The Brazilian samba, like a number of Latin American dances, combines African and European artistic influences. These dancers are performing the samba at a nightclub in Rio de Janeiro.
© Günter Gräfenhain, SIME/4Corners Images

It’s time to put on your dancing shoes because National Ballroom Dancing Week is here. From September 16th to the 25th, try out the following fun dance styles in your living room. There are 12 types of ballroom dance: 1) bolero, 2) cha-cha, 3) East Coast swing, 4) fox trot, 5) jive, 6) mambo, 7) paso double, 8) rumba, 9) samba, 10) tango, 11) Viennese waltz, and 12) waltz. Let’s look at a few of these.

Samba is a popular Afro-Brazilian style of music and dance. The term Afro-Brazilian is used to refer to Brazilians of largely African descent. Samba is best known for the central role it plays in the famous Carnival festival in Brazil. Samba music consists of layers of syncopated (irregularly accented) rhythms played in 2/4 or 4/4 time. Samba can be danced solo, in pairs, or in groups. It involves quick forward and backward steps. Dancers sway their hips while stepping and use various sweeping or energetic arm movements.

In Brazil, samba styles vary by region. For example, the samba de roda is a style performed in Brazil’s northern states. This style of samba usually involves women dancing in a circle. Samba-lenço is popular in Brazil’s central and southern states. Samba-lenço dancers hold a handkerchief while performing. Samba carnavalesca is the most internationally recognized style of samba. Dancers perform the samba carnavalesca each year during the Carnival festival.

Samba has its roots in the music and dance of the African nation of Angola. Scholars think the word samba comes from the Kimbundu word semba, which describes a belly-bumping dance move used in some styles of samba. Enslaved African people brought the music and dance style to Brazil. Around 1900, samba became associated with the Carnival celebration in Rio de Janeiro. Soon it became a symbol of national identity in Brazil.

Ballroom dancing is a form of dancing for couples. Various ballroom dances originated in Europe, the United States, and Latin America. These dances then spread throughout the rest of the world as both a popular social activity and a competitive sport.
© Jeffrey Dunn, The Viesti Collection

Rumba, also spelled rhumba, is a Latin ballroom dance that originated in Africa and achieved its modern form in Cuba. Couples perform the rumba in 4/4 time with a quick-quick-slow rhythm. The rumba emphasizes a swaying hip motion that is achieved by taking small steps with the knees relaxed. Steps are typically performed in a square pattern. The rumba is most often accompanied by music with a repeated beat played on percussion instruments.

A version of the rumba was first introduced into the United States from Cuba about 1914. However, the dance’s exaggerated hip movements were considered too sexually suggestive and the dance did not gain acceptance. A more refined version was introduced about 1930. The dance maintained its popularity in the 1930′s and 1940′s, especially in England, where ballroom dance teachers standardized the figures and step rhythms. Rumbas also appear in music not intended for ballroom dancing, as in Darius Milhaud‘s ballet La creation du monde (1923).

Tango is the national dance and music of Argentina. These couples are dancing at a milonga in Plaza Dorrego, in the San Telmo neighborhood of Buenos Aires. Milongas are social events for dancing tango. They have their own special etiquette. For example, couples circulate around the dance floor in a counterclockwise direction.
© Jeff Greenberg, UIG/Getty Images

Tango was the first Latin American dance to gain great international popularity. The tango is a ballroom dance for a couple in slow 2/4 or 4/4 time. The dancers alternate long, slow steps with short, quick steps, sometimes making sudden turns and striking dramatic poses.

The tango was danced in the United States about 1912 by Vernon and Irene Castle, a famous ballroom dancing team. It also became popular in Paris and London. Today’s tango is related to an Argentine dance called the milonga, a Cuban dance called the habanera, and a tango from Spain‘s Andalusian region.

The waltz became the most fashionable social dance of the late 1800′s. It originated in Germany and Austria and soon spread to other countries. The waltz inspired some of the finest dance music of the period and also added beauty and elegence to many romantic ballets of the 1800′s.
Emperor Franz Joseph at a Ball in Vienna(about 1900), a gouache painting on canvas by Wilhelm Gause; Museum der Stadt, Vienna/ET Archive, London from Superstock

Waltz is a ballroom dance in 3/4 time characterized by its swift gliding turns. The dance was enormously popular throughout the 1800′s. The term waltz is also used for the music that accompanies this dance. The waltz has been danced in two distinct styles, the three-step and the two-step. In Europe, especially in Vienna, the dancers waltzed much faster than they waltzed in North America.

The waltz developed rapidly in the last years of the 1700′s. It emerged from a group of south German and Austrian dances involving the turning motion of the dancers in a close embrace position. The popularity of waltzes among young people led some authorities to outlaw the dance because it was thought to be immoral for couples to dance so closely.

December 6, 2016

Last night, December 5, was Saint Nicholas Eve. On this night, the kindly patron saint of children traditionally visits homes to leave gifts for well-behaved youths. But did you know that last night was also Krampusnacht (German for Krampus night)? Krampusnacht is a celebration of the lesser-known, darker companion of St. Nicholas named Krampus, whose purpose is to scare little ones into being good.

On St. Nicholas Eve, some people dress in elaborate, frightening Krampus costumes and participate in parades celebrating Krampusnacht (Krampus night). Credit: © Sergio Delle Vedove, Shutterstock

In Austrian Christmas folklore, Krampus is a beastlike figure modeled after the Christian Devil and northern European pagan gods. Krampus disciplines naughty children, often threatening them with physical punishment. Images of Krampus show him with large, goatlike horns, a long tongue, sharp teeth, and hooves. Some accounts describe him with an empty basket on his back—used for carrying away misbehaving kids! He is sometimes pictured carrying chains, and holding birch twigs or a whip for beating unfortunate little ones.

The Krampus legend originated in the Middle Ages, when St. Nicholas, a historic bishop from modern day Turkey, became a popular gift-giving figure. Medieval Christians created a companion for the saint to discipline naughty children and to serve as a sort of alter ego (other self or close associate) of Nicholas. This tradition was especially popular in central and eastern Europe. The Krampus companion has various names, including Knecht Ruprecht or Belsnickel in parts of Germany, Schmutzli in Switzerland, and Zwarte Piet in the Netherlands.

In the legends, St. Nicholas prevents Krampus from actually harming any children. Instead, Nicholas scolds the children and tells them to change their ways. Over time, the Krampus figure became less frightening. In the 1800’s in Austria, accounts described him as accompanying St. Nicholas through village streets and to children’s homes, suggesting that he was not really so dangerous. In modern times, Krampus has been the subject of novels, comics, television programs, video games, and at least one motion picture (Krampus, 2015). Playful holiday cards called Krampuskarten feature such greetings as Grüß Vom Krampus! (Greetings from Krampus) and images of Krampus disciplining children or wooing attractive young women.

Today, communities in Austria, southeastern Germany, northern Italy, and other parts of Europe celebrate the Krampus tradition on Krampusnacht or other days with parades, Krampuslaufe (Krampus runs), and other forms of “frightening” revelry. Participants dress up in elaborate, terrifying costumes complete with glowing eyes and fiery hands, impersonating Krampus to pay tribute to this popular “anti-Santa.” Such events have even spread to communities in the United States. Spectators can expect to hear intimidating growls rather than jolly Ho-ho-ho’s, and possibly even a swipe with a birchwood switch!