Let me start by addressing the issue of dizziness. Before you add extra patterns, which increase difficulty, consider changing direction of turn more often. No matter how well you dance the pattern, you'll get dizzy very quickly if you continue to turn in only one direction. By periodically reversing your rotation, you prevent dizziness from setting in.

I recommend at least 4 and no more than 8 measures (that's 2-4 complete turns) at a time. Pros often phrase the dance by taking 7 measures of turn, then change on measure 8. If this is too much for you, forget phrasing and cut it down to 4 or 6 measures. The other consideration is room size: Dance the correct number of measures to allow you to keep your Reverses on the long side and your Naturals around the short. On anything less than a full competition-sized floor, you may need to shorten your phrases to accommodate the size of the room.

In American style, you have many additional options at your disposal to help break up the monotony and fight dizziness as well. Once you've mastered the basic pattern of Naturals, Changes and Reverses, try adding some of the typical bronze variations such as Hesitations, Open Break & Underarm Turn, Side-by-Side Runs or Changes, and any of the various patterns involving Explosions and Changes of Places.

I'm not going to go so far as to say "Size doesn't matter", but it probably doesn't in the way you think.

Big steps aren't what make Viennese (or any dance, for that matter) smoother. There is something to be said for *relative* size; That is to say, the size of the step should be correct relative to one's partner. At the wrong time, either partner can take a step that is too small... or too big. In closed position when moving forward or back, or sideways without turn, the correct step is one that is exactly the same size as one's partner's. When moving sideways through a turn (such as step 2 or 5 of the basic Natural or Reverse), the person on the outside of the turn must take a slightly larger step.

Rather than getting hung up on the actual size of the step, I recommend you pay greater attention to three things: (1) The quality of the forward step, (2) the timing of your rotation relative to your progression (i.e. CBM), and (3) your direction across your first step.

(1) Forward Step
Beginners often attempt to turn at the expense of everything else. When moving forward or back, pay close attention to the moving foot and knee. Make sure that they align with the orientation of the body and direction of movement. If the foot is placed turned-out, the movement will become stifled. (Think about what happens when you do this on ice skates).

A great way to test your foot alignment is to put your hands together in the shape of a gun with index fingers pointing forward. Place it against your belly button, pointing forward. Walk forward, curving the movement slightly. When the foot lands, look down to see if the foot is aligned with the fingers.

(2) CBM
Beginners don't typically turn too much; They simply turn at the wrong time. The timing of your rotation is extremely important in executing a smooth and effortless turn.

This can get very complex, so let me outline a very simple version for starters: As you turn, one side of the body passes the other. As you walk, one foot passes the other. To achieve a good balance of rotation to progression, try to make the two timings match.

For example, step 1 of Reverse Turn: Start with feet together, pointing down line of dance, weight on right foot. Before you step, "wind up" by turning your body only (no feet) to the right. As your left foot moves along the floor, start turning to the left. Turn at such a speed that as the right foot catches up to the left, the body arrives in "neutral", or aligned directly down line of dance. As the right foot begins to move forward, keep turning to the left so that the right side advances with the foot. By the time the body arrives over the right foot, it has become a side step.

Congratulations! You have successfully matched the timing of the rotation to the speed of the step.

(3) Direction
You may hear a teacher tell you to move "through, not around" your partner. If so, they are specifically referring to your direction between steps 1 and 2. As you move across your first step, your direction should not divert to the side. The more it does, the more difficult it becomes to pass your partner. And progressive half turns are accomplished by passing one's partner, not by circling around them.

A good exercise for beginners is to use a floor guide. If you can't find a section of floor with some sort of natural marking, try using some form of masking tape to create a straight line. First, dance a quarter turn (forward, side, close) by yourself, making sure all 3 steps are placed exactly on the line. Once comfortable, try with a partner. The person moving forward must be able to maintain all 3 steps on the line. The person moving backward will need to divert toward the inside of turn, and therefore slightly off track.

