On Oahu, this is much the style you will see going out for a night of dancing on the town or at the smaller social dance clubs. American style has two genres of dance within itself – Smooth and Rhythm. Smooth consists of Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango, and Viennese Waltz, while Rhythm has Cha-Cha, Rumba, East Coast Swing, Mambo and Bolero. In Social Dancing, the Viennese Waltz and the Bolero are easily omitted and others such as Merengue, Bachata and Salsa may be added. Most of us agree that our DJ's are terrific.
The style as a whole was derived from International and was developed in the United States with the rise of Swing before WWII. American style is more relaxed, letting movements have a great deal of freedom. This makes the style excellent for phasing into social dancing. The steps are designed to be done in whatever order the leader chooses and with generous leeway in regards to alignments. Dancers are allowed to break frame in Smooth, making for very grand expressions and arm styling as they move around the floor. Also, in Rhythm, Cuban motion in the hips is achieved by stepping on the bent leg and flexing the knee.
Being so open to the creativity and individuality of dancers is what has made the American style so popular. This has also allowed for several variations of the same step to flourish. Artistic license, attitude and personal style shine through while dancing American. This has led very definitely in this century into Social Dance on Oahu. However, despite all of the freedoms, the following remains constant – each dance is started with the left foot for the lead and the right foot for the follow. Meanwhile we continue to test, wear our masks, respect social distance and we shall dance again.
"Social dancers believe that hope is precious,
“Yesterday is but a dream, Tomorrow is only a vision. But today
well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness,
and every tomorrow a vision of hope.”
The style as a whole was derived from International and was developed in the United States with the rise of Swing before WWII. American style is more relaxed, letting movements have a great deal of freedom. This makes the style excellent for phasing into social dancing. The steps are designed to be done in whatever order the leader chooses and with generous leeway in regards to alignments. Dancers are allowed to break frame in Smooth, making for very grand expressions and arm styling as they move around the floor. Also, in Rhythm, Cuban motion in the hips is achieved by stepping on the bent leg and flexing the knee.
"Fly Me To The Moon" by Jimmy Borges
Hawaii may be coming out it. Let keep doing what we are doing right.
Being so open to the creativity and individuality of dancers is what has made the American style so popular. This has also allowed for several variations of the same step to flourish. Artistic license, attitude and personal style shine through while dancing American. This has led very definitely in this century into Social Dance on Oahu. However, despite all of the freedoms, the following remains constant – each dance is started with the left foot for the lead and the right foot for the follow. Meanwhile we continue to test, wear our masks, respect social distance and we shall dance again.
"Social dancers believe that hope is precious,
and you may be right not to give up.”
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