|
History-Modern
| History-Latin
HISTORY OF MODERN BALLROOM DANCING
Modern
Waltz I Tango I Viennese
Waltz I Slow Foxtrot
I Quickstep
Source:
Don Herbison-Evans
<don@socs.uts.edu.au>
Departmental Report TRS-96-008,
Department of Mathematics and
Computing,
Central Queensland
University, Bundaberg
(revised 27 July 2000)
Donna Reeve & Alan Shingler
1998
British Standard Ballroom Champions
(Photo: courtesy of Neville Lowe)
This article traces the history of the International Dancesport championship
"Modern Standard Ballroom" dances: Viennese Waltz, Modern Waltz,
Tango, Slow Foxtrot, and Quickstep.
The five ballroom dances: Modern Waltz, Tango, Viennese Waltz, Slow Foxtrot,
and Quickstep, are danced the world over both socially and in DanceSport competitions.
The word 'ballroom' denotes a room where balls may be held: that is: formal
social dances. Balls were important social events in the days before radio and
television (as in 'having a ball').
The word 'ball' derives from the Latin
'balare' meaning 'to dance'. This is also the origin of the related words :
ballet, ballerina, ballad, etc. Note that this origin is quite different from
that of a 'ball': a round object used for games. This derives from the Old Norse
: 'bollr', meaning 'to inflate'.
The figures in the modern ballroom dances
have now been standardised and categorised into various levels for teaching,
with internationally agreed vocabularies, techniques, rhythms and tempos. But it
was not always so.
These "Standard Ballroom" dances have diverse origins. rhythms,
tempos, and aesthetics, but have one thing in common: they are all danced by a
couple (usually a man and a lady) in "Closed Hold", maintaining five
areas of contact between the partners while performing all the figures of the
dances.
The closed ballroom hold requires the maintenance of five points of contact
between the partners while they are dancing. These consist of three hand
contacts:
1. the man's left hand holding the lady's right hand,
2. the lady's left hand resting on the top of the man's
right upper arm (behind the arm in the Tango),
3. the man's right hand placed on the left shoulder blade on the
back of the lady.
In addition to these 3 hand contacts, there are two
more areas of contact:
4. the lady's left elbow rests on the man's right elbow,
5. the right area of the chest of each partner touches that of
the other.
Ideally, in this hold, the lady's upper arms are both held horizontal by a
suitable placement of the man's arms and hands. This not only makes it
comfortable for the lady to follow the man's lead, but also gives the couple a
deportment of regal appearance. This deportment is a characteristic of dances coming
from Western Europe, and is a heritage of the origin of ballroom dancing in
the royal courts of Europe. The erect and fixed torso is even more evident in
Classical Ballet, which had the same origins (Clarke, 1981,96).
Louis XIV
(1643-1715) at Versailles
Dancing the Minuet.
The peculiar ballroom dancing "Closed Hold" possibly had its
origins in the time when men wore swords while dancing. This can be seen in the
print by Hans Sebald
Beham (1500-1550), and in the illustrations in Fabrito Caroso's "Il
Ballarino" of 1581 (Lindahl, 1996), although illustrations predating
this time show men dancing without swords but with the ladies on their right
nevertheless.
print by Hans Sebald
Beham 1537
Peasant dancing in 1537 with both sword and partner.
print by Fabrito Caroso 1581
"Il
Ballarino" : Gentleman dancing with both sword and partner.
As most men are right handed, it was conventional to wear the sword and
scabbard on the left-hand side of the belt, so as to facilitate the drawing of
the sword with the right hand. Thus if a man was to put his arm around a lady's
back, she would have to be on his right, or she would keep tripping over the
sword. Thus he could only put his right arm around her; and if she was receptive
to this advance, she would place her left arm over the man's right. From here it
is a simple matter for the man to offer his left hand for the lady to hold for
additional balance while dancing.
The resting of the lady's left elbow on the man's right elbow is probably a
hangover from the days when lady's were socially restrained from ever making
advances to a man: the man always had to take the initiative: he offered, and
the lady either accepted or rejected. One aspect of this elbow contact is that
the man must keep his right shoulder over his right hip, and the right elbow in
front of the line of his shoulders if the lady is to feel comfortable.
