The Waltz

We all know the waltz; we’ve all seen people doing it in the movies, at weddings, everyone can pick out a waltz when they see it.  But what really constitutes a waltz?  Why is it so easy for us to recognize it?

The waltz has been around for a long time, and is the grandfather of many of today’s ballroom dances.  The French philosopher Montaigne first wrote of a dance he saw in 1580 in Augsburg, Germany, where the dancers held each other so closely their faces touched – at the time this was scandalous!

Most would agree the Austrian Court in Vienna led to the waltz’s popularity.   In 1698 in the Austrian court, ladies were conducted around the room to the tune of a 2-beat measure, which eventually became the ¾ time of the Nach Tanz, or After Dance.  When couples heard this music, they would get into position and move around the room with gliding steps.

In the 1780s, as the waltz became fashionable in Vienna, it spread slowly across Europe.  Many countries were slow to embrace this new dance form, where the couples not only touched for the duration of the dance, but also faced each other directly.  Indeed, as late as 1825 the waltz was considered “riotous and indecent” in Britain.

With the close position of the dancers it demands, the waltz became the example for the creation of many other ballroom dances.  The waltz is danced in ¾ time, generally with an emphasis on the first beat of the music. Many famous composers created music specifically for members of their royal courts including Haydn and Strauss, who composed “The Blue Danube” arguably the most famous piece of waltz music.

The waltz has, over the years, seen many different styles evolve, all building on the basic ¾ time.  In today’s contemporary ballroom, the faster versions of the waltz are considered Viennese, and when performing them, couples never break their embrace.  A descendent of the Viennese waltz is the English or Slow waltz, which is danced to a much slower tempo.  The English or Slow waltz is one of the five dances of the ‘standard’ category of the International Style ballroom dances.  Following a slow tempo, this waltz generally has one step per beat, and follows the ¾ time, with three beats per measure.  More elaborate elements sometimes have six steps per measure, which can make the waltz appear quite dynamic despite its relatively slow speed.  Hallmarks of the waltz include rise and fall, foot parallelism and sway.