 A phenakistoscope animation by Eadweard Muybridge demonstrating the waltz | |
| Genre | Ballroom dance |
|---|---|
| Time signature | 3 4 |
The waltz (from German Walzer [ˈvaltsɐ] ⓘ , meaning "to roll or revolve") [1] is a ballroom and folk dance, in triple (3
4 time), performed primarily in closed position. Along with the ländler and allemande, the waltz was sometimes referred to by the generic term German Dance in publications during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. [2]
There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance, including volte , that would evolve into the waltz that date from 16th-century Europe, including the representations of the printmaker Hans Sebald Beham. The French philosopher Michel de Montaigne wrote of a dance he saw in 1580 in Augsburg, where the dancers held each other so closely that their faces touched. Kunz Haas (of approximately the same period) wrote, "Now they are dancing the godless Weller or Spinner." [3] "The vigorous peasant dancer, following an instinctive knowledge of the weight of fall, uses his surplus energy to press all his strength into the proper beat of the bar, thus intensifying his personal enjoyment in dancing." [3] Around 1750, the lower classes in the regions of Bavaria, Tyrol, and Styria began dancing a couples dance called Walzer. [4] The Ländler , also known as the Schleifer, a country dance in 3
4 time, was popular in Bohemia, Austria, and Bavaria, and spread from the countryside to the suburbs of the city. While the eighteenth-century upper classes continued to dance the minuets (such as those by Mozart, Haydn and Handel), bored noblemen slipped away to the balls of their servants. [5]
In the 1771 German novel Geschichte des Fräuleins von Sternheim by Sophie von La Roche, a high-minded character complains about the newly introduced waltz among aristocrats thus: "But when he put his arm around her, pressed her to his breast, cavorted with her in the shameless, indecent whirling-dance of the Germans and engaged in a familiarity that broke all the bounds of good breeding—then my silent misery turned into burning rage." [6]
Describing life in Vienna (dated at either 1776 or 1786 [7] ), Don Curzio wrote, "The people were dancing mad ... The ladies of Vienna are particularly celebrated for their grace and movements of waltzing of which they never tire." There is a waltz in the second act finale of the 1786 opera Una Cosa Rara by Martin y Soler. Soler's waltz was marked andante con moto, or "at a walking pace with motion", but the flow of the dance was sped-up in Vienna leading to the Geschwindwalzer, and the Galloppwalzer. [8] [9]
In the 19th century, the word primarily indicated that the dance was a turning one; one would "waltz" in the polka to indicate rotating rather than going straight forward without turning.
Shocking many when it was first introduced, [10] the waltz became fashionable in Vienna around the 1780s, spreading to many other countries in the years to follow. According to contemporary singer Michael Kelly, it reached England in 1791. [11] During the Napoleonic Wars, infantry soldiers of the King's German Legion introduced the dance to the people of Bexhill, Sussex, from 1804. [12]
It became fashionable in Britain during the Regency period, having been made respectable by the endorsement of Dorothea Lieven, wife of the Russian ambassador. [13] Diarist Thomas Raikes later recounted that "No event ever produced so great a sensation in English society as the introduction of the waltz in 1813." [14] In the same year, a sardonic tribute to the dance by Lord Byron was anonymously published (written the previous autumn). [15] [16] Influential dance master and author of instruction manuals, Thomas Wilson published A Description of the Correct Method of Waltzing in 1816. [17] Almack's, the most exclusive club in London, permitted the waltz, though the entry in the Oxford English Dictionary shows that it was considered "riotous and indecent" as late as 1825. In The Tenant of Wildfell Hall , by Anne Brontë, in a scene set in 1827, the local vicar Reverend Milward tolerates quadrilles and country dances but intervenes decisively when a waltz is called for, declaring "No, no, I don't allow that! Come, it's time to be going home." [18]
The waltz, especially its closed position, became the example for the creation of many other ballroom dances. Subsequently, new types of waltz have developed, including many folk and several ballroom dances.
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In the 19th and early 20th century, numerous different waltz forms existed, including versions performed in 3
4, 3
8 or 6
8 (sauteuse), and 5
4 time (5
4 waltz, half and half).
In the 1910s, a form called the Hesitation Waltz was introduced by Vernon and Irene Castle. [20] It incorporated "hesitations" and was danced to fast music. A hesitation is basically a halt on the standing foot during the full waltz bar, with the moving foot suspended in the air or slowly dragged. Similar figures (Hesitation Change, Drag Hesitation, and Cross Hesitation) are incorporated in the International Standard Waltz Syllabus.
