We have signed up for Night Club Waltz dance lessons so that we'll be able to dance at our upcoming wedding.

Now I am confused though: Is night club waltz even a waltz?

Not "officially"... Sounds like they're teaching some sort of nightclubby version of the Waltz, to make it more appealing to social dancers and wedding couples. Not a bad idea, really.

Regards,
Jonathan

Hi,

I'm not really sure what a "nightclub" waltz is but I'd reccommmend one of two things since this is for your wedding.

1) After you have learned the basics at a the class, which sounds like a group class, pay for an hour or two of private instruction so that a teacher can finesse things with your fiance' and yourself one on one. It will be money well spent. After taking group lessons and then going to private instruction my wife and I are believers in private instruction.

2) In addition to or in lieu of the above get a book entitled "Quickstart To Social Dancing", by Jeff Allen. Your local book dealer may have it or at least can order it for you. In this book there is a special section for wedding dances, including scripting for your first dance that will assure your special day is in fact,special.
Best of luck and congratulations!

Do you live in the Victoria, BC area?

For some reason someone in our area started calling this dance "Night Club Waltz." It is not a waltz. It is more properly called "Club Slow".

You might call it Night Club Slow but that would confuse it with "NightClub 2 Step" which is an entirely different and more complicated dance.

"Slow" is in 4/4 and is built around the rocking circle close hold cuddling prom dance.

It is dead easy to learn. We have people coming to my wife and I asking to learn to dance for their weddings all the time. 9 times out of 10 the music they've chosen can be danced to "Slow". Make sure you throw in the DIP. It's the perfect picture moment for the relatives.

Here is a link to Dance Vision for what people are mistakenly call Night Club Waltz:

http://dancevision.com/store/JD06/

As the previous poster mentioned take a couple of privates as well. That's especially important in the Dip as beginners always overdo this. A teacher can show you how to do this properly so if you let go of your partner they don't fall over. Yes, in the DIP you should be able to let go of your partner without her falling. The whole step is a visual illusion to make the audience think she's in a position she could fall from.

Excellent choice.

OB

OB, yes in fact, we are in Victoria! We had our first lesson and now understand that Night Club Waltz is no waltz at all!

Thanks for the advice on getting a private lesson- we'll try to do that. Right now we're having a blast in the group class though!

GM,

Glad to hear it and congratulations.

See you at the "Y" (Just a guess as I know it gets taught there).

OB

Well, in Night Club Two-Step, you can do waltz-type boxes, and then go back into the rock-steps. Maybe that's it. It starts out like samba, then the man's left forward indicates time for the lady's right to go backward, and that's how the waltz stops. You stop it by going into what looks like the setup to an open twinkle?

macha,

You can find Night Club Waltz at DanceVision listed as Slow Dance or Club Slow by Jamie Josephson.

Basic for man starts in a cuddle position with the man holding the lady's hand to his heart.

Basic action is circling right.

Basic Step Man:

Back Left
Replace weight right
Left Foot to the side turning 1/8 to 1/4 Right
Right foot back

Repeat

All Slows (no quicks) NC2 has quicks

The whole action is alsmost circling on the spot.

We then add promenades, walks, dips, rocks, pivots, etc. but basically everything is a Slow (except for Slow Rocks which take 2 Slows).

Very simple, very easy to learn.

OB

Ah- my bad. That's the one everyone around here calls the "country waltz" or "cowboy walt" I think. Well, some of us call it the redneck waltz, because if done improperly, it just looks like a guy hanging all over some girl who's dragging him along.