Waltz & Viennese Waltz - What Are They?

The waltz is the oldest of the current ballroom dances and is danced with three beats to the measure, usually to music in 3/4 time but occasionally in 6/8 time music because three steps can still be done per measure in 6/8 time music. 3/4 time music can be recognized by counting the beats as "ONE, two three, ONE, two three," where the accent is on the first beat. It is characterized by it's three-beat steps, and it's long gliding steps that carry the dancers around the dance floor in large movements.

There are two versions of the waltz done today, and the Viennese Waltz most closely resembles the original form. Created in the later half of the 18th century but based on country dances going back as early as the 16th century, the Viennese Waltz was fairly controversial. It was one of the first times when dance partners maintained a semi-closed dance hold throughout the dance, which brought the dancers' bodies in close contact with each other that previous dances did not allow, hence the controversy. In 1797, there was a pamphlet published entitled "Proof that Waltzing is the Main Source of Weakness of the Body and Mind of Our Generation." Modesty enforcers all over the world criticized the indecency of such body contact during a dance. But in spite of the criticism, or perhaps because of it, the Waltz became the most popular dance across Europe during that era and has remained a popular dance even a couple of hundred years later.

Prior to the Waltz, European dances were communal sequence dances. This means that all the dancers on the floor took part in a preset pattern, much like line dances are a choreographed preset pattern today and country square dances are either choreographed as a preset pattern or the steps are called out by an announcer and all the dancers do the same step at the same time. Dancers separately, and as couples, faced outwards to the spectators as much as they faced inwards towards each other. This way, everyone participated as dancers or as onlookers. Partners could be switched up during the dance if the patterns changed where each individual was standing in relation to other dancers. And sometimes there were more than two people partnered up for a particular step. With the creation of the Waltz, couples were independent of each other, and were turned towards each other (though not in close contact). Lord Byron wrote a furious letter, which precedes his poem The Waltz, in which he decries the anti-social nature of the dance, with the couple "like two cockchafers spitted on the same bodkin."

The original Waltz that eventually became the Viennese Waltz was not danced in the closed hold that we recognize today. It was in a semi-closed hold part of the time, and the couples danced side-by-side at other times during the dance. The feet were turned outwards and the rise of the foot was much more pronounced than it is today.

Eventually, the Waltz split into the two styles of waltzing that we recognize now. The Viennese Waltz is a rotary dance, where the couples are constantly turning while they move across the floor, either in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction. Dancers generally move in the line of dance, which is when all the dancers on the floor move around the dance floor in a counter-clockwise direction (or anti-clockwise, for those in Europe), all following each other in more or less a "line" of dancers (like how skaters all circle the roller rink in the same direction, for those who grew up in the 1970s or 1980s and roller skating was a popular past time).

What mainly separates the two styles of Waltz is the speed. The Viennese Waltz is danced at 180 beats per minute (or 60 measures per minute), which is two to four times faster than the Waltz, or Slow Waltz. Because of the speed, the Viennese Waltz also has fewer patterns for the dancers to do because they are moving too quickly around the floor and spinning or rotating too quickly around each other to do many patterns. Mostly what you will see during a Viennese Waltz are those quick turn steps and a few "change steps", which are patterns that allow the couple to change the direction that they are rotating from clockwise to counter-clockwise and back again. In modern competition, the closed hold position is not broken during the Viennese Waltz.

The Waltz, or Slow Waltz, is danced at a mere 90 beats per minute or 30 measures to the bar. Because it is so much slower, the dancers can do more intricate patterns, including patterns that involve breaking out of the closed hold (although which patterns are allowed in competition depends on whether it's American Smooth or International Standard, which is not something that a beginner needs to be concerned with). This version of the Waltz was probably developed in the early- to mid-1900s in America as songs in 3/4 time were being written with slower tempos and it was discovered that rotating in slow motion was not as exciting as rotating at high speed, so more patterns were introduced now that the dancers had the time to do them without tripping over each other.

Just like the Viennese Waltz, the Slow Waltz is also danced in the line of dance, but the couple does not necessarily rotate around each other; many Waltz steps are travelling steps, which involve the dancers moving in a straight line around the dance floor. But unlike the Viennese Waltz, the Slow Waltz does not have to be danced in the line of dance. If the couple is performing or dancing in a venue that does not recognize or support the traditional Waltz etiquette such as a nightclub or wedding / party, the Waltz can be done as a spot dance, meaning that the couple dances in a smallish circle of space on the dance floor that they claim for themselves. When danced this way, there are no, or very few, traveling steps and the rotation steps are done in place or within a small range on the dance floor. This is popular for small stages and crowded public dance floors that are not ballroom floors which follow the line of dance etiquette. The Waltz can also be danced as a travelling dance that nevertheless does not follow the line of dance. Most performance or demonstration versions of the Waltz will be this version, where the dancers travel across the entire dance floor, sometimes circling in the line of dance but sometimes gliding diagonally across, changing directions at arbitrary locations. This is best when dancers do not have to share the floor with other waltzers, usually because no one else is dancing, and when the dance floor is large. This version also highlights the characteristic long gliding steps of the Slow Waltz.

Also like the Viennese, the Waltz is characterized by a rise and fall motion of stepping, with a step-slide-step motion to the feet. The "rise and fall" is created by flexing the knee and rising slightly on the toe while the shoulders are held still, so that the whole body rises and falls as one, rather than appearing to rise and fall because of shoulder movement.

The Waltz, whatever its speed, is considered one of the most classically romantic ballroom dances and is still the favorite for the First Dance of a married couple at their wedding.

This video shows a Waltz being danced as a spot dance, using steps and techniques that a beginning couple can learn and taking up minimal dance floor space. It includes clear rise and fall of the steps and several simple but elegant patterns, several of which break hold that is characteristic of the Waltz and not found in the Viennese Waltz.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2WXYocQxTA