There was a time when people thought that you had to be professionally trained dancer in order to pull off ballroom dancing. With shows like “Dancing with the Stars”, people quickly began to realize that with a little practice anyone can be graceful. All you need to do is know basic ballroom dance steps and the terminology of dances.

Swing dancing came roaring back in popularity a few years ago. It brought ballroom dancing to the public’s attention as a younger generation was having an absolute blast dancing the night away to rockabilly style music. The triple step is the key step in most swing dancing forms. This is a fast three-step move with the count off of quick-quick-slow or 1&2.

The most common form of swing was East Coast swing. This step uses the triple step in the rock step together. You actually do a triple step twice and then the rock step. It would be counted literally as 1&2, 3&4, 5, 6. If you have not yet figured out, when you see a step listed as 1&2, it is a quick step.

One popular swing dance is the Carolina shag. This particular ballroom dance combines the triple step and the kick ball change instead of the rock step. This is a little more fast-paced and has a count of “one- and- two”.

In order to become adequate at ballroom dancing, you will have to learn these and many more. Steps such as the coaster step, anchor step, Grapevine, sailor step and lock step are all basic ballrom dance steps that stand by themselves or are combined to create different types of ballroom dances. To be successful in learning all of the steps, you’ll have to be coordinated and be able to keep the timing as they all have their own unique traits.

It may seem a little intimidating at first, but once you learn the basics, ballroom dancing can actually be quite easy. If you have ever been to an event, it looks as though all the dancers have rehearsed their moves and somehow managed not to bump into each other. In actuality, it is merely that everyone is the timing of the steps and can quickly blend in without any disruption to anyone else’s dancing.

Ballrom dancing is not something that you really want to jump right in and do, but after a few lessons you’ll be surprised at how quickly you can pick it up and be well on your way to mastering basic ballroom dance steps. There is nothing more beautiful than watching ballroom dancing performed to perfection and there is no reason why you can’t be the one performing.