The word 'ballroom' is an old one. It denotes a room where balls - formal social dances - may be held. Balls were important social events in the days before radio and television - ever wonder where we get our term 'having a ball'? The word 'ball' derives from the Latin 'balare' meaning 'to dance' and it's also the origin of the related words ballet, ballerina, ballad, etc. Anyone who takes their dance seriously will know that the figures in the modern ballroom dances are now standardised and categorised into various levels for teaching, with internationally agreed vocabularies and techniques. It wasn't always so.

No, the "standard ballroom" dances have diverse origins, rhythms and tempos or speeds. They've also got different looks about them, but also have one thing in common - they are all danced by a couple in what's called a "Closed Hold." Closed Hold is the method you've got to learn before you know how to dance with your partner without you falling all over each other. Your dance instructor should teach you not only the steps to each dance figure, but also how to lead or follow your partner.

The closed ballroom hold requires you to have five points of contact between the partners while they are dancing. A proper hold not only makes it comfortable for the lady dancer to follow the man's lead, but also gives the couple a look of regal appearance.

This detailed dancing etiquette harks back to the dances coming from Western Europe, originating in the royal courts of Europe. Classical Ballet has the same origins and you can see how the two are related when you consider how important the right timing and movements are to the dancers.

There are two main styles of ballroom dancing - American and International. American style is danced primarily in, yes, the US. It's also not as standardised as International style, which is the more popular of the two. American style tends to be used more often for social dancing while International style is used mostly in competitions. Of course, you can still compete in American style or dance International style socially. As for the dances themselves, they are grouped into two categories for each style. In American style, the categories are called Smooth and Rhythm and in International style they are called Standard and Latin. Overall however, the Standard and Smooth categories contain the same dances and the Latin and Rhythm categories contain very similar dances.

The American and International styles of ballroom dancing are great, but there's much to be learned from other dances for partners and solo dancers: such as Argentine Tango, Tap, and Jazz. Dances have also been constantly mixed and improvised to create new forms. Take, for instance, waltz. The forerunner of waltz was Boston, a dance imported from USA and introduced in England and Ireland around 1874. However, it was only after 1922 that this dance became as fashionable as the Tango. Immediately after World War I, the Waltz got more shape. Jive, meanwhile, is one of the most energetic and athletic dances in the Latin category. Jive music is fast - so dancers of this style must be lively devils to keep up the tempo.

There are several examples of great ballroom dancing groups in Ireland. Morissoni-Wheelhan in Dublin have been teaching dancers for generations, while the Ballroom Dancing group in Kilbehenny, Co Limerick has been uniquely successful in competition. The group has been together for fourteen years and trains on Tuesday and Friday nights. They won the All Ireland ballroom competitions in Mosney in June last year and this win took them to Wales in October and Malta in November, where they represented Ireland in competition.