Q 01/05

Which star's RKO screen-test report supposedly read 'Can't sing, can't act, balding, can dance a little'?

A) Gene Kelly

B) Fred Astaire

C) Bing Crosby

D) Donald O'Connor

Answer · why

B) Fred Astaire

Fred Astaire had the last laugh: in 1947 the man written off as able to 'dance a little' co-founded the Fred Astaire Dance Studios, a chain teaching b...

Q 02/05

Which dance, new to English ballrooms, did Lord Byron mock in an anonymous satirical poem of 1813?

A) The polka

B) The minuet

C) The waltz

D) The quadrille

Answer · why

C) The waltz

The waltz put couples face to face in a 'closed' hold, which scandalised many: an Edinburgh magazine writer of 1820 was 'inexpressibly shocked' to see...

Q 03/05

Which Latin dance, built on a Spanish military march, casts the leader as a matador?

A) Flamenco

B) Fandango

C) Sevillanas

D) Paso doble

Answer · why

D) Paso doble

Paso doble usually casts the follower as the matador's cape, swept around the floor. The ballroom version is so tightly choreographed that it is almos...

Q 04/05

Which competition 'Latin' dance is really a swing dance, carried to Europe by American soldiers during the Second World War?

A) Charleston

B) Boogie-woogie

C) Jive

D) Hustle

Answer · why

C) Jive

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...

Q 05/05

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

A) Clockwise

B) Counter-clockwise

C) Diagonally across the floor

D) It reverses each dance

Answer · why

B) Counter-clockwise

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 s...