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History and Evolution of the Waltz

Waltz originated in the 16th-17th centuries in the Alpine region of Austria and suburbs of Vienna. It began as a folk dance among peasants in Germany in the 13th century and involved rolling movements. By the 1500s, the dance had spread to Italy and incorporated local styles. In the late 16th century, Waltz became popular in Vienna and was adapted into the Weller dance. The 3/4 timed Waltz became widespread in Europe in the 18th century due to the music of Johann Strauss and Franz Lanner, helping Waltz overcome its initial reputation as immoral.

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Gwynette Gerasmo
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313 views2 pages

History and Evolution of the Waltz

Waltz originated in the 16th-17th centuries in the Alpine region of Austria and suburbs of Vienna. It began as a folk dance among peasants in Germany in the 13th century and involved rolling movements. By the 1500s, the dance had spread to Italy and incorporated local styles. In the late 16th century, Waltz became popular in Vienna and was adapted into the Weller dance. The 3/4 timed Waltz became widespread in Europe in the 18th century due to the music of Johann Strauss and Franz Lanner, helping Waltz overcome its initial reputation as immoral.

Uploaded by

Gwynette Gerasmo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Waltz, which means “to roll or revolve”, is a dance which

originated way back 16th and 17th Century. It came from


the suburbs of Vienna and in the Alpine Region of
Austria. The original form of Waltz was first used by the
peasants in Germany on the 13th Century. They devised
rolling folk dance that was varied from the other court
dances that were popular in that time. Their dance
which entailed a lot of rolls, glide, and turns was
accepted by many, and by 1500s, it reached Volta where
the dance was adapted and was incorporated with
various local dance styles as well. By the end of 16th
Century, the Waltz became widely accepted by the
people of Vienna, and morphed it into a dance which
was called Weller. Meanwhile, it became the same for
France which used the dance form Nizzarda. Before that
time, all court dances were rigid, stately, solemn,
procession-based, very tightly controlled, with
complicated moves and timings.

Moreover, upon the introduction of free form dances,


which involved close position of dances, Waltz changed.
This immediately sparked revolt and scandals from
traditional lovers of old ballroom dance. After 18th
Century, France fell in love with the form of Waltz dance
called Allemande, in which dancers are separated from
each other. However, this was soon altered when the
3/4 timed Waltz became overwhelmingly popular,
setting it as a standard and spreading its influence all
over the Europe. One of the major reasons why ¾ timed
Waltz became very popular was the phenomenal music
creations of Johann Strauss and Franz Lanner. Their
music was heard by the halls of Vienna, Austria,
Germany, spreading all across Europe and therefore
declining the opinion that the dance was immoral and
scandalous.

Waltz has three basic steps which are Box Step, Closed
Change, and Natural Turn. Furthermore, there are a lot
things that a Waltz dancer need to know in terms of
counting, time signatures and its measures when
performing the dance. The biggest problem that the
dancers of Waltz encounter is musicality. It is important
that the dancers have base level knowledge about music
since it would serve them a big help. Tempo is the speed
of the music at which it plays. The time signature of the
Waltz dance is ¾ with 28 – 30 bpm (bars per minute)
tempos. The base time to be followed is 1, 2, 3, which
must be started by counting the music differently. Sing
the counts, and count the routine in a way that the
dancer would want to dance it. This will enhance the
way that the Waltz dancers perform. In addition, Phrase
Timing could also be best for ensuring the
synchronisation of the dancers with the music. Phrase
Timing could be noted as (1, 2, 3), (2, 2, 3), (3, 2, 3), (4, 2,
3), (5, 2, 3), (6, 2, 3), (7, 2, 3), and (8, 2, 3). The dancers
could start performing on bars 1, 3, 5, 7, and/or 8. Lastly,
it must always be reminded that the dancers of Waltz
must count as to how they want to dance.

Waltz is a dance where dancers could gracefully move


according to how they feel. It started as something
widely unaccepted because it was to be something
indecent to perform. However, Waltz, as it is, is a dance
that could help the dancers greatly express and move
gracefully according to how they want to. This is why;
Waltz is now something that anyone could perform at
any place, proudly.

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