Ballroom Dancing and Television

Ballroom Dancing and Television

Ballroom dancing competitions have been broadcast on television for years. Men and women of many different ages and nationalities dance in costumes ranging from elegant to sexy to fun and amusing competing for titles in all categories of Standard and Latin American Ballroom. Television aired these strictly ballroom dance competitions where professional dance judges determined the outcome and the audience were merely onlookers.

In the last couple years there has been a new twist added to the Ballroom competitions thanks to the "reality television." craze. Television shows like So You Think You Can Dance?, Ballroom Bootcamp and Dancing With the Stars have hit the airwaves with a tremendous reaction from viewers. Millions tune in each week to watch and root for their favorites.

Ballroom Bootcamp airs on TLC (The Learning Channel) and is a wonderful series where three everyday ordinary people from all walks of life are paired up with three professional dancers and given five weeks to learn either the Cha-Cha, the Waltz, The Tango, the Jive or the Rumba. At the end of the 5 weeks they are matched against each other in an authentic Ballroom Dance competition where the judges decide the winner.

So You Think You Can Dance?, the brainchild of Fox television has its judges (some of whom are also the show's choreographers) go to New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Atlanta and check out literally hundreds of dancers. Not all the dancers are ballroom dancers; many are students of jazz, break dancing, contemporary dance etcetera. Once the field has been reduced to the top 20 (10 men, 10 women) the dancers are paired up and the main competition begins. Each week each couple is given the dance they are to perform the following week. This may be one of the ballroom dances or they may draw one of the other dance forms, jazz, contemporary etcetera. They have 7 days to work with the choreographer and get their dance ready. The television viewers vote on their favorites and each week the judges decide who among the 3 lowest vote getting couples will leave the show.

Dancing With the Stars on ABC is one of the favorites among television dance competition shows. Dancing With the Stars pairs a professional ballroom dancer with a celebrity. There have been sports celebrities, football and basketball players, female wrestlers and boxers and even an Olympic speed skater, entertainers, singers, actors, television talk show hosts and even one contestant who had a prosthetic leg. Each week the celebrities have to learn at least one new dance. Towards the end there are weeks where they have to learn two dances in a week. These are strictly ballroom (both Standard and Latin American) dances. The judges who have all danced professionally critique each dance and score the dancers with a high score of 30 points being possible. After each show the audience votes on their favorites either by phone or online. The audience votes count for 50% of the total with the judges scores accounting for the other 50% and each week the couple with the lowers score is sent home.

Tools

Web Search

Related Articles

Where to Learn Ballroom Dancing After seeing ballroom dancing on television, you decide it's time for you to get up ...
read more

Ballroom Dance Clothing and Shoes Dressing for ballroom dance is a lot like getting ready for the prom. You have ...
read more

Ballroom Dance Competitions When you think of athletic competitions, chances are you probably don't think of ballroom dancing. Most people ...
read more

Ballroom Dancing - Dancers, Judges Ballroom dancing has been around for decades upon decades producing thousands of dancers, and judges. ...
read more

Ballroom Dancing and the Movies Hollywood has always had a love affair with dancing. That includes everything from Ballroom dancing ...
read more

Ballroom Dancing and Television Ballroom dancing competitions have been broadcast on television for years. Men and women of many different ...
read more

Ballroom Dancing - Slow Fox Trot There are several different theories on the origin of this ballroom dance's name. The ...
read more

Ballroom Dancing - The Handicapped and the Disabled Dancing is good for your overall health, for weight loss and for ...
read more

Ballroom Dancing - The Jive The fastest of all the Latin dances would be the Jive. According to some sources ...
read more

Ballroom Dancing - Judging Criteria Ballroom dancing is judged on more than a dozen different points. Some of those are, ...
read more

Ballroom Dancing - The Paso Doble The Paso Doble, originally a Spanish folkdance, has the distinction of being one of ...
read more

Ballroom Dancing - The Rumba Unlike all the other ballroom dances, the Rumba emphasizes ones body movements more than their ...
read more

Modern Ballroom Dancing - Standard Waltz The standard Waltz is a graceful ballroom dance of turns and glides that was ...
read more

Ballroom Dancing - The Tango Staccato steps, and sharp head turns set the Tango apart from the Fox Trot and ...
read more

Ballroom Dancing - The Viennese Waltz and the Quick Step The Viennese Waltz which was derived from the Austrian Landler ...
read more

Ballroom Dancing - Ballrooms There are hundreds of ballrooms in the United States and throughout the world. There has been ...
read more

Choosing a Ballroom Dance for your Wedding Weddings are a special time for everyone. It's a time of new beginnings ...
read more

Dresses for Ballroom Dancing Getting dressed for an evening on the ballroom dance floor is much different than getting ready ...
read more

Get in Shape with Ballroom Dancing Nearly everyone got caught up in the dance craze by watching "Dancing with the ...
read more

History of Ballroom Dance Ballroom dancing conjures up images of beautiful women in flowing gowns and tall dark handsome men ...
read more

History of Ballroom Dancing Until recently, most people haven't thought much of ballroom dancing. It has become a popular worldwide ...
read more

Media Coverage of Ballroom Dancing Until recently, ballroom dancing was not considered to be a popular American pastime. In fact, ...
read more

Music for Ballroom Dancing When you think of ballroom dancing, you probably think of slow music being played by a ...
read more

Types of Ballroom Dancing With ballroom dancing growing in popularity, more and more people are choosing to learn how to ...
read more

United States Amateur Ballroom dancers Association, Inc. In 1965 Norman Martin, a leading social and competitive ballroom dance champion put ...
read more

Disclaimer

The Publisher has strived to be as accurate and complete as possible in the creation of this website, notwithstanding the fact that he does not warrant or represent at any time that the contents within are accurate due to the rapidly changing nature of the Internet.

This site is a common sense guide to Ballroom Dancing and Television. In practical advice websites, like anything else in life, there are no guarantees of income made. Readers are cautioned to reply on their own judgment about their individual circumstances to act accordingly.

This site is not intended for use as a source of legal, business, accounting or financial advice. All readers are advised to seek services of competent professionals in legal, business, accounting, and finance field.

Any perceived slights of specific people or organizations are unintentional.