Guys and Girls,

When you look at a ballroom dress, what makes a dress an american or international style dress ?

The differences between the two dresses has lessened greatly in the past few years, but in general:

Smooth dresses don't have much in the way of drapey scarves or floaty bits. These would tend to get tangled up during the fancy American-style moves. Smooth dresses are slit over one leg quite often. The skirts on Smooth dresses tend to be fuller than on Standard dresses, but the difference these days isn't what it once was when dancers would do moves where they'd practically lift their skirts over their heads.

Because Standard dancers don't break from the regular dance hold, the backs of the ladies dresses are emphasized. Also, having large floats dangling from the right arm (among other places) is becoming quite popular again. Standard dresses are rarely ever slit.

If you're a beginning-to-mid-level dancer and can only have one dress, it is quite possible, practicle, and acceptable to have one dress for both styles.

Though smooth gowns can't have conventional floats, there is a lot of interest at the moment in using oversized sleeves as a substitute. In closed hold these drape and serve a similar purpose as floats - but they also show off the lady's arm lines (they are attached at the wrist or finger so as not to fall down her upraised arm).

What is the purpose of those floats anyway?

To add volume and enhance the effect of the dance movement. As the dancers move the floats stream out behind them like banners or flags.

Would it be a "faux pas" to dance smooth in a gown with floats?

Depends on how big they are and if you are endangering tangling yourself or your partner in them. Some Smooth dresses these days do have small floats on the wrists or bell-shaped floaty sleeves (as someone described below).

I have seen a huge insurgence of big sleeves/drapes/floats in American Style.

Two of the biggest contributers for American Style are Larinda MCRaven and Maria McGill. Larinda has been wearing floats and large sleeves for quite a while now. It seemes to be very fashionable and lots of top American Style dancers are adapting them now. Maria McGill, as a dress designer, has been adding floats and drapes all over the place. You can spot her designs a mile away, even in the American division.

I am not sure that it really is true about International dresses being less decorated on the front and more so on the back. It seems to be more of an "urban legend", like don't flash your lights at an oncoming car with their light off or you will be shot. Everyone has heard it and you almost half beieve it. But there really is no proof. If you look at any of the dresses that the top girls are wearing, they are beautiful, front and back.

Now if you are an amatuer costumer and trying to save yourself a few bucks, then skimping on the decorations on the front seems to make sense. But this maybe an individule choices, rather than the style as a whole.