I like to know ( better I need to know) the reason why Ballroom dancing flow is counter clockwise?
Is there a story behind it?

Thank you,

Sergio

You might also notice that when hockey players go out on the ice they skate in a counter clockwise motion...turning to the left.

Ditto for people (horses, and dogs) running on a track.

For some reason whenever groups of people are in motion together we seem to do it in a counter clockwise motion.

I'd guess that the reasons we do it in dancing are not disimilar.

One should realize that the world is overwhelmingly right handed and turning to the right is natural. It is this right turn which I think predisposes the human body to go counterclockwise if one needs to go around the floor. The handedness of a person is dictated by the dominant hemisphere of the brain, so probably there is physiokinetic basis for such movement. A lot of what use and do in this world is based on right handedness. I am a lefty and I seem to learn faster the movements done on the left than on the right. Just like Jonathan, mine is a theory...an educated guess I might say.

Sergio,

I'll take a stab. But someone else may give you a much better answer than I ever could, because I don't actually know. I only have theories.

What I do know is that Natural Turns were the norm back in the 1700's when Ballroom Dancing first started appearing, mostly in the form of fast waltzes and polka-type dances. Natural turns are easier to move around a CCW floor, because you can under-rotate it. If the floor was to move in a CW direction, you'd need to over-rotate your Natural Turns.

So the CCW direction of the flow of traffic seems the natural result of the right-turning basics. And turning the basic to the right is easier when the lady is offset to the man's right. I suppose, then, the real question would be: How did the convention of having the lady offset to the right and turning the basic to the right ever begin? Couldn't it have just as easily been the other way around?

I've heard very curious theories, such as the man wearing his sword holster on his left side, but they seem pretty far-fetched to me. I'm more inclined to think that it's just the way it happened. After all, it had to be one way or the other. It's probably just arbitrary. This may not be as romantic as the sword idea, but it's something I for one can swallow.

I hope this helps.

Sincerely,
Jonathan

[This message has been edited by Waltz123 (edited 07-26-2000).]

Thank You, very much, to all who responded to my question.
It was very kind from all of you.

Best regards and as Corky say: Live...Love and Dance with Passion.

Sergio

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Sergio

One night when there weren't very many people dancing, I did a two-step CW. It was highly weird. We were surprised at how different it felt. Maybe it was just because we were so used to going around the other way, since two step is very straight forward in its progression. Although, you do have to adjust to go around corners.

I like that handedness-influenced explanation, it is subtle and powerful yet logically very simple.

This is total trivia, but given the British connection, I just wanted to point out that in England carousels at carnivals go around clockwise, not conter-clockwise as in the USA, and there are at least some horse racing tracks that go around clockwise. So Ballroom line-of-dance may not directly relate to "handedness."
British anomalies - who can figure it all out!