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The Waltz is a dance performed to music with three beats to the bar. This means that if a step is taken on each beat, then each bar starts with the opposite foot to that of the previous bar. This can be a source of great difficulty for the beginner, but when mastered gives the dance a delightful romantic lilt.
The first record of a dance to 3/4 rhythm is a peasant dance of the Provence area of France in 1559, as a piece of folk music called the Volta, although the Volta has also been claimed to be an Italian folk dance at this time. The
word \"volta\" means \"the turn\" in Italian. Thus, even in its earliest days, the dance appears to have involved the couple turning as they danced.
The dance became very popular in Vienna, with large dance halls being opened to accommodate the craze: Zum Sperl in 1807, and the Apollo in 1808 (said to be able to accommodate 6000 dancers). In 1812 the dance was introduced into England under the name of the German Waltz. It caused a great sensation.
Through the 19th Century, the dance stabilised, and was further popularised by the music of Josef and Johann Strauss.
Currently, the Viennese Waltz is danced at a tempo of about 180 beats per minute, with a limited range of figures: Change Steps, Hesitations, Hovers,
Passing Changes, Natural and Reverse Turns, (travelling or on the spot as
Fleckerls), and the Contracheck.
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