Dancing viennese waltz, quickstep, modern waltz, samba, rumba, cha cha

The Waltz is a dance performed to music with three beats to the bar. This means that if a step is taken on each beat, then each bar starts with the opposite foot to that of the previous bar. This can be a source of great difficulty for the beginner, but when mastered gives the dance a delightful romantic lilt. The first record of a dance to 3/4 rhythm is a peasant dance of the Provence area of France in 1559, as a piece of folk music called the Volta, although the Volta has also been claimed to be an Italian folk dance at this time. The word volta means the turn in Italian. Thus, even in its earliest days, the dance appears to have involved the couple turning as they danced. The dance became very popular in Vienna, with large dance halls being opened to accommodate the craze: Zum Sperl in 1807, and the Apollo in 1808 (said to be able to accommodate 6000 dancers). In 1812 the dance was introduced into England under the name of the German Waltz. It caused a great sensation.

Through the 19th Century, the dance stabilised, and was further popularised by the music of Josef and Johann Strauss. Currently, the Viennese Waltz is danced at a tempo of about 180 beats per minute, with a limited range of figures: Change Steps, Hesitations, Hovers, MODERN WALTZ In the early 19th Century, the Waltzen became popular through many parts of Germany and Austria, with the local variants being called by the name of the area in which they were danced. The form from Landl ob der Enns in upper Austria became very popular, and became known by the abbreviated name of the Landler. By 1800 the Landler was described as having the same quick gliding rotating movements steps as the Waltzen but done to a slower tempo.

A more sedate form of the fast Viennese Waltz, danced at a leisurely 90 beats per minute, also evolved in America around 1870 known originally as the Boston. The present form of the dance has been variously described as being derived around 1910 in England both from the Landler and from the Boston the dancers began taking advantage of the slower tempo to add more figures, some with extra syncopated beats, some with slow picture steps. These give the dance light and shade, and make it more interesting to perform and to watch.

QUICKSTEP As Ragtime music evolved into Swing through the 1920s, new dances such as the Charleston, the Shimmy, and the Black Bottom became popular. The Charlston was danced with wild swinging arms and side kicks to music at 200 to 240 beats per minute. It subsequently became very popular worldwide, but the wild character of the dance induced many sedate ballrooms either to ban it altogether, or to put up notices saying simply PCQ, standing for Please Charleston Quietly. These dances became absorbed into a faster version of Foxtrot after a visit by Paul Whitemans band to the UK in 1923, becoming known as the Quickstep. Currently ...