MODERN (or STANDARD)

The traditional Modern style consists of the Modern Waltz, Slow Foxtrot, Quickstep, Tango and Viennese Waltz.

Although there are now a number of set sequences or routines for most of these, the experienced dancer varies the order in which different steps are danced to suit the floor and the occasion. To dance the Modern style correctly a knowledge of expected alignments and direction of travel is required as well as a repertoire of figures.

The Latin style of dancing consists essentially of Cha Cha, Samba, Rumba, Paso Doble and Jive. Quite recently a number of new dances have been added in the form of Street Latin. Some of these are Salsa, Lambada, Merengue and Mambo.

Old time dancing originated in the U.K. and was known as English Old Time (EOT). It originally consisted of a number of sequenced (set routine) dances based on Scottish, French and English folk dances. There are still some of the original EOT dances regularly danced and taught today.

New Vogue dancing was born in Australia in the early 1930s and is now becoming very popular overseas. There are some thirty to forty of these dances that are officially accepted as the Championship, Competition and Medal Test dances. All these are set sequence dances, i.e. the dance routine is repeated after a certain number of bars of music. Because of some of the holds and dancing positions of the partners, it has been accepted as an impressive spectacle when competently perfomed.

Some of the more popular New Vogue dances are:

SOCIAL SEQUENCE DANCING

Over the years there have been numerous sequenced dances introduced that have found their way into the Saturday night dance programmes. The original purpose of these dances was to provide set routines particularly in Waltz, Foxtrot, Quickstep and Tango so that all dancers on the floor would be moving in the same direction at the same time. This prevented collisions on crowded floors. Some of the original routines were well choreographed and sequenced and within the capabilities of most social dancers. However, more and more sophisticated figure steps have now been included. These movements require more knowledge and expertise than most social dancers have acquired as well as a level of agility that requires years of practice in order to adequately perform the movement. The result can be an embarrassing demonstration which in some cases may subject the person to the possibility of spinal and back injuries. We teach a number of the correctly choreographed dances paying particular attention to the more challenging figures.