Norco Herrington

Posts Tagged ‘dance’

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Waltz is a progressive dance characterized by long, gliding steps and rise and fall motion. Today, it’s very popular with all dancers, young and old, and often the first ballroom dance people learn. It’s spread all around the world. In this article we are going to take a brief tour through the history of waltz.

The word waltz comes from the German language. Waltzen means to roll, to turn, or to glide. Waltz is a turning dance, so it’s a very appropriate name.

Before making its way into the Hapsburg courts, waltz was a folk dance of Austria and Bavaria. In the 17th century it became very popular among young aristocracy. It was something new and exciting. But because it was a couple dance that allowed close contact, it was quickly deemed immoral and banned in some areas.

The popularity, as it often happens, in due course overcame all the protests. By the end of the 18th century, waltz was generally accepted by all layers of society and widely spread across Europe.

Great Austrian composers of the nineteenth Century, such as Franz Lanner, Johann Strauss Senior and Junior helped enormously to popularize waltz. Johann Strauss Jr. was known as “The Waltz King”. The Blue Danube is his best known work.

In 1834, waltz was first introduced to the United States. It soon evolved into a much slower version of the original Viennese Waltz. The Viennese waltz is much faster and more challenging than the regular waltz we know today. English or slow waltz is danced at about 90 beats per minute. Viennese waltz is approximately three times faster.

Today, waltz is very much alive and extremely popular with dancers of all ages. And why shouldn’t it be? It’s elegant, attractive, and sophisticated. Nearly universal.