Types of Dance - Categories

Here are some of the most popular dance categories and types:

Ballroom Dances

These dances started appearing first in Italy during the early years of the Renaissance. The popularity of this kind of entertainment quickly swept over Europe, the United States, and the World. Although many simpler and more easily performed types of dances caused the ballroom dances to lose some influence, the modern worldwide dancing audience started resurrecting these immortal dances ever-increasingly.

Waltz - This graceful and slow two-person dance was first introduced in the mid-19th century and was greatly popularized by the music of the famous composer Johann Strauss. Today this dance represents the gold standard and is the most famous dance in ballrooms worldwide.
Viennese Waltz - Original form of the waltz, first performed at the Italian courts, is today remembered as the Viennese Waltz. It differs from the much more famous "English Slow Waltz" by having much faster 180 beats per minute and was the first who introduce "closed hold" between performers.
Tango - Created in the Argentinean region of Rio de la Plata, this dance is today known for many of its variations (Argentine tango, Uruguayan tango, Finish Tango, and two types of Ballroom tangos - standard and American) and the fascinating sensual and energetic style.

Cha-Cha-Cha - This incredibly rhythmic dance created in Latin America managed to meld together both the slow and very energetic movements, making it an instant hit among dancers around the world.
Rumba - The popularity of this Cuban dance came from its focus on the sensual hip movements of dance partners. Since its creation in the 1930s, many types of Rumba have been created, most notably Cuban Rumba (with the style of the enslaved Africans who made it), Catalan Rumba (with Spanish flavor), Flamenco Rumba, and African Rumba.
Samba - Samba is a famous dance and musical genre originating from the coast of Africa and Brazil. Today infectious rhythm of the Samba is regarded as the national dance of Brazil, and its famous Brazilian Carnival gathers millions of Samba dance fans every year.
Mambo - This Cuban dance that accompanies the music of the same name was introduced in the 1930s and quickly managed to gain popularity with the exploits of famous musicians and dancers such as Perez Prado, Benny Moré, Tongolele, Adalberto Martínez, Rosa Carmina, and Lilia Prado.
Quickstep - Light-hearted and fast movement, powerful forms, and syncopations represent the core style characteristics of the Quickstep, one of the world's most popular ballroom dances today. It was originally developed in the 1920s dance scene of New York and the Caribbean as the combination of the dances such as Charleston, a slow variation of Foxtrot, Peabody, shag, and one-step. The smooth and glamorous version of quickstep danced today worldwide to a 4/4 music beat of 48-52 measures per minute was standardized in 1927.
Jive - Jive is one of the five most popular Latin dances known as swing, boogie, or boogie-woogie. It is considered one of the liveliest Latin dances, promoting a happy and bloopy performance with lots of knee movement and hip rocking. Its official ballroom jive variation, commonly danced at a speed of 176 beats per minute, was formalized in the 1990s.
Bolero - Bolero is an Argentine dance, but it also has different international variations of the same name coming from Cuba and Spain. Today’s popular ballroom version of this dance is based on the Cuban bolero, also known as “rumba.” This 2/4 or 4/4 music with a tempo of around 120 beats per minute is well known worldwide.

African-American and Traditional Jazz dances

Charleston - This extremely popular dance type was popularized by a famous tune called "The Charleston" by composer and pianist James P. Johnson. Charleston, the craze soon took over the enthusiastic dancers of the Prohibition era of the United States.
Swing - This dance is today a synonym for the jazz and swing music of the 1920s-1930s. Because of the many styles of Jazz music, Swing also comes in many flavors - Lindy Hop, Jitterbug, Boogie Woogie, West Coast Swing, and Rock and Roll.
Tap Dance - This extremely popular form of dance was first introduced in the United States during the 1920s Prohibition era. Created by enslaved Africans, tap dancing came into the mainstream with the performances of the Nicholas brothers. Tap dancing conquered Hollywood and the entire world a few short years later.
Moonwalk - Pop icon Michael Jackson first performed this extremely famous dance move that emulates the illusion of walking backward in March of 1983, and ever since then, it gained planetary fame. No single dance move ever created received this amount of popularity and recognition.
Boogie-woogie - This quick and energetic dance style became popular in the 1930s and 1940s.

