After seeing ballroom dancing on television, you decide it’s time for you to get up and strap on those dancing shoes. Or, maybe you are looking to get into shape but don’t exactly want to pay for a gym membership that may never be used. No matter what your reason, deciding to learn ballroom dancing is an excellent decision. However, if you have never been the dancing type before, you may be a bit apprehensive and a bit confused as to where to start. Here are some helpful tips to learning ballroom dancing.
First of all, it’s possible that you’re really shy and aren’t ready to attend a class of other dancers. While personal instruction is best, it isn’t your only option. Recently, ballroom dance has been brought into the spotlight thanks to media coverage. Ballroom dancing has grown by leaps and bounds in the past decade, and more and more people are catching on to the dance craze. This is important and certainly works in your favor because you can find several instructional DVD’s and videos on ballroom dancing. You can watch them in the comfort of your own home and practice at any time. These may also be a more affordable option than ballroom dance lessons.
Are you tired of sitting out on all the fun of dancing? What about the receptions at weddings, family parties, or New Year’s Eve parties while all your friends are dancing? Do you have a fear of dancing with two left feet and no rhythm? Do you want to move gracefully across the dance floor?
Then take the plunge and get these incredible DVD’s complete with step by step instructions. You don’t need a partner to get started.
Vienese Waltz
The Viennese Waltz which was derived from the Austrian Landler (an Austrian dance, which has no certain birthdate but evolved as a type of Folk dance known under different names) is an elegant fast paced, whirling dance where the partners hold each other as if in a romantic embrace. This raised more than a few eyebrows of “polite” society. Johann Strauss contributed to the rise in popularity of the Viennese Waltz, and to Vienna’s famous ballrooms. Waltz music can be either vocal or instrumental and can be classical, country, or even rock.
The Viennese Waltz is a faster paced dance than the standard waltz which also makes it somewhat more challenging to do. Like the standard waltz the Viennese Waltz incorporates a simple, elegant rotation and swinging movements, keeping the feet low on the inner turns. Surprizingly to most, the Viennese Waltz also requires lots of stamina, using the equivalent amount of energy that you use to dance a polka. The Viennese Waltz uses a right turn (referred to as a natural turn), a left turn (or reverse turn) and two change steps that link the moves between the turns. Dancing the line of dance (direction of traffic – turning left at the corners of the dance floor) and rotating in a clockwise direction is the Natural Turn. Following the line of dance and rotating in a counter-clockwise direction is the Reverse Turn. The step links (change steps) allow you to change directions while still following the line of dance. The step links are simply two normal steps down the line of dance followed by a third step sliding the moving foot to the standing foot. By performing a string of change figures you can work your way through the tight spots on a crowded dance floor then resume the rotation. The “sway” is simply leaning slightly in the opposite direction of the line of dance movement.