I am a novice and learning Viennese Waltz. My questions are about the unusual footwork. My instructor had my partner and I working on all the mechanics of turning right and left, working our way up to Viennese tempo. When we could do 160 beats per minute without killing ourselves, we had the option of pursuing the "correct" footwork or not. Even though I am not interested in competition, it made some sense to me to learn the "right" steps so away we went. It is challenging but I am sure with enough practice we can make it work. I supplement my live instruction with videos. I have a V. Waltz video in which the instructor says that crossing the feet is necessary on the left (reverse) turns but not on the right (natural) turns. All of this background leads up to these questions:

1) What is the FUNCTION of crossing the feet in the VW turns? (It seems like we can execute the turns without it.) Please be gentle with me, I am a novice.

2) What does this panel of experts have to say about whether the foot crossing happens on both right and left turns OR only on left turns? Why?

Thanks for your time and thoughtful replies.

Molesaver. I would guess that damned sword that was carried is the problem, Sway to the left it would touch down. V. Cross it most likely wouldn't. I'm only guessing.

I am very shocked that any instructor would not start off by teaching you the correct footwork. I would think that you would start very slowly with the correct footwork and as you got better, your speed would increase until you could comfortably do whatever speeds necessary.

1)Yes, you technically can execute the turns without crossing your feet. However, in order to make a full half turn and not turn away from your partner, your feet will cross. Try this, stand still, take a step directly forward with your left foot leaving your right foot where it is. Now bring your right foot pretty much straight back. Odds are that it will cross in front of your left foot. This is what creates the cross in Viennese waltz. This does not happen in the natural turns because you are not making a full half of a turn. In the naturals, you generally are making a 3/8th turn.

2) The foot crossing happens as a result of the amount of turn required for the reverse turns. Hopefully I answered the rest of your question above.

Good luck!

At the risk of confusing the issue, may I bring up the point that in b o t h reverse and natural turns the man completes a half turn after steps 1-3 (lady follows suit in steps 4-6). It's in the distribution of the rotation within these steps that differs: In the natural turn, the man turns 3/8 between steps 1-2 and 1/8 between steps 2-3; in the reverse turn, its 1/4 between steps 1-2 and again 1/4 between steps 2-3. This is because of the dance position of man and lady.

As a result, the body has rotated less after steps 1-2 in the reverse than in the natural. In order to complete the turn in steps 2-3 in the reverse turn, it's generally easier to cross the left foot in front of the right; whereas in the natural turn, it's quite easy simply to draw the right foot to close with the left (only 1/8 of a turn left to do).

Note also that in the natural turn, one begins "right side positive" and ends also "right side positive." For the reverse, of course, it's "left side positive," in both cases completing half turns.

This was a great question. Looking forward to reading more ideas and contributions.

A few months ago, at a practice session, I thought I would have a go at the basic VW movement, with out having had any instruction in that particular dance. I had watched couples dancing, but without making any careful note of what they were doing.

I found that I exectuted natural turns "as normal" (more or less), but quite automatically did cross my feet on the reverse turns. I tried this on my own, and without partner, so I have no idea whether she would also have crossed in the second half of the reverse turn, but it felt completely natural to me.

Earlier this summer I asked my teacher for a private lesson to go through absolute basics (just so that we could get up and dance VW socially, rather than sit it out), she was quite surprised that the basics were already right, and just needed a bit of polish for technique and alignment.

Yes, the lady will cross on 456 of the reverse turn. When you cross, she closes. When you close, she crosses.

Our first attempt at Viennese was during a class party. We had only been dancing for about 2 or 3 months. We tried dancing basic slow waltz footwork to the faster tempo. We were unable to travel it, so we ended up going around in a circle in the center of the floor.

After getting correct instruction, it's become one of our favorite dances. Still can't quite get those darned fleckerels though...

I am so glad this topic was brought up, as I too struggle mightily with the footwork on this dance, which appears to be such a good time if you know how to do it properly. I think the crossover step is so foreign to everything else I ever learned, that is why it seems so odd to me. I can do it for a few sequences, but can't seem to keep it up. So, for me, it's more of a balance issue, I think. I must not be shifting weight properly or something. This is the only dance I have not been able to do well after a certain number of lessons and practice sessions. I don't intend to give up on it either. However, my trouble area appears to be getting step 3 back in the right place. After the crossing step, something doesn't feel right. Is it possible to cross too much? Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

The V. Waltz had a big influence on Modern as it was being done till the year 1922. That was a big year in ballroom dancing. The Reverse Turn in the Waltz was untill that time a V, Cross. The feet didn't come together on the first three. In the same year the cross up behind in the Foxtrot was substituted for what we now know as the Feather Step. In 1925 the Foxtrot was called the Quick Foxtrot. The four standard dances at that time were Waltz Tango Foxtrot and One Step. In 1929 the Quickstep as a championship dance appeared. Out went the One Step. All this information is from Victor Silvester's book Modern Ballroom Dancing.

Here in Ireland we have a dance called "the irish old-time waltz". It has no official syllabus, just custom and practice. It's like viennese except it has no foot crossing on the reverses (just foot closures) and it's a slightly slower tempo (55Bpm). There is no problem making the turns. However, it feels better when the feet are crossed a la viennese.

There are several " Old Time " dances, that have natural turns , included in the basic format .