Vol 4 No 3, March 20, 2010
© 2010, Salt Lake Vienna Waltz Association
“The waltz never quite goes out of fashion; it is always just around the corner; every now and then it returns with a
bang. . .It is sneaking, insidious, disarming, lovely. . .The waltz, in fact, is magnificently improper...the art of tone turned
lubricious. . .”
H L Menken
Greetings Waltzers,
A few days ago, while training under direction of my Viennese Waltz coach, I encountered a problem common with small
dance floors ― I ran out of room. We were practicing reverse turns with an underarm turn leading into an Arabesque,
followed by “peasant steps,” which should have segued into a cantor (on my part) and turn (on my partner’s part). But
well before we got to the cantor, the opposing wall rushed toward us, and we, well, we just stopped.
We’ve had untrained and stationary dancers get in our way many times before at balls, and we learned long ago how to
maneuver around them. But this wall was so close, including its equally close corner wall, that we had few options.
Thinking back to that evening, I realize we could have just change stepped around the corner and continued on, but
when you’re practicing a specific series of steps in a tight sequence ─ and your mind is set on that series ─ options
sometimes are hard to come by.
We went back to the beginning of the floor, swore not to dawdle en route to our routine, and completed the series just
before we were about to greet lathe and plaster head on once again. Smaller dance floors can be a challenge.
Mid-week, when we’re practicing solo without our coach, we knew we had to find a larger floor. The wood floor used for
aerobics at the gym near my work ─ unused in the evening ─ was much too small. Eventually, we found a full ballroom-
sized wood floor less than ten minutes away from our home, rarely used in the evening. Even when it is in use, a smaller
adjacent ballroom, also larger than where we’re coached, is always available.
And we almost always have that entire floor to ourselves. We’ve never had more than one other couple share it with us.
Us at one end, and them, at shouting distance, at the other end. No, it’s not strictly a ballroom floor; it’s used for many
other occasions. The floor can get dirty at times. But a minute or two with a suede-sole brush afterwards always gets
our shoes back into dance shape.
The best part is waltzing at full tilt with one’s partner down the long run of that floor with no other dancers to get in the
way, change-step around the corner, another turn or two to the opposite long run, and then another breathless charge
back to the beginning. 1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3; it’s hard to not get dizzy. That’s when you appreciate the aerobics involved in
Viennese Waltz.
I hope you have such a floor to practice on.
Finally, Lucy found a great compendium of dance videos from Paul Frazier at SuperDancing in Kansas City , MO. The
site helps keep the YouTube guesswork at bay when searching for dance videos.
See http://home.comcast.net/~paul987frazier/dances/vwaltz.html
Return to newsletter