50 Fun Facts About Ballroom Dance

Which star's RKO screen-test report supposedly read 'Can't sing. Can't act. Balding. Can dance a little'?

Fred Astaire went on to found the Fred Astaire Dance Studios in 1947, selling the chain in 1966. Producer Pandro S. Berman claimed he never heard the screen-test story in the 1930s.

Which dance, the first in which a man held a woman close, was banned by California's mission priests until 1834?

The waltz was banned in California because of its 'closed' position, and its arrival in English society in 1813 drew a sardonic anonymous tribute from Lord Byron.

Which Latin dance, built on a Spanish military march, casts the leader as a matador and is rarely danced socially?

Paso doble is mostly performed only in competitions because of its many choreographic rules, with the follower playing the matador's cape, the bull, or even the matador.

Which competition 'Latin' dance is really a swing dance, carried to Europe by American soldiers around 1940?

Jive is grouped with the Latin dances in competition even though its roots lie in swing, and its name comes from African-American slang popularised by bandleader Cab Calloway's dictionary.

Standard couples travel around the floor following the 'line of dance', which runs in which direction?

Counter-clockwise travel around a rectangular floor is the rule for the Standard dances, while most Latin routines are performed more or less in one spot.

Since 1920 the Blackpool Dance Festival, the oldest of its kind, has been held in which Winter Gardens venue?

The Empress Ballroom floor was relaid in 1934 with 10,000 pieces of oak, mahogany, walnut and greenwood over 1,320 four-inch springs. At 20,790 square feet it was once among the world's largest.

After its long-time head judge died in 2023, Dancing with the Stars renamed which prize in his honour?

The Mirrorball Trophy was renamed from season 32, when many of the original professionals returned to perform a group dance to 'Moon River' in tribute.

Vernon Castle, half of the dance duo Vernon and Irene Castle, died in 1918 in what way?

Vernon Castle had flown with distinction for Britain's Royal Flying Corps, only to die in a plane crash in Texas at a training base near Fort Worth. 'Castle' was a stage name: he was born William Vernon Blyth.

Which silent film star popularised a stylised Argentine tango in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)?

Rudolph Valentino's Hollywood steps mixed with the social dances of the day and began the American style's split from the Argentine original.

Which Australian director turned his 1984 student play about dancer Scott Hastings into the 1992 film Strictly Ballroom?

Baz Luhrmann made Strictly Ballroom the first of his Red Curtain Trilogy, followed by Romeo + Juliet (1996) and Moulin Rouge! (2001).

Which ballroom dance, the oldest still competed, emerged in Austria in the late 18th century from the Ländler?

The Viennese waltz is danced at about 58 bars a minute, twice the speed of its slower English cousin, and gained ground through the Congress of Vienna and the music of Lanner and the Strausses.

Which dance did Vernon and Irene Castle refine and popularise in Watch Your Step, Irving Berlin's first Broadway score?

Foxtrot, by Vernon Castle's own account, had been danced by African Americans at an exclusive club for fifteen years before he and Irene made it a craze in 1914.

Which Latin dance did Cuban violinist Enrique Jorrín develop in the early 1950s as a slower alternative to mambo?

Cha-cha-cha was originally called the Triple Mambo, and its name arose when dancers at Havana's Silver Star Club improvised a triple step to Jorrín's less syncopated tunes.

Which International Latin dance, the slowest of the five at about 24 bars a minute, is adapted from Cuban son?

Rumba, despite its name, rarely included elements of actual Cuban rumba, and the first competition in it was held at the Savoy Ballroom in 1930.

Which Brazilian dance, introduced to America by Carmen Miranda in the 1940s, is competed with a knee-driven 'bounce'?

Samba's competition bounce is not an up-and-down hop but a knee action with little elevation, created by bending and straightening the knees.

Which slow dance at 24 bars a minute is one of the five American Rhythm dances but absent from International Latin?

Bolero sits alongside East Coast swing and mambo in the American Rhythm syllabus, a style found in the United States and Canada rather than in international competition.

