SAMBA

ballroom dance of Brazilian origin, popularized in western Europe and the United States in the early 1940s. Characterized by simple forward and backward steps and tilting, rocking body movements, it is danced to music in 4/4 time with syncopated rhythm. Couples in ballroom position dance in place or around the floor, but partners may separate to execute variant steps. The dance derives mainly from the maxixe (q.v.), a dance fashionable in about 18701914. In Brazil, away from the ballrooms, an older, very African type of samba is also danced. Sometimes called batuque, it is a kind of group dance, done either in circles with a soloist or in double lines.