W is for What Happens Between the Beats!

W is for What Happens Between the Beats?

Dance!  Dance is what happens between the beats of music.  The dancer’s feet hit the floor on the beat, their bodies move through the space and time between the beats.  The space between the beats is where movement is led and followed, where turns, swing, sway, rise and fall are executed, where the motion of dance can be seen.  The beats are for timing and accent…dance wouldn’t be a visual art form without the beats…but the beauty of dance happens between the beats!

Dance of the Day: Waltz

Modern waltz is a much slower version of the original Viennese Waltz.  It is danced to ¾ music with a characteristic gliding, wave-like motion that incorporates rise/fall and swing/sway.  Waltz became popular (although scandalous and controversial because of the close proximity that the partners held each other) in England during the Regency period (around 1811-1825) and continued on to become the mainstay of ballroom dances into modern times.  Nearly every culture has music written in ¾ timing to which some version of waltz could be danced.  Additionally, if you look closely at the patterns danced in any modern ballroom dance, you will see that most are similar, if not identical, to syllabus waltz patterns, but are, of course, modified to fit the 4/4 timing of the other dances.  Hmmm….learn waltz well, not only is a really fun dance, but knowing waltz patterns makes learning the other ballroom dances easier!

V is for Variety

V is for Variety

Of all the social activities that we can get involved with, the one that has the most variety might well be social partner dancing!  Foxtrot, slow foxtrot, waltz, vieneese waltz, quickstep, International tango, American Tango, paso doble, rumba, cha-cha, jive, bolero, country 2-step, night club 2-step, triple 2-step, west coast swing, east coast swing, jitterbug, lindy, shag, polka, hustle, Argentine tango, salsa, mambo and countless local variations.  In most cities, partner social dancing can be found 6-7 nights a week.  What a great exercise plan…each dance uses different muscles, burns an average of 300 calories/hour, it’s a great social activity, fun and social dancing has more variety of movements than any musical exercise routine!

Dance of the Day:  Viennese Waltz

Viennese Waltz is the oldest of the modern ballroom dances and the scandalous.  It was introduced in Europe in the late 1700s.  In 1797, its scandalous nature (ladies held their gowns very high to avoid stepping on the hems which gave the appearance of cloaking or covering themselves and their partner from outside eyes!) became the subject matter of a pamphlet entitled “Proof that Waltzing is the Main Source of Weakness of the Body and Mind of our Generation” by Wolf!  By Gosh!  Based on that pamphlet, I say “Let’s DANCE!” 

Anyway, Viennese Waltz is danced very fast (about 180 beats/minute) to music that is written in ¾ time such as the famous Strauss compositions.  Originally Viennese Waltz patterns were entirely rotational using only a change step to switch from a left rotating turn to a right rotating turn.  This structure has not changed much in the last 200 years, closing the distance between partners while in dance hold and adding only 4 additional patterns (Fleckerls, contra check, left whisk, and canter time pivots) to the International Standard Syllabus. 

Today, while it is danced competitively as one of the International Standard ballroom dances, Viennese Waltz is not danced socially as often as it’s off spring the Waltz (danced much slower at about 90 beats/minute).