Ballroom Blitz Trivia Quiz

Answer: France

Developed in France during the early 20th century, it was popular until around 1960. It took the form of a fast waltz with the male partner usually placing his hands on his partner's buttocks while dancing.

Answer: Austria

The waltz dates to mid-18th century Austria, although there were earlier Austrian and Bavarian 'gliding' dances from the countryside which probably contributed to the dance. At a time when group dances were the norm, the waltz attained notoriety for being a couple's dance where the man placed his arm around the woman's waist.

Answer: Argentina

Developed during the 19th century along the River Plate, which runs between Argentina and Uruguay, both countries are recognised as sources of the dance. It originated in the poorer areas of Buenos Aires and Montevideo, with a fusion of rhythms from former African slaves with European techniques and instruments. Many versions exist.

Answer: Cuba

The music for this dance was developed in the 1950s to solve a problem some dancers were having with the off-beat rhythms of the danzón-mambo. This led to dancers introducing a triple step, the sound of which gave the new dance its name.

Answer: Brazil

The international ballroom version differs from the samba typically found in Brazil, but can trace its roots to Brazil and, in particular, the maxixe dance from the beginning of the 20th century. Brazil's own ballroom samba (samba de gafieira) is quite different.

Answer: USA

Premiered in the 1914, the dance was a popular fast dance. It gradually split into a fast and slow version, with the fast version being called the quickstep. The slow version retains the foxtrot name, although it is sometimes called the slow foxtrot.

In the 1950s some record companies, such as Decca, struggled to place rock and roll music as a dance genre, so that well-known foxtrot piece "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley & His Comets (arguably) became the greatest selling piece of foxtrot music.

Answer: Spain

Pasodoble music is linked to bullfighting in Spain and Portugal and means 'double step' in Spanish. The modern version of this dynamic dance, set to the Spanish music and rhythms, was actually created by a Frenchman and has been described as an elaborate imitation of a bullfight.

Answer: Czech Republic

Creation of the dance is attributed to a young woman dancing to a folk tune around 1830. This was in an area of Bohemia which is now part of the Czech Republic. A lively dance, it spread to Prague and thence onto Vienna where a 'polkamania' craze started up. The dance remains popular across Europe.

Answer: Dominican Republic

Developed during the 1960s, the original bachata of the Dominican Republic was a slow social dance with a closed position. It has gone through a number of changes and names, such as bachata sensual and bachatango, as it has made its way into the West and into the ballroom.

Answer: USA

The ballroom dance (usually spelt rhumba with an 'h') was developed in the 1930s on the East Coast of the USA. It differs considerably from Cuban rumba both in music and dance, although there are elements of rumba, congo and son cubano incorporated into it.