The facing of the palm of the man's left hand and the lady's right hand has
its origins in the same social gender constraints as described above: the man
offers his hand (palm up), and the lady accepts by putting hers on the man's
(palm down). This orientation of palms has the advantage of allowing each
partner to keep their wrists straight, and the hand in line with the lower arm,
giving aesthetically pleasing lines (although many teachers advocate other palm
alignments).
The social expectation of male initiative is of course also the reason that
conventionally in ballroom dancing, the man
"leads", and the lady "follows": i.e. the man is basicly
responsible for the choregraphy and directions of travel.
The Waltz is a dance performed to music with three beats to the bar. This
means that if a step is taken on each beat, then each bar starts with the
opposite foot to that of the previous bar. This can be a source of great
difficulty for the beginner, but when mastered gives the dance a delightful
romantic lilt.
The first record of a dance to 3/4 rhythm is a peasant dance of the Provence area of France
(Chujoy, 1967, 958) in 1559, as a piece of folk music called the Volta (Sadie,
1980, 20/74), although the Volta has also been claimed to be an Italian folk dance at
this time (Norton, 1994, 12/426). The word "volta" means "the
turn" in Italian. Thus, even in its earliest days, the dance appears to
have involved the couple turning as they danced.
During the 16th Century, the Volta became popular in the royal courts of
Western Europe. Arbeau describes it as
like a Galliard (done to 3/2 music) but done to slow 6/4 music (Sadie, 1980,
20/74). Actually both it and the Galliard had 5
steps to 6 beats (and hence also alternated feet in alternate measures). The
Volta required the partners to dance in a closed position but with the lady to
the left of the man! The man held the lady about the waist, and the lady put her
right arm on the man's shoulders, and held her skirt with her left. This was
necessary to stop it flying up, because the dance involved the man lifting the
lady using his left thigh under the lady's right thigh (Norton, 1994, 12/426). A
famous illustration of this dance is a contemporary painting said to be of Elizabeth I of
England dancing the Volta with the Earl of Leicester, being lifted in the
air by her partner (at Penshurst
Place, Kent). This ascription is probably facetious, as the painting appears
to be from the French
Valois court.
The Volta: said to be Queen Elizabeth I dancing with the Earl of Leicester.
The Volta appears to be similar to a present day Norwegian Waltz folkdance.
As in any turning dance, as the couple perform their step around their partner,
they have to take a larger than usual step to get from one side of their partner
to the other. In this Norwegian Waltz, the man assists the lady to do this by
lifting her into the air as she takes this step (thus neatly accommodating the
general difference in leg length of the partners).
In order to do this in the Volta, the partners had to hold each other in such
a close embrace that many declared it immoral. Louis XIII
(1601-1643) had it banned from court on this account (Sadie, 1980, 20/74).
Thus although the Volta may have originally been in 3 time, it evolved to be
in 5 time. One of the first published dances in 3 time was "Hole
in the Wall" published by Playford in 1695.
In 1754 the first music for the actual "Waltzen"
appeared in Germany (Sadie, 1980, 20/200). Any connection between the Waltzen
and the Volta remains obscure, except that the word "waltzen" in
German also means "to revolve" (Norton, 1994, 12/482).
In 1799 Arndt wrote that
"the dancers grasped the long dresses so that it would not drag
or be trodden upon, and lifted it high holding them like a cloak
which brought both bodies under one cover, as closely as possible
against them"
Thus the Waltzen also attracted moral
criticism, with Wolf publishing a pamphlet in 1797 (Sadie, 1980, 20/200)
entitled
"Proof that Waltzing is a main source of weakness of the body
and mind of our generation".