Which competitive style dances the Standard repertoire with open and separated movements as well as closed hold?

American Smooth allows closed, open and separated movements where International Ballroom permits only closed positions, and its men have even abandoned the tailsuit.

Ballroom tango differs from Argentine tango through its more open frame and what kind of strong movement?

Staccato attack marks ballroom tango, which branched from its Argentine and Uruguayan roots by admitting European, American, Hollywood and competitive influences.

In ballroom terminology, a turn described as 'natural' rotates which way, as opposed to a 'reverse' turn?

To the leader's right is the natural direction and to the left the reverse; the fastest Standard dance alternates the two using non-rotating change steps.

What is the ballroom dance term for a three-step figure in which the feet are closed on the second step?

Chassé figures sit among the quickstep's walks, runs and turns, a repertoire developed to brisk ragtime-era jazz in the 1920s.

What name is given to the hip rotation in Latin ballroom dance, produced by bending and straightening soft knees?

Cuban motion straightens the knee after the full weight transfer, giving fluid legs, whereas International 'Latin motion' straightens it before, for a sharper leg action.

Which Standard ballroom dance term describes the body ascending and descending through the feet, ankles and legs?

Rise and fall is one of the things judges mark in a final, along with timing, footwork, alignment, direction and floor craft.

Men's Standard ballroom dance competition dress, with tail coat and bow tie, follows which formal dress code?

White tie is the model, with full gowns for the women; the Standard dances are normally danced to Western music, often from the mid-twentieth century.

The term 'dancesport' was invented to help competitive ballroom dancing gain what?

Olympic recognition came on 5 September 1997, yet the ballroom dances have still never been contested at the Games themselves.

Which body, founded in 1957 as the International Council of Amateur Dancers, adopted its present name in 2011?

World DanceSport Federation became its name only in 2011, after 21 years as the International DanceSport Federation, and it also governs Para dancesport.

Which professional governing body, founded in Edinburgh in 1950, made Donnie Burns its president in 2005?

World Dance Council is the name it has used since 2006, having begun life as the International Council of Ballroom Dancing, and it regulates professional competition.

Which London body, formed at the Hotel Cecil in 1904, codified the ballroom technique now known as International Style?

Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing members published the first book embodying the new standards in 1927, Modern Ballroom Dancing, which stayed in print until a 2005 edition.

What is the 11-rule method, introduced in Britain in 1937, by which judges' majority marks place a ballroom dance final?

The skating system was formulated by Arthur Dawson, allows no ties, and ranks the couples in each dance before compiling an overall order.

Which bandleader won the first World Ballroom Championship in 1922 and became known for 'slow, slow, quick-quick-slow'?

Victor Silvester's strict-tempo records sold 75 million copies, and he fronted BBC Dancing Club on television through the 1950s.

Which studio-chain founder, born Moses Teichman, staged the world's first 'radio dance' at Georgia Tech in 1920?

Arthur Murray dropped his German-sounding surname amid First World War anti-German feeling, and his wife Kathryn hosted The Arthur Murray Party on TV from 1950 to 1960.

Which 1982 comic strip coined the line that Ginger Rogers did everything her partner did 'backwards and in high heels'?

Frank and Ernest creator Thaves wrote the line, which feminists adopted and which gave a 2007 musical about Rogers its title, Backwards in High Heels.

Dancer Irene Castle is credited with introducing American women around 1914 to which hairstyle?

The bob, the short boyish cut later favoured by flappers, came from a dancer whose duo toured with a Black orchestra and had an openly lesbian manager.

Which pioneering African-American bandleader led the Society Orchestra that toured with Vernon and Irene Castle?

James Reese Europe slowly played 'The Memphis Blues' during breaks from the fast Castle Walk and suggested the Castles create a slow dance to go with it.

Which Strictly and Dancing with the Stars head judge only took up dancing at 19, as therapy for a foot injury?

