26 - 30 March 2008 | |
Las Vegas | |
 |  |
|
The pictures on this page were taken at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas. In the picture on the left the couple is doing a paso doble (or pasodoble). It is a lively style of dance to the duple meter march-like pasodoble music. It actually originated in southern France, but is modeled after the sound, drama, and movement of the Spanish bullfight. Paso doble means "two step" in Spanish. Because of its inherently choreographed tradition, ballroom paso doble is, for the most part, danced only competitively. This said, in Spain, France, Vietnam and some parts of Germany to the west of the river Rhine, it is danced socially as a lead (not choreographed) dance. In the picture on the right the couple is doing the peabody. The peabody is a foxtrot type ballroom dance from the beginning of the 20th century. It is essentially a fast One Step danced under lively ragtime music. Legend has it that the Peabody was created by a man named Peabody who was so overweight that he had to dance to the side of his partner, creating the style which is so characteristic of the Peabody. | |
 |  |
|
In the picture on the left the couple is doing a Czech style polka. The polka originated in 19th century Bohemia, in what is now the Czech Republic. The woman is wearing a traditional Czech style polka outfit. In the picture on the right the couple is doing the Marenge, a dance originally from the Dominican Republic that came to the United States in the 1930s by way of Puerto Rico. | |
|
| |