What Are The Easiest Latin & Ballroom Dances To Learn?
Social dancing is a great way to get out and meet new people. They are also a fun way to stay active and keep your mind sharp. But which Ballroom & Latin dances are the easiest to learn? And what do you need to know before you start?
Here we will explore some of the most popular beginner-friendly social dances, and why it is a good idea to learn them all together.
Beginner-Friendly Ballroom Dances
Foxtrot
Some people refer to this dance as a “conversational dance” because of its closeness and conversation ability at the same time. So it’s a social must!
Foxtrot is great for developing smoothness and ease of movement. It is easy to learn and can be danced to a wide variety of music.
Waltz
The Mother of all dances and a must for keeping with the social dancing environment. Waltz is a smooth, elegant dance that is perfect for beginners. The whirling waltz develops graceful movement and poise. Waltz is good for strengthening the ankles and knees along with rapidly improving one’s balance.
Tango
Tango is another popular beginner-friendly social dance. It is a bit more challenging than the waltz but still relatively easy to learn. It’s a dramatic and sensual dance that is very popular with all its staccato movements. Tango greatly improves the leading and following (the ability to respond) skills of the couple.
Beginner-Friendly Latin Dances
Rumba
Rumba is a romantic Latin dance. It’s a slow dance that is perfect for those in-between tempos. It’s the best dance to get acquainted with the Latin style of dancing as it develops a subtle or relaxed (lateral) hip motion and Latin styling. Rumba hip movements are used in all the most popular Latin dances.
Cha Cha
The all-time favourite of the Latin Dances, Cha Cha is a lively dance that really gets you moving on the dance floor. It exercises the body well and helps develop and tone the muscles from the head to the toes. Cha Cha compliments another Latin Dance Swing as it combines the swing movements with Latin styling.
Swing
Swing dance is a group of amazing Rhythm dances that developed with the swing style of jazz music in the 20’s-50’s. From the Lindy and Snag of the 30’s, to the Jive of the 40’s, to the East and West Coast Swing of the 50’s, to the Hustle and back to the Swing in the 70’s and 80’s, this dance will certainly put you in the mood with all its energy.
It is characterized by an up-tempo beat and makes you light on your feet - enabling you to keep time to any beat.
Learning all of these dances together has many benefits. They allow you to build a strong foundation in all of the basic techniques complementing each other in many ways.
It provides a well-rounded dancing experience that will make you a more confident and proficient dancer overall.
Having a strong foundation in the “main six” dances will help you to learn other dances more easily. It’s much easier to add other dances to your repertoire when you are confident with moving your body, balance, weight change, musicality and
So whether you're just starting out or you're looking to improve your skills, learning these beginner-friendly social dances is a great way to do it!
We hope we’ve inspired you to give these dances a go and have some fun on a dance floor!