These concepts are not simple, and take many lessons and hours of practice to master. But just having an awareness of the problems and corresponding solutions should give you a good start. With any luck, it may be just enough to get you moving a little bit. After that, get some help, and you should able to dance an easy, comfortable Viennese in no time!

Regards,
Jonathan Atkinson
www.ballroomdancers.com

Waltz 123. There were a few aditions to the V. Waltz about five years ago. The only ones being used are the Contra Check and the Pivots which we see all the time. I can't imagine any one using a Whisk but I am pretty sure it was included in the changes. This was reported on Dancesport UK in Articles and Interviews.

I can assure you.. NO additions were made to the syl. at Comp. level in Intern style.. proposals.. yes.. but rejected..

And Jonathon,,interesting comment that rotation in one direction will cause dizziness,, strange, in as much that ONLY natural turns were danced for multi yrs , with apparently no ill effect .
That is not to say however, that some people might be affected..

Jonathan, Thanks for taking the time for such a complete explanation. Your thoughts on CBL are excellent and easy to comprehend. Your explanation of the steps may take me a few reads before it sinks in, but it will surely be helpful. Mastering the VW has been elusive, and even though it doesn't come up often when we go to dance to live music, I would like to get far more comfortable with it. At the studio, of course, we can request it more often.
I'd be about 50-50 on the dizzy thing. Sometimes I get dizzy, other times not so much. To be honest, it seems like it depends on what I have been doing beforehand. Hours of work on the computer usually translates into being more prone to dizziness. A day outside in fresh air and doing different tasks would translate into more stamina and a clearer head, I guess!

It is hard to see good VW dance nowaday. VW contains many standard Waltz elements but should not dance like a normal Waltz. i.e. Step 1 of natural turn has no CBM. It dances side way and sway left. It is not a turning and turning dance. Through out the 6 steps of natural turn, there is only one complete turn. To change from one direction to the next i.e. natural to reverse, one should really follow the music phrasing. There are 8 bars to a chord and it is where end and beginning of the next phrase. When you got stuck in a tight room, for the beginner, you can dance side steps to steps until the room is cleared.

I was told that in the V.Waltz the alignments must be correct. To start with a Natural we must be facing diag to the centre. Our first step will go down the LOD. This stops us over rotating. Because of the speed we dance, after the eigth bar try to finish facing centre. the rotation will then naturaly turn us to diag to centre A Forward Change will finish with us facing the LOD. If we finished diag to centre we would over rotate our Reverse movement. These alignments must be stuck to throughout the dance.I was also told try not to do Reverse Turns on the short sides of the ballroom, which is sides two and four. If you did on the small side going around the corner. Your stepping back side together will become mistakenly something resembling a heel turn and then feet together. Not good.

The light bulb has really gone off now! It turns out that I learned the Reverse with the Viennese Cross as the first steps in that dance. I was then trying to do the dance mostly with the Reverse cross and rarely incorporating the Natural. I was wrongly believing that the Reverse was the main step to use throughout most of the dance. Now that I see the difference, especially that there is no cross in the Natural, I think the whole dance is going to come much easier to me.
Thanks so much for the explanations. It took some time to sink in, that's for sure.
I find it hard to believe that I wasn't catching on that the Natural was the way to start and, at least for me, so much easier to master. I know my instructor tried to teach me the change from Reverse to Natural at one time, but I was so frustrated with being able to do the Reverse for a long period of time, that I kind of blanked everything else out. This is like a revelation and it made my day!

dheun. Something else that gets missed is the sixth step of the Natural V. Waltz is Foot Flat and not a TH.
Richard Gleave insists also keep the toe on the floor. All of this does make a difference to the rise and fall, and helps to control, and not overturn the movement, especially before going into a Forward Change at the end of the eighth bar or the fourth..

Terence. Mirko and Alessia in there V. Waltz Demonstration do a Left Whisk which I thought at first was some kind of Contra Check. Thats the way they attacked it with a really quick checking action.

In Demos, anything is fair game..BUT.. NOT in the world of Comps.