Nevertheless, the dance became very popular in Vienna, with large dance
halls being opened to
accommodate the craze: Zum Sperl in 1807, and the Apollo
in 1808 (said to be able to accommodate 6000 dancers) (Sadie, 1980, 20/200). In
1812 the dance was introduced into England under the name of the German Waltz
(Silvester, 1980,12). It caused a great sensation, and Lord Byron
when he first saw it, found his lady friend clasped closely by
"a huge hussar-looking gentleman, turning round and round to a
confounded see-saw, up-down sort of turn like two cockchafers
spitted on the same bodkin"
The 9 steps of the Waltz in 1816 by Thomas Wilson.
Through the 19th Century, the dance stabilised, and was further popularised
by the music of Josef and Johann
Strauss.
Currently, the Viennese Waltz is danced at a tempo of about 180 beats per
minute, with a limited range of figures: Change Steps, Hesitations, Hovers,
Passing Changes, Natural and Reverse Turns, (travelling or on the spot as
Fleckerls), and the Contracheck.
Modern
Waltz I Tango I Viennese
Waltz I Slow Foxtrot I Quickstep
The author and Anna Piper dancing the "Throwaway
Oversway"
in the Modern Waltz
In the early 19th Century, the "Waltzen" became popular through
many parts of Germany and Austria, with the local variants being called by the
name of the area in which they were danced. The form from "Landl ob der
Enns" in upper Austria
became very popular, and became known by the abbreviated name of the 'Landler'
(Sadie, 1980, 10/435).
The modern Landler.
(Photo:
courtesy of Shelby)
Initially the Landler was
danced in heavy shoes, and had animated hopping, slapping and stamping steps,
with complex underarm turns. However, by 1800 the Landler was described
as being done with lighter shoes, and having the same quick gliding rotating
movements steps as the Waltzen but done to a slower tempo (Sadie, 1980, 20/200).
A more sedate form of the fast Viennese Waltz, danced at a leisurely 90 beats
per minute, also evolved in America around 1870 known originally as the "Boston"
(Chujoy, 1967,958). This version of the Waltz retained the characteristic
turning figures and added others such as a dip, and was danced with the partners
holding their hands on each others hips. The Boston also had the distinction of
being the first ballroom dance to be done with feet parallel (rather than turned out, as in ballet) (Sadie, 1980,
3/87).
The present form of the dance has been variously described as being derived
around 1910 in England both from the Landler (Norton, 1994, 12/482) and from the
Boston (Sadie, 1980, 20/200). Either way, there: the dancers began taking
advantage of the slower tempo to add more figures, some with extra syncopated
beats, some with slow "picture" steps. These give the dance light and
shade, and make it more interesting to perform and to watch.
Originally the Tango was (and still is) light spirited Flamenco dance from
Spain. With the Spanish conquest of much of South America, this Tango together
with other Spanish folk dances naturally emigrated with settlers from Spain,
although its involvement in the formation of the Modern Tango is suspect. The
Tangano, an African dance imported with the negro slaves, is a more likely precursor
(Andrews, 1979, 75). Over the years one or both became merged with other dances
in the New World. In particular, in Argentina in
the slums of Buenos Aires in
the late 19th Century, they became merged with the Habanera (a folk dance from Havana in Cuba) (Norton,
1994,11/542). The resulting dance became known as the Milonga.
The private Milonga.
Although initially popular with the lower classes of Argentine society, by
the turn of the 20th Century, it had gained acceptance with the upper classes
there. It's importation into the upper classes of Western Europe was catalysed
by France's greatest music-hall star:
Mistinguett
who gave the first ever demonstration in Paris in 1910 (Collier, 1995, 69).
Interest in the dance rapidly exploded as a "Tangomania", initially
through Paris then London and New York. The first world war did nothing to cool
this interest, with Rudolph
Valentino popularising the Tango further in his film "The
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse"(1921). More recent film demonstrations
have been given by Al Pacino and Gabrielle Anwar in "Scent of a
Woman"(1992), and by Arnold Schwarzeneggar and Tia Carrere in the "True
Lies"(1994).
Rudolph Valentino and Beatrice
Dominguez Dancing the Tango
in the film "The Four Horsemen of the
Apocalypse" (1921).
