Intro to American Waltz ~ 6wks ~ Sept 19 – Oct 24, 2022

Modern form of Waltz was born in suburbs of Vienna and mountain regions of Austria, and was created not for use by folk dancers, but for court. Before that time, all court dances were rigid, stately, solemn, procession-based, very tightly controlled, with complicated moves and timings. Waltz changed that with the introduction of free form dance with close position of dances, which immediately sparked revolt and scandals from traditional lovers of old ballroom dance. After 18th century came, France become in love with the Waltz form called allemande, dance in which dances were separated one from another. However, this soon changed when popularity of ¾ timed Waltz became overwhelming, setting it as a standard and spreading its influence all over the Europe. One of the major causes for the popularity rise of ¾ time waltz was phenomenal music creations of Johann Strauss and Franz Lanner. Their waltz music echoed through the halls of Vienna, Austria and Germany, spreading all across Europe and destroying the sentiment that this dance was immoral and scandalous. United States accepted waltz during mid-19th century, and by early 20th century it became dances everywhere.