Worldwide Dances / Latin dances

Salsa - This Latin dance is among the most popular in Latin America, North America, Europe, and Australia. It is a sensual form, energetic movement, and innovative choreography that Mambo, Changuyi, and Rumba influenced and made popular worldwide.
Flamenco - This famous Spanish dance originated from the region of Andalusia, and it gained its name only in 18^th century. Its magical, passionate, and energetic fusion of singing (cante), guitar playing (toque), dance, and handclaps (palmas) made it famous throughout the entire world. It became one of the accepted heritages of the whole of humanity.
Argentine tango - Among many types of tango dance, Argentinian dance strives to preserve the original form of tango, first created in the Rio de la Plata region.
Lambada - This famous dance originated in Para, Brazil became internationally popular in the 1980s. It successfully fused aspects of Forro, salsa, merengue, maxixe, and the carimbó into an unforgettable dance style.
Polka - The appearance of polka in the mid-19th century created one of the largest "dance crazes" our world has ever seen. It influenced countless other dances, became a national dance of many European countries, and is extremely popular in the entire Western hemisphere.
Jive
East Coast Swing - Swing dance has many variations, of which one of the most popular is the East Coast Swing. This social partner dance is known today as Eastern Swing, Jitterbug, American Swing, East Coast Lindy, and Lindy originated between the 1940s and 1960s as the alternative to the other types of harder-to-learn swing dances.
Capoeira - Capoeira dance is a unique dance found in the combat moves of the Afro-Brazilian martial art of the same name that takes heavy inspiration from music, dance, and acrobatics. Practitioners of this martial art are famous for being highly athletic dancers who can take advantage of dance-like moves to perform quick and complex maneuvers that can deliver a wide variety of kicks, spins, jumps, and other techniques used in combat. Today, Capoeira is famous as one of Brazil and South America's most celebrated cultural heritages.
Country/ Western Dances - - The country dance style is a social dance activity closely associated with American country and its Western traditions. It is made not from a single dance but encompasses many forms and dance styles that can be performed in country-western music. No matter the type of music style or dance type, Country dance gatherings employ strong dancefloor etiquette and even the ability to perform multiple dance styles on a dance floor simultaneously.

Folk Dance - Folk dances represent musical and cultural heritage, reflections of daily life, or ethnic history of people who live in a particular region or country. Popular worldwide in hundreds of unique variations and styles, folk dances (also known as traditional or ethnic dances) are usually performed at dance gatherings with the accompaniment of traditional music of the region. The majority of folk dances are not regulated, and they slowly morph over time.
Belly dance - Belly dance is one of the most famous oriental folk dances in the world. It is an expressive form of dance that originated in Egypt. It emphasizes the complex movement of the torso and entire body utilizing sudden percussive movements, unstopping fluid body motions, and the presence of small and fast shimmies, shivers, and vibrations of the hips or the ribcage. Belly dance is regarded as very sensual, emotional, and captivating.

Professional performance dance

Professional dancing was first introduced in the early years of the Italian Renaissance when music, dance, arts, and poetry started to rise in popularity after millennia of medieval stagnation. Refined by the efforts of France and Russia, ballet became the premier technical concert dance. Hailed as one of the most revered and complicated dances of all time, ballet continued its rise to worldwide domination. In modern times, many other professional dances came to be, such as Contemporary dance, Modern Dance, and Concert dance. Still, none surpassed ballet's complexity, physical strain, and heritage.

Ballet - Ballet is undoubtedly one of the most highly technical and famous performance dances. It was created in 15th-century Renaissance Italy but received popularization in countries such as France and Russia. Its incredible popularity and influence have profoundly impacted techniques found in many other dances and have even morphed the cultural histories of many countries worldwide.
Contemporary dance - Contemporary dance is a highly complicated type of modern performance dance that originated in the mid-20th century as an alternative to classical dance styles (such as ballet), modern styles (free dance), and Jazz dance. Its focus on free leg movement, strong stress on the torso, disordered choreography, unpredictability, multiple and simultaneous actions, improvisation, and non-standardized costumes, sets, and lighting has pushed this dance into the forefront of modern art dance scene.
Concert Dance - Concert dance (also known as stage dance) is any choreographed dance that is performed for an audience, usually at the theatre or an organized gathering setting with the presence of set music. It is a polar opposite of social or participation dances, where participants can freely dance how and when they wish. Most popular concert dances are Ballet, Acrobatic dance, tap dance, modern dance, classical Indian or Persian dances and others.
Modern Dance - Modern dance is an influential performance dance that originated as a reaction against the classical ballet and its movement style. Shaped by many factors in late 19th and early to mid-20th century, modern dance evolved into a popular free dance style that includes elements of performance art, release technique, improvisation and contact improvisation.
Tap Dance - Among many types of popular dances around the world, tap dance may be one of the most unusual dances. Instead of focusing on body movements and dancing with a partner, tap dance is characterized by the creation of percussion-like musically-focused rhythm performance using tap shoes striking on the floor in accordance with the dancing music.

Modern Dances

Advancements in music technology brought the birth of many new types of dances. Introduction of electronic and rock music brought the era of House, Punk, Rave and Disco dance. Faraway country of India did not cared much for those styles, and in accordance to the deeply seeded religious beliefs, they incorporated dance of their gods to everyday life and was and profitable Bollywood movie scene.

