A ballroom or ballhall is a large
room inside a
building
A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and func ...
, the primary purpose of which is holding large formal parties called
balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many
mansions and
palaces, especially historic mansions and palaces, contain one or more ballrooms. In other large houses, a large room such as the main
drawing room
A drawing room is a room in a house where visitors may be entertained, and an alternative name for a living room. The name is derived from the 16th-century terms withdrawing room and withdrawing chamber, which remained in use through the 17th cen ...
,
long gallery
In architecture, a long gallery is a long, narrow room, often with a high ceiling. In Britain, long galleries were popular in Elizabethan and Jacobean houses. They were normally placed on the highest reception floor of English country hous ...
, or hall may double as a ballroom, but a good ballroom should have the right type of
flooring
Flooring is the general term for a permanent covering of a floor, or for the work of installing such a floor covering. Floor covering is a term to generically describe any finish material applied over a floor structure to provide a walking surface ...
, such as
hardwood flooring or stone flooring (usually marble or stone). In later times the term ballroom has been used to describe nightclubs where customers dance, the
Top Rank Suites in the United Kingdom for example were also often referred to as ballrooms. The phrase "having a ball" has grown to encompass many events where person(s) are having fun, not just dancing.
Ballrooms are generally quite large, and may have
ceilings higher than other rooms in the same building. The large amount of space for
dancing
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoi ...
, as well as the highly formal tone of events have given rise to
ballroom dancing. The largest balls are now nearly always held in public buildings, and many
hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...
s have a ballroom. They are also designed large to help the sound of orchestras carry well throughout the whole room.
A special case is the annual
Vienna Opera Ball, where, just for one night, the
auditorium
An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theatres, the number of auditoria (or auditoriums) is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoria can be found in entertainment venues, communit ...
of the
Vienna State Opera is turned into a large ballroom. On the eve of the event, the rows of seats are removed from the
stalls, and a new floor, level with the
stage, is built.
Sometimes ballrooms have stages in the front of the room where the host or a special guest can speak. That stage can also be used for instrumentalists and musical performers.
List of hardwood US floor ballrooms
These lists should only include ballrooms with permanent wood floors. The size of the floor should only include the largest contiguous area without obstructions. The web sites and materials about some places add up multiple spaces, rooms, and balconies, and floors. However, this list ranks ballrooms based on the size of one single open space with a hardwood floor.
See also
*
Aragon Ballroom (Ocean Park, Santa Monica, California) The Aragon Ballroom on Lick Pier in the Ocean Park district of Santa Monica, California, was a social-dance venue opened under the Aragon name in March 1942 by dance promoter Harry Schooler (born Harrison Augustus Schooler; 1918–2008).
History
...
* ''Ballroom'' an album of Irish music by
De Dannan
*
Nightclub
A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music.
Nightclubs gen ...
References
Further reading
*Robert Meyer,"Millennium Maple - Glorious, Historic, Legendary, Treasured Ballroom Dance Floors", ''Amateur Dancers'', Jan/Feb 2000, Issue#123.
*Geronimo Trevino. ''Dance Halls and Last Calls: A History of Texas Country Music.'' Lanham, MD: Republic of Texas Press 2002. . Copyright
External links
Texas Dance Hall Preservation Inc.
{{Authority control
Rooms