The international ballroom version of samba is one of the five official Latin American dances in international dancesport competitions. It in a lively, rhythmical dance which progresses counter-clockwise around the floor . It differs considerably from the original samba styles of Brazil; in particular, it differs from Samba de Gafieira, a partner type of Samba in that country.

Music & Rhythm The tempo of the Samba is 50-52 bars per minute with a time signature of .

Samba music can have a combination of timings and beat values including making use of half and quarter beats. Steps using quarter beats 'a' tend to make use of the samba bounce action which gives Samba its distinctive appearance.

Some examples of counts can be seen in the below table: +CountBeat ValueExample Figure1 a 2, 1/4, 1Botafogo1 & 2, , 1Samba Locks1 2 &1, , Natural Roll1 2 3 or 1 a e,, Promenade Runs When danced certain rhythms from the above, the dance features a bouncing action, with body elevation occurring at the last 1/4beat of the first bar.The Revised Technique of Latin American Dancing, chapter "Samba", ISTD official guide

Technique

Samba Bounce The Samba bounce is not a up-and-down bounce action but rather a knee action with little elevation..

The Samba bounce action is created by bending and straightening the knees. When the knees are bent the ankles compensate by lifting up and the hip (pelvis) goes forward.so there is little change in elevation.

Syllabus The World Dance Council uses the Burns Latn Tek books as the basis for their medallist and professional examinations and they have produced the following syllabus . For brevity, steps conducted in different positions have been excluded.

Student-Teacher Level

Samba Basic Samba Whisks Samba Walks Samba Chasses Volta Spot Turns

Associate Level

Stationary Samba Walks Corta Jaca Close Rocks Reverse Turn Botafogos Natural Roll

Licentiate Level

Open Rocks Backward Rocks Plait Voltas

Fellowship Level

Samba Locks Drop Volta Cruzado Locks Cruzado Walks Promenade to Counter-Promenade Runs Batucada Zig-Zag Carioca Runs

References