No matter what country or culture you're in, you'll find people that love to dance. The dances differ from place to place, reflecting the culture around them. American dances tend to be energetic and fun. Latin dances are romantic. European dances are usually refined in an Old World way.

American dances tend to be energetic and dynamic, just like American culture in general.

Lindy Hop was founded in the African-American community of the 1920s. Sociologist Katrina Hazzard-Donald notes that African-American influences are readily observable, in particularly the style of leg movements and the establishment of a "perimeter of dance".

The Foxtrot is a more sedate version, based on the six-count, "1-and-2-and-rock step" (1-and-2-and-foxtrot) step.

Latin dances like the tango, merengue and salsa are smoother, less "jumpy," than American dances. They're flirtatious and fun, but are also romantic.

With movies such as "Scent of a Woman" , "True Lies", "Evita", and now "The Tango Lesson", Tango has had a resurgence, a veritable renaissance, of this marvelously romantic of all dances.

Merengue is a dance where the man and woman move side to side, described by some as a dance that looks like moving down a crowded aisle of seats in a movie theater.

Salsa is a catch-all term for Cuban and Colombian mambo-style dances that involve moving back and forth to a four-step beat, with a lot of spinning.

European dances tend to be refined, as they are based on the court dances of aristocrats, although the waltz was considered scandalous when it first came on the scene.

The Viennese Waltz is an unparalleled expression of elegance and sophisticated love. It is, as Curt Sachs describes it, "exaltation, surrender, and the extinction of the world round about!"

Contra Dancing arose in the 16th century Europe as a distinction between the form of dance the gentry enjoyed while in the country and the stately dances in the town at court.

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