A ballroom or ballhall is a large room inside a building , 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 , long gallery , or hall may double as a ballroom, but, a good ballroom should have the right type of flooring , such as hardwood flooring or stone flooring (usually marble or stone). . For most styles of modern dance, a wooden sprung floor offers the best surface.
6-569: The Golden Gate Ballroom , originally named the "State Palace Ballroom", was a luxurious ballroom located at the intersection of Lenox Avenue and 142nd Street in Harlem in New York City. It was allegedly the largest public auditorium in Harlem, with 25,000 square feet and a capacity of about 5,000 people on the dance floor in addition to several thousand spectators. The serial entrepreneur Jay Faggen led
12-419: 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. This list only includes ballrooms with permanent wood floors. The size of the floor only includes
18-517: The Cotton Club Parade , Stepin Fetchit , and Louis Armstrong . The Teddy Wilson orchestra was the house band . The ballroom was the first site used by pastor Alvin A. Childs ' ministry in Harlem. The Golden Gate Ballroom also hosted community events such as political rallies and the "Miss Fine Brown Frame" beauty pageant and served as a roller skating rink. Ballroom In later times
24-470: 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 hotels 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 of the Vienna State Opera is turned into
30-975: The project to open the Golden Gate Ballroom, which took place in October 1939. The site had formerly been the Douglas Theater. By mid-1940, it was taken over by the same owner and manager as the Savoy Ballroom . It was one of many Harlem jazz clubs located on Lenox Avenue and competed intensely with the Savoy Ballroom. The Golden Gate closed around 1950. Notable performers at the Golden Gate included Les Hite , Harlan Leonard , Claude Hopkins , Milt Herth , Jimmie Lunceford , Count Basie , Hot Lips Page , Josh White , Art Tatum , Billie Holiday , Hazel Scott , and Coleman Hawkins . The opening night stars were
36-562: 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 , as well as
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