Come dancing with the OED

Saturday 18 December sees the final of the current series of the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing when contestants will battle it out in the ballroom for the glitterball trophy. But will they be dancing the waltz, the paso doble, the Charleston, or the jive? You can find more dance terms and trace when they entered the language by searching in Timelines under Subject > Arts > Performing Arts > Dance. If this is your idea of entertainment, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography also has a gallery of historical dancers, including a former Conservative politician who took to the floor.