Waltzing through Time

The Waltz. A dance of grace. A dance of elegance. A dance of History. The Waltz allows us to literally walk in the steps that our ancestors would have taken during the First World War, whilst also reviving that beautiful war time atmosphere on our stage in 2014; “we give history the chance to speak again” (Birds Eye View Theatre Manifesto, 2014) through the medium of dance.

The Waltz is a particularly romantic dance I wanted to use this in our performance to portray the women’s longing and love of their boys out on the front line. I’ve done this through creating a layered routine to the war song ‘Till We Meet Again’. The layers were to represent 3 types of women. 4 of the girls will be dancing with brooms thinking back before the war, 4 more girls will dance around the original 4 with empty trench coats representing an almost fantasy and dream like image of what the women wanted desperately to do and then the last 2 girls will be waltzing behind our cyc showing how life was before.

This particular dance is traditionally performed in a closed position (close hold) with a slow 3/4 time beat. The first step is a strong beat followed by two soft beats. 1, 2, 3 1, 2, 3… It is crucial to also include the fall on the strong beat and then 2 rises on the soft beats to achieve a correct and professional waltz step.

This is seen as follows:

In ‘Sincerely Yours’ I’ve been teaching the girls the basic Waltz steps;

The Waltz Box Step
waltz-box-step

(Central Home, 19th May 2014)

The Waltz Forward Progressive Step
waltz-forward-steps

(Central Home, 19th May 2014)

The Natural and Reverse Turn

(Ballroom Dance UK, accessed on 19th May 2014)

And finally The Whisk and Chasse

(Anton Du Beke and Erin Boag, August 17 2012, accessed on 19th May 2014)

Keep an eye out for all of these steps in our big Waltz number ‘Till We Meet Again’!

Works Cited
Anton Du Beke and Erin Boag, August 17 2012, accessed on https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCONA_a14_1qjbBSMMBl4CPQ on 19th May 2014.
Ballroom Dance UK, accessed on https://www.youtube.com/user/BallroomDanceUK on the 19th May 2014.
Dance Resources, accessed on http://www.centralhome.com/ballroomcountry/waltz_steps-2.htm on the 19th May 2014.

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