They are Cha Cha, Rumba, Salsa, Waltz, Swing, Tango, Foxtrot and Merengue. We consider these to be the core dances for Latin and Ballroom dancing and they are all great for social dancing, but which of these are are going to be USED THE MOST in social dancing situations specifically? Or if you are not sure which dances to start out with in the beginning – this article is for you! 

 

The 3 best dances to learn – Ones that you can’t leave your house without are Rumba, Foxtrot and Swing because these dances will fit most of the music out there.

I will dive into why these are best dances to learn for social dancing in a second but let me address the other dances that may not fit in most places.

 

Dances like the Cha Cha, Merengue, Waltz, Tango and Salsa need special type of music that is not played in most social dance situations… Of course in specific places like a Latin nightclubs you will get tons of Salsa, Merengue and Cha Cha songs playing, but in house parties, weddings and other events the music will rarely fit those dances.

 

The same goes for Waltz and Tango. Waltz, while a beautiful dance has a special music structure which is 3/4 – And again many songs are not structured in this way. And Tango would be danced in places like Milongas (Argentinian Tango dance practices) and Ballroom dance parties, but Tango music is not usually played in most social events (unless you are in Argentina!).

So now for the best dances to learn:

 

Let’s look closer as to why Rumba, Foxtrot and Swing will be used the most in Social Dancing.

All of these 3 dances are in 4/4 musical structure, and I am not a music expert but I know enough to understand that all it means is that MOST of the songs that you hear on the radio today would fit them. So yes, you can pretty much dance any of these dances to any popular song out there! Furthermore, these dances will fit in character to many of the songs that would be played at weddings, parties and any other mainstream social event.

Let’s look at which dance to use when with some song examples.

 

Rumba

 

You can dance the Rumba to almost any pop song that comes on. Normally since the Rumba is more grounded and has lots of hip movement, you would dance it for many of the R&B songs. This dance is good to do if you are limited in space since it doesn’t take up that much space. Try your box step next time a John Legend song comes on.

Songs that fit the Rumba:

John Legend – Save room

Jack Johnson – Banana Pancakes

 

Foxtrot

 

This dance is perfect for those songs that are a bit slower in tempo.

Many of the songs that use big band type of instruments would work

very well – like “oldies” and Frank Sinatra. This dance is great if you

have lots of space as it’s a travelling dance.

Songs that fit Foxtrot:

Michael Bubble – Close your eyes

Sam Cooke – You send me

 

Swing

 

This dance is more upbeat and energetic so use it to dance to faster songs. Modern songs and rock and roll songs work very well. This dance is also great for small spaces as it doesn’t travel much.

Songs that fit Swing:

Gin WIgmore – Don’t stop

Bob Segar – Old time rock and roll

 

 

Many of these songs could interchange between any of these dances so it is up to you to decide which dance you’d like to do depending on the character of the song and how much space you have!

 

Written by:

Leonid Trusty