By definition, "Ballroom Dancing", would be, "Moving to the music", in a "Ballroom". (A Ballroom was a large room with a hard wood floor, that was built and used primarially for dancing.)

An old friend who danced in the Big Band error told me that he once danced in a Ballroom with 3,000 other dancers. (Can you even imagine?)

The vast majority of people who have ever dnaced in a real, "Ballroom", were social dancers who were taught to dance by friends and family.

These folks danced for their partners pleasure, and their own. There were no cameras, judges, or mirrors.

The objective was to have a good time, and to meet people.

Wouldn't it be more accurate to call what many dancers do today,--"Competitive Dancing", or maybe, "Sport Dancing"?

I wonder how many young dancers even know what a "Ball" was.

pivotingfool...why the ennui?

If you are from the US it is true that we have lost a lot of our civility...or maybe we are just returning to the old ways. The people of the lower classes danced folk dances, and the wealthy and aristocracy danced what has become ballroom. It was difficult and highly patterned and required teachers just like it does today. As for mirrors have you seen some of the old ballrooms in Europe or the wealthy parts of SOuth America? They weren't good mirrors but they were there.

I've been to balls in the US and in Europe and the majority of the people danced and I promise you they didn't learn it from friends or family but they were dancing for pleasure.

You are right, there is a subsection of dancing that is called DanceSport. It is related to social dancing, but is more difficult. So if people fall in love with dancing and they want to use it to challenge themselves why is it wrong? Besides a lot of the people who go to comp are just living out their Cinderella fantasies and if it makes them happy why should it disturb me? Why should it disturb you? People have strange motivations, but if what they are doing is contributing to beauty in this world I'm all for it.

My Grandma and Grandpa are from the Big Band Era. They met at a dance, a huge dance. The same with my Aunt and Uncle. I don't enjoy dancing with either my uncle or grandfather they only know a few steps and it is repetitive and boring. As far as most people at dances, as in people moving to music in a room with a wooden floor that was built primarily for dancing, it is nothing more than a meat market and that loses its appeal after the third man lears down my cleavage.

Just my opinion.

I would submit that ballroom is a more formalized style of dancing, but ain't it fun? Being a bit OCD, I love the pursuit of trying to get it right. (One of ballroom's lesser known attributes is serving as a coping mechanism to many of us with overactive minds, etc.)Practicing the various smooth figures brings me great pleasure, but at times, when everything comes together technically on the dance floor, it's bliss. It's a feeling of soaring with expression to a favorite tune. It's almost like a good dream. And being cognizant of that joy is really cool, too.

You seem to think that ballroom dancers can't be social dancers. At our studio, there are many dancers who would never consider their dancing either competitive or a 'sport'. They dance because they love it and most are highly trained. They have never competed and never will. What is wrong with being taught by a 'professional'? As for balls, our studio holds two a year. The dance floor can hold 300 people. 99.9% of those attending are social dancers who are just there for a good time in a formal setting. There are no cameras, mirrors or judges. Just dancers!

Quite true.. there has been a myth perpetuated that because one takes formal instruction, it automatically "leads " to comp.

far from it.. only about 10% EVER venture into that arena...and just dance socially..

Pivotingfool seem to be a little confused about what ballroom dancing is. He seems to be getting it confused with other forms of dance. Ballroom dance is not "competition dancing", not now or at any time in the past. There are some that compete but they are only a very small fraction of the total population of ballroom dancers. Most ballroom dancers have some amount of formal training. Most ballroom dancers consider their activity a hobby (except for maybe a few who teach it as a profession). Like all hobbies one of the goals is to learn about the hobby and improve your ability. That is part of the fun of any hobby. There are very few "family and friends" capable of teaching this.

There are several types of social dances where the primary goal is something else. One for example is the "singles social" where dancing is not the primary reason for going. Many people that attend these can't dance at all, but they are willing to get up and move around a little, doing whatever they feel like, and that is OK because there are many others doing the same thing. They play some amount of ballroom music and some ballroom dancers like to infiltrate this group, but they are a very small minority.

The ability of the participants at a ballroom dance varies a lot depending on what part of the country the dance takes place. In areas where there are very few instructors, the dancers ability may be very poor. They may also get instruction from unqualified people, like family and friends. If you happen to be from one of these areas and never go outside it, you can get a distorted view of ballroom.

Another type of social dance are the country dances. Those include folk dance, contras, squares, Cajun/Zydeco, and many others. These aren't considered ballroom but they do require some training. Most are easy to learn compared to ballroom. (Some hobbies are easier than others.)

There is round dance and sequence dance, which the members like to think of themselves as social dancers. Those require some training as well, but it is possible to learn some of this from family and friends. They have some remote similarity to ballroom but all the ballroom technique has been left out so they become much easier. Some who participate at the highest levels in these, find that they have to go to ballroom instructors if they want to improve.

Pivotingfool wrote: An old friend who danced in the Big Band error told me that he once danced in a Ballroom with 3,000 other dancers. (Can you even imagine?).....

No I can't imagine that. The largest dance floor I was ever on was 15,000 sq ft and at one time there were 300 dancers on it, and it was very crowded. So for 3000 dancers you would need at least a 150,000 sq ft floor. That's about 2.6 football fields counting the end zones. Where would I find this ballroom?

If you packed 3000 people like sardines, elbow to elbow, touching on all sides, you would need about 3.2 high school basketball courts.