The character of the Milonga is of a very soft private dance, with visual
emphasis on the leg movements. This character was changed dramatically in Paris
in the 1930's, where the dance was combined with the proud torso of the other
ballroom dances, and given a staccato action. This moved the visual emphasis to
the torso and head, a characteristic which remains to this day. The dance has
been used as an example of Irrational Dancing
(Herbison-Evans, 1988).
This a dance performed by couples in ballroom hold to music with a 4/4 rhythm
and about 120 beats/minute tempo. A faster dance of this nature was variously
called the One Step or Two Step in the Victorian era in Western Society (Coll,
1919, 73). This had one step per beat or two steps per bar; hence the dual
nomenclature. It was introduced as the Castle Walk into the nightclub
performances of Vernon
and Irene Castle, and popularised by Harry Fox in
the stage show "Ziegfeld
Follies" in New York in 1913 (Gwin, 1985, 4/913).
Irene and Vernon Castle ca.
1912,
Practising some Exhibition
Dancing.
Fox's involvement has been taken as the origin of the name
"Foxtrot", although there other posibilities.
The term had been introduced previously by the military for an equestrian gait
(Simpson, 1989, 134) which could well have been used to describe the dance. This
gait is unusually smooth. In a normal trot, the horse picks up and lands on both
diagonally related fore and hind legs at the same time, left hind with right
front, and right hind with left front. This means there are moments when all
four legs are off the ground, the landing from which causes a jarring action. In
the Fox Trot, the fore leg is moved before the hind leg, so that the horse
always has one foot on the ground, which gives a smoother action and which is
also less tiring for both horse and rider. This gait is so useful that a breed
of horse has been developed that more naturally adopts this gait: the Missouri Fox Trotter. The
smooth action is also a characteristic of the Slow Foxtrot dance.
However, the Fox
itself could be involved. The Fox has also been said to have an unusual gait
amongst animals: it can walk with its feet under its body to form a single
track. Early on, the Foxtrot was danced this way, with the left and right
feet falling on one line of dance, each being placed directly in front of or
behind the other. Only in the 1950's was the "Revised Technique"
propagated, in which the left and right feet have each their own separate tracks
on the floor.
The original dance had a tempo of about 160 beats per minute, and was
described as being extremely jerky (Buckman, 1978, 168). It is still taught in
dance studios of the of the schools of Arthur Murray and Fred Astaire. This original
"Foxtrot" is called "Rhythm" or "The Blues"
elsewhere (Moore, 1951, 154).
Music Cover ca.1925 (Note angle of
man's left hand)
It rapidly became popular in New York and a year later in London. It was
fashionably regarded as a rebellion against 19th Century dancing, as it used
parallel feet (rather than the turned out feet of the Victorian dances). Around
1922, the trotting steps were discarded for a less energetic movement called the
Saunter (Andrews, 1979, 79). By 1927 the dance was called the Slow Foxtrot and
was characterised by smooth gliding movements (Sadie, 1980, 6/738). Attempts
have been made to derive a formal grammar for this dance (Herbison-Evans, 1989).
Since that time, the dance has been developed into two derived forms
internationally: the Quickstep and the Slow Foxtrot. The Slow Foxtrot is
performed to slower music (120 beats/minute), and retains the walks and pivots
of its predecessor. It has continued to have a smooth flowing aesthetic, (Moore,
1951, 154), which makes it a great contrast on the ballroom floor to the
antithetical Tango.
As Ragtime music evolved into Swing
through the 1920's, new dances such as the Charleston, the Shimmy,
and the Black Bottom became
popular.
The Charleston was said to have originated in the Cape Verde Islands (Raffe,
1964, 60). It evolved into a vigourous round dance done by Negro dock workers in
the Port of Charleston (Rust,
1969, 89). It was first performed on stage in New York in 1922 in a black revue
by George White. It became popular in white society after inclusion in the stage
show "Running Wild" in 1923 by the Ziegfeld Follies, which toured U.S.A.
