Viennese Waltz

Look where you want to go. Even if you spot, you will still get a little dizzy --- spotting is for stabilizing the turn. Practice will get you used to the dizziness. Good luck!

--Andre

Originally Posted by blackbowtie

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My instructor told me to look for the wall I'm supposed to be facing as quickly as possible to avoid dizziness. So far this tip has not helped. I think I will learn the right turn at the next class. As things stand I'm supposed to use the hesitation as a mechanism to turn around corners.

My date refuses to pay for private lessons, and when I offered to pay for her, she accused me of male chauvinism. You can't win either way. Sigh.

But we will be practicing together with a Viennese waltz social group in between (my) private lessons. I hope she can keep up. Women can be difficult sometimes.

Ask her if she would mind joining your lessons so your practices can be more productive. i.e. so she can help you remember what you need to do.

But seriously, it's best to take the lesson with your partner. There are all sorts of things that can go wrong once you put someone else in front of you. The pro can make up for many of the mistakes you are making - your partner not so much.

For me, the dizziness went away once my footwork and technique improved.

Here's me reporting, 5 weeks later. The ball was on Saturday. Here are some observations that might be useful to share:

1) Five weeks are more than sufficient for you to gain a bluffer's knowledge of the Viennese waltz. Once deconstructed, the Viennese waltz is not that difficult. There are mainly three/four movements you need to master to hit the dance floor: right (natural) turn; left (reverse) turn; close change and/or hesitation (both to transit from right turn to left or vice versa). The actual moves are not difficult. What's challenging is to dance them to the fast beat of the Strauss waltzes.

2) What matters in the end is building muscle memory, especially with the footwork, which in turn calls for lots of practice. Which is what I did. I complemented my five hours of private lessons with "practice sessions" one hour a week where I went to dance the waltz in a group. I also literally waltzed everywhere to get my feet used to the moves so that they become second nature: I waltzed to the copier, to the bathroom, and when I think no one's looking, even to the Boardroom (the office was ideal because of the long hallways - I couldn't make two turns at home without hitting a wall). I waltzed on the sidewalk when no one's around, or on the platform while waiting for the metro. Crazy, but considering that I only had five weeks, I thought desperate measures were warranted. As the man, the biggest source of stress on the dance floor is to avoid the lady from colliding with other dancers. Thus if your feet can go on autopilot, you can concentrate on navigating.

3) While dancing with a partner that knows the moves as well as you do can be an amazing experience, I discovered that after five weeks, I was confident enough to lead even women who were less practiced than me but had some grasp of the rudimentary basics of the waltz. All it took was the confidence (and a bit of brawn) to sweep her off her feet and take her with you, and it worked out. (Well, in most cases, anyway).

4) I discovered that most women at the event could not dance. At least, they couldn't dance the Viennese waltz. So, while I was nowhere near being a good Viennese waltzer, five hours of private instruction turned out to be sufficient to impress many women on the dancefloor that night. (Either that, or they were all being kind and I was just lucky to end up with dance partners that knew how to accommodate my own flaws )

In conclusion, yes, you can learn the Viennese waltz in five weeks. At least you can learn enough to get by and have a great time. I'm already looking forward to the next Viennese ball.

Kudos to you.

I attended a ball in Vienna at the royal palace (Hofburg) back in college. I took a one-day crash course on the waltz. Luckily, a bunch of the dances were not waltzes: there were some quadrilles where an MC (I'm sure there's a better term for him) called out moves and a gallop polka where, like, hundreds of people in tuxes and gowns GALLOP around the room at full speed (pretty damn fun).

A sophisticated lady friend of a friend asked if I could waltz, and I said, "Sure!" A minute in, though, she gave me this "I thought you said you could waltz?" look and left me on the dance floor looking stupid. Good times.

Originally Posted by Sebastian_Flyte

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Kudos to you.

Ditto.

Eight weeks of classes for me in Viennese and I still wanted to barf after those fast turns. I got the footwork after three weeks, but just could not handle the spinning. Blech.

I'm back to quick step tomorrow, after finishing some lovely international syle fox trot.

b

Sorry, I know this is really, really old, but I was wondering if this was the Committee of Western Civilisation (aka OAS) Ball at the Organisation of American States Building in DC?

If yes, it's a lovely ball with a huge dance floor, good orchestra (ConBrio!), and an excellent buffet. I just wish they had more variety in terms of dances. My favourite ball in Vienna is the Wiener Philharmoniker Ball at the Musikverein. Absolutely gorgeous.