Slow dance

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article.
Please improve it or discuss changes on the talk page. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions.

This does not adequately cite its references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. (help, get involved!)
This article has been tagged since June 2006.

Slow Dance is also the name of a poem allegedly written by Amy Bruce, a terminally-ill 7-year-old girl at the time, but determined to be false. [1]

Slow dancing is a type of partner dance in which a couple dance slowly, swaying to the music. This is usually done to very slow-beat songs.

"Slow dancing" can refer to any slow couple dance, but is often associated with a particular, simple style of dance performed by middle school and high school students. When two partners dance together, the partner who leads typically places one hand on the sides of the follower's hips or waist, usually the boy, and the follower places their hands on the leader's shoulders, usually the girl. The couple then sways back and forth with the music. Foot movement is minimal, but the couple may use their feet to slowly turn on the spot. Because the dance requires little physical concentration, participants often talk to each other while dancing. Some couples who have a close relationship may dance very closely together, in a "hug-and-sway" fashion.

This simple form of slow dancing is common at dances sponsored by schools or by religious organizations, such as churches or synagogues. In Western popular culture, slow dancing can serve as a symbol of adolescent social awkwardness. People who take dance music seriously often don't believe that a slow dance is much of a "dance" at all.

Slow dancing has been popular since the mid 20th century, but a late 90's increase in dancefloor grinding has reduced its popularity among older adolescents and young adults.

Traditionally, the last song of social dances is often a slow song.

[edit] History

Slow dancing is one of the first forms of dancing; because it used to be the ubiquitous dance move at ballrooms where live bands served the dancefloors. This movement has lasted from the 1920s to the 1950s. Jazz was the ubiquitous dance genre of the time. However, when Rock and Roll was introduced, it became hard to dance to as slow dancing was the ubiquitous dance at the time. However, the limitations of the dance have quickly been busted with higher-speed dances eventually rendering slow dancing obsolete. In turn, rock and roll ironically because the ubiquitous dance genre of the 1960s. nearly coinciding with the rise of DJ-based dancefloors which rapidly displaced live bands.