(Rust, 1969, 89). It was popularised in Europe by Josephine Baker in Paris
in the 1920's. It was danced with wild swinging arms and side kicks to music at
200 to 240 beats per minute (Sadie, 1980,4/159). It subsequently became very
popular worldwide, but the wild character of the dance induced many sedate
ballrooms either to ban it altogether, or to put up notices saying simply
"PCQ", standing for "Please Charleston Quietly" (Rust, 1969,
89).
Life Magazine Cover, Feb. 18 1926,
by John Held Jr.
Black Bottom presumably originated in the suburb of
Detroit of that name, although it has also been said to have come from New York or New Orleans. The dance
became popular after its inclusion in the stage show: George White's "Scandals
of 1926" (Sadie, 1980, 2/769). It was done to music at 140 to 160 beats
per minute, and involved swaying the torso, bending the knees and short kicks
(Sadie, 1980, 2/729).
The Shimmy was probably derived from a Nigerian dance, the
"Shika", taken to America by the black slaves. It was mentioned in
the song "The Bullfrog Hop" in 1909 by Perry Bradford. It became
very popular in the USA 1910 to 1920, and became a national craze after Gilda Gray introduced
it in the Zeigfeld Follies in 1922. She claimed the name comes from
"chemise", having been asked by a reporter what she shook when dancing
it. However, Mae West
claims to have done it earlier in the show "Sometime" in 1919,
although she was
arrested for it only in 1926 in her stage show "Sex". Mae West's
Shimmy was described by the singer Ethel Waters saying "she put her hands
on her hips and worked her body fast without moving the feet" (Sadie, 1980,
17/257). Nowadays, the word means to shake the shoulders or hips rapidly,
rotating them alternately left and right forward and back about a vertical axis.
These dances became absorbed into a faster version of Foxtrot after a visit
by Paul Whiteman's
band to the UK in 1923, becoming known as the Quickstep (Sadie, 1980,
6/738).
Currently it is danced at a tempo of approximately 200 beats per minute. It
retains the walks, runs, chasses and turns, of the original Foxtrot, with some
other fast figures such as locks, hops, and skips added.
Thanks for helpful discussions are due to Drid Williams at the Music
Department of the University of Sydney, and to Stephen Bok of the Arthur Murray
Dance Studio in Sydney.
Thanks are also due to the staff of the Basser Department of Computer Science
at the University of Sydney, and at Central Queensland University, Bundaberg,
for assistance in preparing this article, and to the School of Computing
Sciences, University of Technology Sydney for hosting it.
Andrews, S. (1979)
"Take Your Partners", Hyland House, Sydney (3rd Edition).
Chujoy, A., & Manchester, P.W. (eds) (1967)
"The Dance Encyclopedia", Simon & Schuster, New York.
Clarke, M., & Crisp, C. (1981)
"The History of Dance", Orbis, London.
Coll, C.J. (1919)
"Dancing Made Easy", Edward J. Clode, New York.
Collier, s., Cooper, A., Azzi, M.S., & Martin, R., (1995)
"Tango", Thames & Hudson, London.
Herbison-Evans, D., (1989)
"A Revised Grammar for the Foxtrot", Technical Report 371,
Basser Department of Computer Science, University of Sydney.
Herbison-Evans, D., (1988)
"An Irrational Tango", Technical Report 330,
Basser Department of Computer Science, University of Sydney.
Lindahl, G. (1996)
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/caroso/
Moore, A. (1951)
"Ballroom Dancing", (6th Edition) Pitman, London.
Norton, P.B. (1994)
"Encyclopaedia Britannica: Micropaedia",
(15th Edn), Encyclopedia Britannica Inc, Chicago.
Raffe', W.G. (1964)
"Dictionary of Dance", A.S. Barnes and Company, New York.
Rust, F. (1969)
"Dance and Society", Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.
Sadie, S. (Ed.) (1980)
"The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians",
Macmillan, London.
Silvester, V. (1980)
"Old Time and Sequence Dancing", Barrie & Jenkins, London.
Simpson J.A. and Weiner, E.S.C. (1989)
"Oxford English Dictionary" (2nd Edn), Clarendon Press, Oxford.
| 
