American Rhythm

American Rhythm is a category of competition ballroom dancing that is defined by the World Dance Council and National Dance Council of America.

  • Click on any of the tempos in the table below (in the MPM, DanceSport, or NDCA columns) to go to a list of songs of that tempo
  • Click on the dance names to go to our details information page for that dance style
  • Read our blog post for step by step instructions on using our catalog to find music of specific style and tempo.
  • Register (it's free) to start building your own music lists.

An American Rhythm five dance round consists of the following:

NameDanceSport (MPM)DanceSport (BPM)NDCA (MPM)NDCA (BPM)Meter
Cha Cha30120301204/4
Rumba30-31120-124311244/4
East Coast Swing34-36136-144351404/4
Bolero24-2696-10424964/4
Mambo47188471884/4

Other dances categorized as American Rhythm, although they aren't part of the competition round, are:

Other categories of competition ballroom dancing are:
tools Explore relationships between the meter and tempi of different dance styles and find songs that match.
tools Read the music4dance blog entries about Ballroom.