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The History of the Waltz - Page 3
But opposition was not lacking. Dancing masters saw the waltz as a threat to their profession. The basic steps
of the waltz could be learned in relatively short time whereas the minuet and other court dances required considerable
practice. Not only were the many complex figures difficult to learn, but also to develop suitable postures and deportment required time and effort.
The waltz was also criticized on moral grounds by those opposed to its close hold and rapid turning movements. Religious leaders almost unanimously
regarded it as vulgar and sinful. In July of 1816, the waltz was played at a Ball given in London by the Prince Regent and a blistering editorial
in The Times a few days later stated:
"We remarked with pain that the indecent foreign dance called the Waltz was introduced (we believe for the first time) at the English court on
Friday last ... it is quite sufficient to cast one's eyes on the voluptuous intertwining of the limbs and close compressure on the bodies in their
dance, to see that it is indeed far removed from the modest reserve which has hitherto been considered distinctive of English females. So long as
this obscene display was confined to prostitutes and adulteresses, we did not think it deserving of notice; but now that it is attempted to be
forced on the respectable classes of society by the civil examples of their superiors, we feel it a duty to warn every parent against exposing
his daughter to so fatal a contagion."
Even as late as 1866 an article in the English magazine Belgravia stated:
"We who go forth of nights and see without the slightest discomposure our sister and our wife seized on by a strange man and subjected to
violent embraces and canterings round a small-sized apartment - the only apparent excuse for such treatment being that is done to the sound
of music - can scarcely realize the horror which greeted the introduction of this wicked dance."
Antagonism, of course, only served to increase the popularity of the dance all over Europe. In Paris alone there were nearly seven hundred dance halls.
A German traveler to Paris in 1804 stated, "This adoption of the German dance is quite new and has become one of the vulgar fashions since the war, like smoking."
The name Waltz comes from the old
German word walzen, meaning to roll, turn, or glide. A ballroom dance in 3/4 time
with a strong accent on the first beat, at an even tempo.
Waltz - Page 1
Waltz - Page 2
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