the.com/ballroom
where polite society perfected the art of touching strangers and calling it elegance
means A large room designed for formal dancing, especially the grand social dances of the upper classes.
from A plain marriage of two words: "ball" plus "room." The "ball" here has nothing to do with spheres — it comes from French "bal," a dance, which traces back to Late Latin "ballare," to dance, possibly a cousin of Greek "ballizein," to dance or jump about. So a ballroom is, quite literally, a room for dancing — and the same dancing "ball" gives us "ballet" and "ballad," songs that once had steps to match.
- vienna empire
- Vienna's opera ball still hosts thousands waltzing each February
- queer roots
- 1920s Harlem ballrooms birthed modern vogue and drag culture
- spring loaded
- Old dance floors were built on springs to bounce dancers
- olympic dreams
- Ballroom dance lobbied hard but never made the Olympics
strictly come dancing — bbc competition where celebrities learn ballroom and latin dancing, running since 2004
dancesport world championships — annual international ballroom competition held in different cities, first held in 1909
blackpool dance festival — uk's largest ballroom competition at the winter gardens in blackpool since 1920