From: trb@ima.isc.com (Andrew Tannenbaum)
Newsgroups: rec.folk-dancing
Subject: Re: remedial waltz (was Re: waltz: how fast is danceable?)
Date: 5 Sep 92 23:20:37 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Interactive Systems, Cambridge, MA 02138-5302

In article <21578@optima.cs.arizona.edu> tzf@csl.biosci.arizona.edu writes:
> In article <0edXVXq00WBLI3_Hoa@andrew.cmu.edu>, dp2p+@andrew.cmu.edu (Denys Proteau) writes:
> |>     TEACHING THE WALTZ BOX STEP TO BEGINNERS IS EVIL EVIL EVIL!!!!!!!
> |> 

> Amen, brother!!!!! :-)

Amen and amen.

>	In addition to which, it's as easy or easier to teach a basic
> turning step. Andrew Tannenbaum had a good posting last year on the
> way to do this ... Andrew, you out there? Maybe it's time to repost it?

Wow, your memory is better than mine, I forgot that I had written this,
but being a packrat, I was able to find the note you have in mind.

	trb

From Tue Jun 25 15:25:02 EDT 1991
Newsgroups: rec.folk-dancing
Subject: would you like to waltz?
Distribution: usa
Organization: Interactive Systems, Cambridge, MA 02138-5302

In article <1991Jun21.172918.2162@agate.berkeley.edu> pedersen@cartan.berkeley.edu (Sharon L. Pedersen) writes:
> I'm still working out the best way to teach waltzing (for those "Would
> you like to waltz?" "Umm, I don't really know how" situations).  I do
> OK with people who know the basics (then I can show them how to turn
> and not tangle their feet up, and even more revolutionary, that they
> Don'T Have To Turn!), but haven't yet found a good way to teach people
> who have never waltzed.

I have taught many women to waltz after the music has started.
If they have a sense of dance, weight, balance, time, etc, then here's
how it goes (this goes for the sorts of waltzes we do at contra
dances, not dreaded road-block box steps).

It's much easier to teach a woman to waltz, because you don't have to
teach her to lead.  (For waltzing, steering is the most important part
of leading.)  You can teach a man to waltz this way if he learns the
woman's role, but it's sort of a circuitous route - when you teach
someone to waltz, it's much better if they're following - teaching
someone to lead is like pushing toothpaste back into the tube.

In case this is helpful to someone out there, I hereby present:

trb's instant waltz lessons (read this with a partner in your arms.)

Lesson one:  We start by waltzing in place.  The gent leads.
1-2-3, 1-2-3, RIGHT-left-right, LEFT-right-left,
forward on the RIGHT, backward on the LEFT, no turning.
The second two beats are small steps in place, but you have to take them.
We always step forward and back, not to the side.  We are now waltzing, Fine.

It's important to relax, even though I'm ordering you to do all this
stuff.  Make believe you're enjoying it.  You'll have to suffer through
a few minutes of awkward waltzing, but soon you won't have to think
about your feet.  Once you get used to it, it's very relaxing, and
should be like floating on air - no bouncing or jerking around.

Lesson two:  On the "forward on the RIGHT," we step our right
foot between our partner's feet.  Yes, really.
This is waltzing, not driver's ed - there's only one steering wheel and
the gent holds it.  You should lean back slightly with your back into my
right arm, and your right hand has to provide resistance for my left
hand, I use my left and right hands to steer you around.  Our upper
bodies move around as a single unit.

Lesson three:  You turn by pivoting between 1-2-3's - first we'll just
turn a tiny bit, look, here.  (we turn maybe 1/10th turn, effectively
in place, and work our way up).  Then we see that the stepping forward
and stepping back in combination with the pivots lets us travel.  In
order to travel in a straight line, we do a half turn with each
1-2-3.  It's not necessary to turn half a turn for every 1-2-3, it
works just fine to combine traveling with walzting in place.


That's the bulk of it, and on a good night, you can fit it all into a
three minute waltz and end up with another experienced waltzer, who no
longer has the excuse "I don't really know how."  Yes, it takes a
little practice, but not all that much.

	Andrew Tannenbaum   Interactive   Cambridge, MA   +1 617 661 7474
Newsgroups: rec.folk-dancing