Len Goodman had been an apprentice welder at Harland and Wolff in Woolwich, and retired from competing after winning the British Championships at Blackpool in his late twenties.

Which Italian judge on both Strictly and Dancing with the Stars danced in Elton John's 'I'm Still Standing' video?

Bruno Tonioli choreographed for Tina Turner, the Rolling Stones and Duran Duran, and was Anne Hathaway's choreographer on Ella Enchanted.

Which former Latin champion nicknamed 'the Queen of Latin' became Strictly Come Dancing's head judge in 2017?

Shirley Ballas was raised in Wallasey and won Professional Latin at the Blackpool Dance Festival in 1983 with partner Sammy Stopford.

Which Ballarat-born judge, famous for 'Fab-u-lous!', sat on Strictly Come Dancing's original 2004 judging panel?

Craig Revel Horwood was resident director of Miss Saigon before Strictly began, and took over directing the show's UK arena tour in 2012.

Which Strictly professional reached an eighth-series quarter-final with Ann Widdecombe despite her poor dancing?

Anton Du Beke, partner of Erin Boag since 1997, waited until series thirteen and Katie Derham for his first final, and later joined the judging panel.

Who hosted Strictly's results show from 2010 before becoming Tess Daly's full-time co-presenter in 2014?

Claudia Winkleman stepped into Daly's co-presenter role as Daly took over the main one, and the pair left the series together in 2025.

Which newsreader won the first series of Strictly Come Dancing in 2004 with professional partner Brendan Cole?

Natasha Kaplinsky beat EastEnders actor Christopher Parker in the final on 3 July 2004, and later covered for Tess Daly as stand-in presenter during maternity leave.

Which founder of Miss World created the BBC's original Come Dancing in 1949, broadcast from Mecca ballrooms?

Eric Morley's show ran at intervals from 1950 to 1998, starting as a regional knock-out between teams from areas such as East Anglia and the South West.

Under what working title did producer Richard Hopkins first pitch a modern ballroom contest to the BBC in 2003?

Pro-Celebrity Dancing was rejected, and the show that emerged took its name from the 1992 film Strictly Ballroom and the old series it revived.

For its 31st season in 2022, Dancing with the Stars moved from ABC to which streaming service?

Disney+ kept streaming the show simultaneously when it returned to ABC for season 32 the following year.

Which six-time champion as a professional joined the Dancing with the Stars judging panel in 2020?

Derek Hough took the seat when the head judge could not travel from London under COVID-19 restrictions, and his sister Julianne became the show's co-host in 2023.

Which actor, a one-week Strictly guest judge in two series, became the main host of Dancing with the Stars in 2023?

Alfonso Ribeiro first joined as co-host for season 31 and was elevated to main host for season 32, with a former champion professional as his co-host.

Which supermodel took over as host of Dancing with the Stars in 2020, also becoming an executive producer?

Tyra Banks hosted seasons 29 to 31, arriving the day after the original host announced on Twitter that he had been dismissed.

In the 2004 remake of Shall We Dance?, Richard Gere's lawyer spots a dance studio from his commuter train in which city?

Chicago's biggest dance competition is the film's climax, where Gere's John Clark is distracted mid-routine by hearing his wife and daughter in the crowd.

The 1996 Japanese Shall We Dance? opens on a Blackpool Tower Ballroom inscription taken from which Shakespeare poem?

Venus and Adonis supplies 'Bid me discourse, I will enchant thine ear', after which a voice-over explains how ballroom dancing came from Europe to Japan.

Which 2005 documentary outgrossed Mad Hot Ballroom, the film about New York schoolchildren's ballroom classes?

March of the Penguins led the year, but Mad Hot Ballroom still earned over $8.1 million after Paramount Classics and Nickelodeon bought it at Sundance for $2 million.

In Take the Lead (2006), Antonio Banderas plays which real ballroom teacher, founder of Dancing Classrooms?

Pierre Dulaine offers to take over a school's detention shift and teach its pupils ballroom, in a film shot in Toronto despite its New York setting.