ballroom

right|thumb|An opulent ballroom at the Catherine Palace near [[St. Petersburg, Russia ]] thumb|The Oranjezaal in palace [[Huis ten Bosch in The Hague, The Netherlands ]]

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.