House dance - After the years of popularity of Disco, the genre of House music and house dance became born in New York and Chicago clubs. Built on top of subtler rhythms, riffs of the music and influences of jazz, Latin, soul, funk, R&B, and many other music styles, this social dance quickly found its way into homes and clubs across the entire world.
Punk dance - Born as an extension of 1960s garage rock, the punk rock managed to attract fans who enjoyed not traditional social dances of before, but more energetic and sometimes violent dance style of moshing (sometimes called slam-dancing) and headbanging. This dance styles were characterized by the strong and full body contact of live band audience, with frequent bumping and jostling both alone and in groups.

Rave dance - Fueled by the unending focus on pulsating beats, loud volume and psychedelic music effects, dancers of rave music are free to create their freestyle of movements, with no rules about dance routines or synchronized moves, usually in dark and crowded venues of dance clubs, nightclubs, and festivals. Dancers are encouraged to find inspiration in music, other people, and their mood.
Disco dance - The popular disco music genre of the 1970s would not found such popularity if it was not so easy to dance with. Fans of this music often wore extravagant and sexy clothing while dancing free form or structured versions of various disco dances, such as Bump, (several variations of) Hustle, Robot, Boogaloo, Watergate, and others.
Bollywood dance - The cultural history of India and the rest of southern Asia would not remain the same without the strong influence of Bollywood movie industry which has promoted Hindi dance music to the world. Created as the mix of traditional Indian music, Hindi dance traditions of the Indian sub-continent, and Middle-Eastern techniques, Bollywood dance is characterized by elaborate choreographies, energetic movements, and dances that involve a large number of participants.

Hip-hop & Funk dance

Dancing style of Hip-Hop evolved from the music style that was first introduced during 1970s. Powered by the great popularity, exposure in media, movies and television programs, hip-hop dances found a great foothold in United States, France, United Kingdom and South Korea. A very similar style called Funk was also created during 1970s, and is today regarded as one of the most influential pieces of Hip-hop dance styles.

Breakdance (Breaking) - One of the most athletic dances in the world, Breakdance, have originally found its popularity in the 1970s as the street dance in the New York’s Bronx. Since then it has spread all around the world where it was viewed as one of the most unique dance styles ever made. Usually danced solo, this dance requires talented dancers to perform the series of either choreographed or freeform dance and athletic movements alongside usually breakbeat, hip-hop or funk music.
Bounce - Born in the 1980s as a mix of New Orleans hip-hop music and the traditions of the Mardi Gras Indian chants, Bounce dance can today be danced both in its common and hypersexual form. Since it is so closely connected with the traditions of the Mardi Gras culture, many forms of Bounce today remain to be highly regional and can rarely be seen dancing outside of the music scenes of New Orleans, Miami, Baltimore, and other music hubs.
Electric boogaloo - Funk style of hip-hop was popularized not only by its music but also by the worldwide acceptance of the famous dance style called Electric Boogaloo, which was originally promoted in the 1970s by the dance group of the same name. Danced both by individuals and groups in both free form and choreographed manner, Electric Boogaloo is filled with the wide variety of moves that focused on the movement of legs, hips, knees and frequent use of exaggerated robotic-like moves.
Street Jazz - Created with the influences of African American slaves, Jazz dance gained popularity in the early 20th century as any form of dance that was performed alongside then new Jazz music. Highly improvisational and freeform, Jazz dance quickly morphed into a performance dance that emulated elements of ballet. Today, Jazz dance is enjoyed in many forms which are collectively called “modern jazz dance”.
Jookin' - Jookin’ or so-called “gangsta waling” style of dance is a street dance that originated quite recently in the 1990s on the streets of Memphis, Tennessee. The dance is characterized by the movement set that tries to emulate the “bounce” in the core beat of the crunk music that often accompanies this dance style. Even though this dance has found some popularity worldwide, it is still a regional dance that can rarely be seen outside of the city of Memphis.
Locking - Funk dance is incredibly diverse, and one of its famous variations is “locking”. The core gimmick of this style of hip-hop dance is to suddenly stop and hold the position (or get locked) in the middle of dance routines for a short while, and then suddenly resume the dance. It requires full body motion, but most of the dance is focused on top half of the body. Many Locking dancers prefer to use various acrobatic and physically demanding moves to augment their dance routines.
Popping - Very close in style with popular Electric Boogaloo, Popping is another variation of the funk-themed street dance from the 1960s and 1970s that found popularity all around the world. The technique that dancers need to master to properly dance Popping is controlled and quick contrasting and relaxing of muscles that will create the feeling of a jerk throughout the body. This jerk is referred as “pop” or “hit” and can be used to augment dance routines, movements and possess.