Hello,

I am in need for a private instructor of International Viennese Waltz, who has to be previous competitor in Ballroom dancing. I will be getting married next year in summer, and will be moving to Atlanta, GA from Europe in November this year.

Me and my fiance want to master a viennese in 6-7 months time with a nice choreography to go along. We are begginers in dancing, one with lots of rhytm and previous jazz ballet dancing, the other with two left legs...but we want to do the impossible and nail our first dance, and if we will both feel it, we might take up ballroom as a full time hobby.

I have years of observing my sister compeeting in ballroom and latin dances, therefore we know exactly what we want. We want this to be our biggest chalenge for now, and we will work hard for the goals. So we want someone with a hard hand, not mouthfull of "you guys look great".

Know anyone in Atlanta or the vicinity that does that? Let us know, we would really appreciate it.

Thank you

PM me at -- salsahoy2000@yahoo.com

taught there for over 30yrs on and off

M. Somebody should tell you that in the International Style V. Waltz there is very little choreography. There are Natural Turns Reverse Turns. Fleckerl's which you most likely don't need, and a Contre Check which if you don't do the Flekrals is not needed also. That's about it for the V.Waltz.
Also you will need plenty of room. Why don't you learn a nice Modern Waltz instead.Best of Luck.

M, I must second Serendipity's advice and add a warning. As glamorous as Viennese Waltz may seem, its speed makes it one of the more "dangerous" ballroom dances to perform, especially for an inexperienced dancer. I've seen more dancers fall performing VW than any other dance.

I don't think that you want to leave your wedding guests with the image of you and your spouse flopping on top of each other.

Best wishes to both of you!

jj

jofjonesboro. You could have added that you need a floor about the size of a Basketball floor. A Football field would be better.

Serendipidy, I could have added many things, such as the fact that's it's difficult for inexperienced dancers to give VW its characteristic grandeur.

You had already mentioned the amount of space needed. I saw no reason to repeat the point.

I have been dancing most of my life it seems, and that's 55 years, and I have to say that nailing the Viennese Waltz continues to be difficult. My wife and I can do it, and probably without getting too dizzy and such, but we'd never pick it as a dance to do in front of a lot of people at an important occasion. I admire the courage and ambition, but if one of you is a beginner with two left feet, as you say, you may find even the six to seven months you are giving yourself to be cutting it close for a VW that you'd both feel comfortable with. There are ways to make the steps real small and the turns almost stationary in nature, but the true feel of the VW is lots of spinning, lots of fast movement along the LOD and tricky step patterns that are difficult to master and keep proper timing. But it is great fun, and so very cool when you do it right with a partner who can keep up.
Good luck, but listen closely to Serendipidy and jofjonesboro on this one. They are right on target in their thoughts. A modern waltz could carry a little more elegance and romantic flair for when the spotlight is on the bride and groom.

I would agree it would take about 6 months to learn to do a Viennese Waltz with confidence. With a few months more real world experience dancing it, it should be possible to present in in moderately sized space. Try using back changes - some say they are less elegant, but they let you work in tighter quarters.

But I would not recommend this as a wedding dance, except to already experienced dancers. I absolutely would do one my myself, but not as the only dance (might just have to do all five). In fact I think I'd ask about 6 couples of skilled friends to seed onto the floor one at a time during the Vw and join us. A good way to open the reception from the first dance to general dancing.

I don't want to get off on a tangent from the original question, but it seems like the forum to ask this question, that I have been wondering about. In the Viennese Waltz, on the man's third step, I have been crossing my left foot in front of my right. But as the dance speeds up, I will sometimes not completely cross and it will be more of a tap right next to the right foot, or other times the left foot will go slightly behind the right. It kind of depends on the pace and how my partner and I are doing as far as staying on count. This is American Standard style I am talking about. Is this OK, or am I "cheating" and robbing the dance of its true style?

If your left foot is not crossing in front or is even going behind, you might be overturning step 2. Try to stay going "forward" longer and make the turn more as your arrive on step 2, so that your left foot can fold into place in front of your right. As they say, it's a traveling dance that happens to rotate, not a rotating dance that travels.