The Country Western Waltz is mostly progressive, moving counter clock wise around the dance floor. Both the posture and frame are relaxed, with posture bordering on a slouch. The exaggerated hand and arm gestures of some ballroom styles are not part of this style. Couples may frequently dance in the promenade position, depending on local preferences. Within Country Western waltz, there is the Spanish Waltz and the more modern (for the late 1930s- early 1950s) Pursuit Waltz. At one time it was considered ill treatment for a man to make the woman walk backwards in some locations. [21]
In California, the waltz was banned by Mission priests until 1834 because of the "closed" dance position. [22] Thereafter a Spanish Waltz was danced. This Spanish Waltz was a combination of dancing around the room in closed position, and a "formation" dance of two couples facing each other and performing a sequence of steps. [22] "Valse a Trois Temps" was the "earliest" waltz step, and the Rye Waltz was preferred as a couple dance. [23]
Ballroom dance is a set of European partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world, mostly because of its performance and entertainment aspects. Ballroom dancing is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and television.
A country dance is any of a very large number of social dances of a type that originated in England in the British Isles; it is the repeated execution of a predefined sequence of figures, carefully designed to fit a fixed length of music, performed by a group of people, usually in couples, in one or more sets. The figures involve interaction with your partner and/or with other dancers, usually with a progression so that you dance with everyone in your set. It is common in modern times to have a "caller" who teaches the dance and then calls the figures as you dance. Country dances are done in many different styles.
Viennese waltz is a genre of ballroom dance. At least four different meanings are recognized. In the historically first sense, the name may refer to several versions of the waltz, including the earliest waltzes done in ballroom dancing, danced to the music of Viennese waltz.
The Ländler is a European folk dance in 3
4 time. Along with the waltz and allemande, the ländler was sometimes referred to by the generic term German Dance in publications during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Despite its association with Germany, the ländler was danced in many European countries. Composers from a variety of European nations wrote music for the ländler dance; including Austria, Switzerland, Bohemia, Moravia, Slovenia and northern Italy in addition to Germany.
The Mazurka is a Polish musical form based on stylised folk dances in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo, with character defined mostly by the prominent mazur's "strong accents unsystematically placed on the second or third beat". The Mazurka, alongside the polka dance, became popular at the ballrooms and salons of Europe in the 19th century, particularly through the notable works by Frédéric Chopin. The mazurka and mazurek are often confused in Western literature as the same musical form.
A redowa is a dance of Czech origin with turning, leaping waltz steps that was popular in European ballrooms.
The schottische is a partnered country dance that apparently originated in Bohemia. It was popular in Victorian era ballrooms as a part of the Bohemian folk-dance craze and left its traces in folk music of countries such as Argentina, Finland, France, Italy, Norway ("reinlender"), Portugal and Brazil, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Mexico, and the United States, among other nations. The schottische is considered by The Oxford Companion to Music to be a kind of slower polka, with continental-European origin.
This is a list of dance terms that are not names of dances or types of dances. See List of dances and List of dance style categories for those.
The closed change is a Pre-Bronze, or newcomer waltz figure, performed in closed position. Changes may start of the right foot or left foot, moving forward or backward. This makes four different types of closed changes. Combining two changes results in a box step. In right changes the man starts from the right foot, while in left ones the man starts from the left foot.
Austrian folk dancing is mostly associated with Schuhplattler, Ländler, polka and waltz. However, there are other dances such as Zwiefacher, Kontratänze and Sprachinseltänze.
Ottoman music or Turkish classical music is the tradition of classical music originating in the Ottoman Empire. Developed in the palace, major Ottoman cities, and Sufi lodges, it traditionally features a solo singer with a small to medium-sized instrumental ensemble.
A waltz, probably deriving from German Ländler, is dance music in triple meter, often written in 3
4 time. A waltz typically sounds one chord per measure, and the accompaniment style particularly associated with the waltz is to play the root of the chord on the first beat, the upper notes on the second and third beats.
Waltz is one of the five dances in the Standard category of the International Style ballroom dances. It was previously referred to as slow waltz or English waltz.
A dance organ is a mechanical organ designed to be used in a dance hall or ballroom. Originated and popularized in Paris, it is intended for use indoors as dance organs tend to be quieter than the similar fairground organ.
Valse à deux temps, waltz à deux temps, also Valse à deux pas or Valse Russe was a waltz of Russian origin introduced in France in the mid-19th century.
Cross-step waltz is a social ballroom dance in time, performed primarily in closed position, to slower tempo waltz music. It is characterized by a "primary cross-step" where the Lead role crosses the right foot over the left, as the Follow role crosses the left foot over the right, on the first count of the musical measure. Cross-step waltz can travel and rotate like traditional waltzes, while the dynamic of the cross-step facilitates a wide range of traveling variations.
The Telemark is a ballroom dance step; in waltz competition, it is in the Silver syllabus. Telemarks are reverse turns where the follower does a heel turn as the leader travels around her. There are similar Telemarks in foxtrot and quickstep.
European dances refers to various dances originating in Europe. Since the Middle Ages, many European dances tend to be refined, as some are based on the court dances of aristocrats.
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