There are few things lovelier than watching a professional dance team gliding across the floor in a ballroom dancing competition. They seem to hover slightly above the stage, and their movements are in perfect synchronicity with each other. There are no random movements, and each twist and turn is perfectly choreographed. It takes a great deal of practice for even an experienced couple to look this good, so those who are just beginning to take dance lessons might wonder if they will ever be as graceful when their turn comes to move to the music.

Ballroom dancing is a formalized form of dance that has come to modern times through many different paths, and most of the dances are European in nature. The waltzes are probably the most easily recognized, but the tango and cha-cha-cha have earned this place in the modern forms of this dance. For those who prefer more a more modern style, the quickstep and the foxtrot are also firmly placed in the world of ballroom dancing.