Every sport has its dialect, and ballroom's is friendlier than it sounds. Here are the terms you'll actually hear — each defined in one plain sentence.
01The terms, A to Z
- Adjudicator
- A judge who scores competitors.
- Amateur (Am-Am)
- Two non-professional dancers partnering together.
- American Smooth / Rhythm
- The two American-style categories, especially popular in the U.S.
- Bronze / Silver / Gold
- Syllabus proficiency levels, from beginner (Bronze) to advanced (Gold).
- Callback (recall)
- A judge's mark advancing a couple to the next round.
- Chairman of Adjudicators
- The official who oversees the judging panel and the rounds.
- Closed vs. open work
- 'Closed' syllabus figures are a set vocabulary of steps; 'open' work is freely choreographed.
- Cuban motion
- The continuous hip action, created through the knees and feet, that defines the Latin and Rhythm dances.
- Final
- The last round, usually up to six (sometimes eight) couples.
- Floorcraft
- Navigating the floor smoothly and safely around other couples.
- Frame
- The shape and connection held between partners, especially in Standard and Smooth.
- Heat
- A scheduled, numbered event that a group of couples dances together.
- International Standard / Latin
- The two worldwide-standard competitive categories.
- Lead and follow
- The real-time communication by which one partner proposes movement and the other responds.
- Line of dance
- The counter-clockwise path that travelling dances follow around the floor.
- Multi-dance
- An event combining several dances, scored by total placement.
- Newcomer
- Entry level, typically for those who started within the past year.
- Open (Novice / Pre-Champ / Championship)
- Advanced levels with free choreography.
- Pro-Am
- A student dancing with their professional teacher.
- Promenade position
- A V-shaped position in which both partners open out to face partly along the direction of travel.
- Rise and fall
- The smooth lifting and lowering through the feet and knees that gives Waltz and Foxtrot their swing.
- Round
- One stage of a multi-round event (first round, semifinal, final…).
- Scholarship
- A combined multi-dance event, often with a prize.
- Scrutineer
- The person who tabulates the judges' marks using the skating system.
- Showcase
- A performance event, not a competition, where dancers present routines for an audience.
- Skating system
- The standard method for turning judges' marks into final placements.
- Syllabus
- The defined set of figures allowed at Bronze, Silver, and Gold.
- Ten dance
- A competitor or event covering all ten International dances — five Standard and five Latin.