Dance Festival), the categories are traditionally called "Ballroom" and "Latin American" dances, respectively. In the Standard dances, men typically wear coattails, vests, and bow ties, while women wear elegant and colorful gowns, often with sheer fabric draped from the shoulders or arms. Partners remain in closed position throughout the dance, and movements tend to be elegant and sweeping. The Latin dances are more overtly sensual, with skimpy costumes for women and tight-fitting ones for men. More variation in movement is allowed than in the Standard dances, so hip action and athletic maneuvers such as dips are common.

American Style

American Smooth
Waltz - Tango - Foxtrot - Viennese Waltz
American Rhythm
Cha Cha - Rumba - East Coast Swing - Bolero - Mambo

The Smooth and Rhythm categories of American style DanceSport roughly correspond to the Standard and Latin categories of International style. In Smooth, dancers wear costumes similar to those worn by their counterparts in Standard; however, the dances themselves are significantly different as a result of influence by dancers like Fred Astaire and Arthur Murray in the years following World War II. While elegance and flow remain the goal, as in International Standard, dancers do not remain in closed position exclusively, instead breaking away from each other periodically and experimenting with open footwork. The Rhythm dances were also influenced by American dancers of the post-WWII era, but the differences between it and International Latin are more subtle. Costumes are similar, and while step patterns are not identical, movements are as free and explicitly sensual as in Latin.

Historical/Vintage Dance

Waltz - Polka - Schottische - Tango - One-Step - Foxtrot - Peabody

Other dances occasionally categorized as ballroom

Nightclub
Nightclub Two-step - Hustle - Modern Jive / LeRoc / Ceroc - and the whole swing variety: West Coast Swing / East Coast Swing/ Lindy Hop (always included in the "Rhythm-Swing" category) / Carolina Shag / Collegiate Shag
Latin nightclub
Salsa - Merengue - Cumbia - Bachata - Cha cha
Brazilian Dances
Forró - Pagode - Samba de Gafieira - Lambada
Country/Western
Polka - Cha-cha-cha - Two-step - Waltz...
also referred to as "Country and Western" or C/W:
C/W Polka - C/W Cha-cha - C/W Two-step - C/W Waltz...
Cajun dances
Cajun One Step or Cajun Jig - Cajun Two Step - Zydeco - Cajun Waltz - Cajun Jitterbug
Musette dances
Java, musette-waltz, musette-tango, musette-paso-doble.
Other
Argentine tango

Wedding dance styles all taught in St Louis at U Can Dance Studio St Louis MO 

Dances Styles & The Differences 

In one common usage "ballroom dance" refers to the ten dances of International Standard and International Latin, though the term is also often used interchangeably with the five International Standard dances. In the United States, the American Style (American Smooth and American Rhythm) also exists. The dance technique used for both International and American styles is similar, but International Standard allows only closed dance positions, whereas American Smooth allows closed, open and separated dance movements. In addition, different sets of dance patterns are usually taught for the two styles. International Latin and American Rhythm have different styling, and have different dance patterns in their respective syllabi.

Others dances sometimes placed under the umbrella "ballroom dance" include Nightclub Dances such as Lindy Hop, West Coast Swing, Nightclub Two Step, Hustle, Salsa, and Merengue. The categorization of dances as "ballroom dances" has always been fluid, with new dances or folk dances being added to/removed from to the ballroom repertoire from time to time, so no list of subcategories or dances is any more than a description of current practices. There are other dances historically accepted as ballroom dances, and are revived via the Vintage dance movement.

In Europe, Latin Swing dances include Argentine Tango, Mambo, Lindy Hop, Swing Boogie (sometimes also known as Nostalgic Boogie), and Disco Fox. One example of this is the subcategory of Cajun dances that originated in New Orleans, with branches reaching both coasts of the United States.

Standard/Smooth dances are normally danced to Western music (often from the mid-twentieth century), and couples dance counter-clockwise around a rectangular floor following the line of dance. In competitions, competitors are costumed as would be appropriate for a white tie affair, with full gowns for the ladies and bow tie and tail coats for the men; though in American Smooth it is now conventional for the men to abandon the tailsuit in favor of shorter tuxedos, vests, and other creative outfits.

Latin/Rhythm dances are commonly danced to contemporary Latin American music, and with the exception of a few traveling dances (e.g. Samba and Paso Doble) couples do not follow the line of dance and perform their routines more or less in one spot. In competitions, the women are often dressed in short-skirted latin outfits while the men outfitted in tight-fitting shirts and pants; the goal being to bring emphasis to the dancers' leg action and body movements.

Competition 

In competition ballroom dancers are judged by diverse criteria such as connection, frame, posture, speed, timing, proper body alignment, proper usage of weight/ankles/feet, and grooming.  Judging in a performance-oriented sport is inevitably subjective in nature, and controversy and complaints by competitors over judging placements are not uncommon. The scorekeepers—called scrutineers—will tally the total number recalls accumulated by each couple through each round until the finals, when the Skating system is used to place each couple by ordinals, typically 1-6, though the number of couples in the final can vary.

Medal examinations enable dancers' abilities to be recognized according to conventional standards. In medal exams, each dancer performs two or more dances in a certain genre (e.g., International Standard) in front of a judge. In North America, examination levels include Newcomer, Bronze, Silver, Gold and Championship. Each level (i.e. Newcomer, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Championship) may be further subdivided into either two or four separate sections.

How competition levels are separated may be different depending on the competition in question. In addition to the previously mentioned competition levels, most competitions offer a specific competition series for competitors that include Pre-Novice, Novice, Pre-Championship, and Championship. Pre-Novice usually consists of Cha Cha and Rumba in closed position dance steps. No sequins are allowed on costumes at this level and choreography is basic in nature. Novice consists of two or three dances, Cha Cha, Rumba, and Samba. Novice is open to any costumes and choreography contains both basic dance moves and fancy and expressive movements as well. Pre-Championship and Championships have the same costume and dance rules. The only difference is they add on Jive and Paso Doble to the routine. This breakdown can vary per competition. Competitors choose their corresponding level of dance skill and experience to compete in and are further categorized as amateur dance couples, and professional teacher dancing with their amateur students. One can only compete against dancers of their own category for both the level and category.