Hi - I've been trying to learn the V Waltz from ballroomdancers.com. I get on OK till the corner - I don't have any steps t do there! What easy ones could you suggest? Thanks.

Do naturals turns with somewhat less than 180 degrees of turn - a series of these will take you in a gracefull arc around the short end of the room. Only in a very large room do you need to worry about actual 'corners' in viennese waltz.

Extremely square rooms can be problematic - ie sometimes end up doing only a single reverse turn in the middle of the side to break up the clockwise rotation of naturals and avoid getting dizzy.

I also prefer the backwards change when starting the short wall, as if short on space to avoid an obstacle or bystander I can simply take smaller steps and my partner will have to do likewise to avoid running me over. At an extreme, I'll do 90 degress of turn on the spot to go from backing LOD on the long wall to facing LOD on the short wall.

Spinner,

Just "spin" around the corner...... (ha ha ha) - yeah, i am jealous of you dancing VW.

Don't know, hopefully someone that knows VW can answer this..... most dances you can sort of fake a corner step for the beginning until you are skilled enough to do it the proper way.

I have always been instructed that I must never try Reverse Viennese around a corner, only Naturals. So aproaching a corner I will head in that dirction into the corner with a simple change step. Then continue on with the Natural Turns. To hard to go into here , but watch your phrasing of the music. If your training for Blackpool give the V. Waltz a miss, they don't do it there. You might be interested . There a few more additions this year to the International style of V. Waltz. This is just me. They should dance it all the way back to Vienna and leave it there.

Shame on you Don (only joking of course!)
Viennese waltz is a beautiful dance and a room full of good viennese waltzers makes a lovely spectacle.
I often see top dancers doing reverses round the corners to maintain the 4-or 8-bar sequencing, and i can even do it myself on a good day. But in comps i usually chicken out and do naturals, hoping the judges won't spot i'm not on sequence.
In ireland we have a dance called 'old-time waltz' or 'irish waltz' which is similar to viennese but at a 52-55 BPM tempo and no fleckerels or checks, (though in principle, i suppose these could be added). We even have dedicated 'waltzing competitions' which are very popular, since the dance is so easy to learn. But of course, to dance it REALLY well takes lots of skill

Use underturned Natural Turns to get around the corner. This is one of the easiest ways to turn corners because you can underturn it to change direction. And in Viennese Waltz where you only have seven syllabus steps in international, you only really have two choices -- Natural Turns or Reverse Turns. You can do Reverse Turns around corners, but you have to overturn them to do so, making it more difficult. I've done it and I bet you'll see pros do it, too, maybe to stay on phrase (and with so little to do in VW you can actually think about staying on phrase). But to start at least, just use Naturals and underturn them to get around the corner onto a new LOD. Good luck! :)

If you don't mind "stepping" outside of the International syllabus, you can also use Hesitations in all of their various forms. These are especially useful on crowded dance floors.

Forward and back Hesitations work well in tight areas, and can be used to turn a corner.

A side Hesitation is a nice variation when taken after an underturned Natural or Reverse turn to face center or wall, repectively. The former (underturned Natural to side Hesitation on RF) is a good option as a cornering figure, as it leaves you facing the new LOD. It feels a bit like a Hesitation Change in Int'l Slow Waltz.

And finally, the American style all-time favorite -- the Hesitation Left Turn (forward Hesitation followed by 4-6 Reverse Turn) never fails.

Regards,
Jonathan Atkinson
www.ballroomdancers.com

Just a little note about hesitation type steps. You can certainly use them. They can be quite effective. I typically use them when restarting, just to get a little momentum going. But on a floor with a mix of international and American style dancers, be careful when and where you use them. The international dancers typically won't pause and use hesitations. If you do and you're in their path, they're going to have to find a way around you. That might not be so easy to do either if they can't predict what you're doing, like when you're going to stop doing hesitations and start moving again. Dance what you can and what works for you, just be aware of the other dancers and try to be predicatble so they can navigate around you if necessary. Everyone needs to do what they can to practice good floorcraft. That's all. Just a reminder that when lots of people are continually travelling around the floor, if you're going to hesitate, you have to be careful.

I use the special "K Turn" technique taught to me in driver's ed. Just balance step fud and bk and adjust to the new line of dance. Otherwise, just run into another couple and play it off like it's their fault you can't make it around the corner.