Rise in Viennese waltz.

[style]

Josh's questions,

- Why is your weight on your heels? When you go back your weight should be released from your heels, but overall you should be poised forward over the balls of the feet, as man or lady.

- Why are you sliding your feet? Place your feet on the floor, when taking your first step forward, and your second step, which should also be directed forward. Why sideways?

The answer to these questions is that I tend to rise since it feels natural. By keeping the weight on the heels and sliding, there is no chance of rise.

[style]

Thanks for the insightful answers. Tonight I am going to put them to the test and see how it goes. Maybe I am going to one extreme to much with no rise and too much the other way rise. If I read it right, I need to find the half way point between the two.

[Warren J. Dew]

Originally Posted by Larinda McRaven

By ISTD book definition there is no sway on the reverse turns. But they do list sway on the natural... LSR. RSL.

Interesting - that is different from either of the books I have. If anyone is curious, here's a summary of the sway descriptions (forward half followed by backward half):

Victor Silvester - natural SRR SLL, reverse SLL SRR
Harry Smith-Hampshire - natural LSR RSL, reverse LLS RRS*
ISTD - natural LSR RSL, reverse SSS SSS
*Smith Hampshire lists the sway on the reverse turn as "slight" for the man but has no such caveat for the lady.

I wonder to what extent those are different ways of describing the same thing, and to what extent there are real differences of opinion on how to dance it.

[Chris Stratton]

Originally Posted by style

Thanks for the insightful answers. Tonight I am going to put them to the test and see how it goes. Maybe I am going to one extreme to much with no rise and too much the other way rise. If I read it right, I need to find the half way point between the two.

Amount of rise is more a derived result of what you do than a an instruction you can apply for how to do it.

What you really need is someone who can be quite specific in person about what changes you should make in your body action.

Though I'll repeate the suspicion that making more use of the knees is likely to be a key part.

[madmaximus]

Originally Posted by Warren J. Dew

<snip>....I wonder to what extent those are different ways of describing the same thing, and to what extent there are real differences of opinion on how to dance it.

Warren,
I think the difference goes beyond describing minutiae about the same thing (as you--I suspect [wink] --know and allude to).

(Personally, I think it is a matter of style and expression).

I would say though, that one dimension of difference (that affects the sway vs. no-sway argument) is the opinion about where the individual axis of a turn is (whether shoulder or spine).

Obviously when the rotation is "spine-centric" the speed of VW kinda tapers the need for sway vs. when it is "shoulder-centered" -- thus the VW sway is a matter of degrees (at least to me).







m

[Larinda McRaven]

I am reading this wrong... is there a typo? Or did we just say the same thing?

Originally Posted by Larinda McRaven

By ISTD book definition there is no sway on the reverse turns. But they do list sway on the natural... LSR. RSL.

Originally Posted by Warren J. Dew

Interesting - that is different from either of the books I have :
ISTD - natural LSR RSL, reverse SSS SSS

[Warren J. Dew]

Originally Posted by Larinda McRaven

I am reading this wrong... is there a typo? Or did we just say the same thing?

I was agreeing with you and providing a direct comparison with the other two sources.

Edit: I should have used a table but was too lazy.

[Larinda McRaven]

okay... I thought I was going a bit bonkers for a minute there... I am on some pretty heavy meds at the moment and not much is making sense right now

[Josh]

Originally Posted by style

The answer to these questions is that I tend to rise since it feels natural. By keeping the weight on the heels and sliding, there is no chance of rise.

And by doing this, there is no chance of swing occurring either, which there most definitely should be. Keep your knees comfortably flexed, do your footwork, and swing your body, emphasizing the "1". You WILL rise--but your intent should not be to create rise by pulling feet together and developing a rise as in waltz, because you have literally half the time.

[Angel HI]

Originally Posted by Josh

And by doing this, there is no chance of swing occurring either, which there most definitely should be. Keep your knees comfortably flexed, do your footwork, and swing your body, emphasizing the "1". You WILL rise--but your intent should not be to create rise by pulling feet together and developing a rise as in waltz, because you have literally half the time.

Agreed, and this will also naturally result in sway enhanced by rotation. One can intentionally not sway by holding one's self erect.... but why?