PATTERNS AND ROUTINES FOR AMERICAN WALTZ -Copyright, Jonathan Tyrone Rowell, 2003 Notes: 1) Waltz is the most romantic of the smooth/standard dances. The American style Waltz is quite common at weddings. 2) Developing the rise and fall of waltz will actually strengthen your upper legs (check your progress with leg presses). Bronze Figures 1) Fwd and Back Change Steps - May be initiated with either foot 2) Progressive Box - amalgamation of the Left and Right Fwd Change Steps. Travels with better control than most figures, but is more a beginning social dance pattern. Only use in competition if necessitated by traffic. 3) Right Box Turn - aka Natural Turn. Three bronze types, based on rotation achieved: "A" - no rotation, on the spot, "B" quarter turn each measure, "C" 3/8 rotation per measure. "C" is identical to International Waltz Natural Turn. Also may be thought of as combination of R Fwd Change and L back Change 4) Left Box Turn - aka Reverse Turn. Three types, based on rotation, as above. "C" is identical to International Waltz Reverse Turn. Also may be thought of as combination of L Fwd Change and R back Change 5) Box Underarm Turn - Borrowed from American Rumba, man dances two Left Turn-A, while woman takes six fwd steps (LRL RLR) starting on the second measure. Woman's path should be large and sweeping. She might not actually return to closed position until the first step of the last measure. The man may need to rotate during his box to collect the woman, but it should not be as severe as with Rumba. 6) Simple Twinkle - In bronze pattern, you must close your feet on 3 rather than brushing. Facing DW is most typical starting direction, but LOD or even DC or W can be used. Another means of getting into the Twinkle is to first dance 1-3 Natural Turn, then LF back, RF close with heel pull, and LF together (or brush for Silver) in PP. When using the brush action, this is equivalent to Int Waltz Open Impetus 7) Twinkle to Chasse - Syncopated footwork inserted within the two parts of the simple Twinkle. 8) Progressive Twinkles Fwd - aka Fwd Twinkles, aka Serpentine. Picked up the silly name Serpentine because the couple "snakes" down the line of dance. For bronze pattern, feet must close on 3, 6, etc. Competition rules typically restrict this pattern to 6 measures. One interesting variant uses two-hand hold rather than closed position. While not entirely different, try not to confuse the styling with Samba Bota Fogos. 9) Progressive Twinkles Back - aka Back Twinkles. Here roles are reversed from above, with man going backward and woman forward. Variation and styling comments as above. 10) Promenade Walkaround - aka Twist to Left from PP, aka Corkscrew. Taken after initiating a Simple Twinkle. On 4, man crosses RF in front of LF and guides woman to walk CCW about the man in PP for 2 complete measures. One full rotation should be achieved, with man's weight slowly brough back to LF with the untwisting. Finish as per a Simple Twinkle. 11) Promenade Underarm Turn - ?? Some syllabi (ISTD) include this pattern of waltz as bronze, but I don't recall ever seeing anyone ever turn a follower while in promenade position. Some webinfo talked about prohibiting syncopated underarm turns in PP for bronze dancers. It may have been a reference to this figure. Consult a coach or judge for better instruction. - NEW INTERPRETATION: perform steps 2-4 of Am. Foxtrot Promenade UAT. Follow with either an outside foot Prom Hesitation plus Chasse or a LF Change 12) Promenade Pivot - Starting with Simple Twinkle, man steps in front of woman's line to start a pivot turn. Follow with a LF Promenade Hesitation, then finish as per a Simple Twinkle. This is a difficult pattern to achieve, and some feel that it doesn't look that good anyway. Listed NDCA bronze. 13) Fwd and Back Hesitations - aka Balances, either no weight change on 2-3, or close-replace 14) Side Hesitation - no weight change on 2-3 15) Promenade Hesitation - there are a couple of ways actually to hesitate in promenade position. The easiest is to simple wait with weight on the outside foot (for instance after initiating a Twinkle) for one full measure. Version two is step through on 1 and either 2 fwd/side or together and no weight change on 3. The final version of promenade hesitation is from old social style waltz. Perform as with Version 2 but commit to a weight change on 3. Because the outside foot is now free, you will have to follow with a Fallaway Hesitation. The competitive acceptability of this last version is questionable, and I wouldn't recommend it without running it by a coach/judge. Socially, though, it offers up a few interesting variations (like pivoting the follower before the man performs the Fallaway Hesitation, or breaking closed position to perform a Counter-Promenade Hesitation - called a Weave in some circles) that are fun to play with. 16) Side Cross Hesitation - listed NDCA bronze syllabus. At present, I don't know what the Side Cross Hesitation is, though I am aware of the International Waltz Cross Hesitation Silver figure, which may be related. Any ideas? 17) Cross Body Lead - The footwork is identical to a Cross Body Lead from the American Rumba Box pattern. It can be initiated with or without ccw rotation. 18) Butterfly - aka Flow(ing). The term butterfly comes from the fact that the couple will be separating and coming back together like butterfly wings. It is NOT the "waltz"-version of the Butterfly amalgamation used in Rhythm/Latin, though both have the same inspiration for the name. The man begins facing either DC or C and initiates a Left Box Turn. The second measure is taken to side, with second step through with separation. Bronze couples must close feet on third step. The next three steps are through-side-close. This may be repeated; most competitions will limit this to six measures in Bronze. NO travelling spins - that's a silver development. One variant of this move allows for the man to lead the woman into a loop turn during the first measure ala american rumba during the transition from box to slot dancing. 19) Left Cross Turn - old ISTD syllabus, ?? 20) Advanced Left Turn - ?? Listed on NDCA bronze syllabus. May be a different name for open Left Box, in which case it is a silver pattern 21) Open finish A, B, C - ?? These are moves that were listed on the NDCA syllabus a while ago, as well as a few others, but they seemed to have disappeared. Anyone know anything concrete? 22) Natural Spin Turn - an alt version of NDCA includes Natural Spin Turn for Bronze American Waltz - but it seems out of character in my opinion relative to continuity footwork being a major no-no in bronze smooth. I'd recommend not including it, but there may be a more informed (and contradictory) judgement out there. 23) Left Turn with Lady's Left UAT - this may be either the Left Cross Turn, or the Advanced Left Turn, I found the description at Michigan. The man performs an ordinary Reverse Turn, but opens on 4 and on steps 5-6 he leads the woman to turn L. For the woman, steps 4-6 are LF fwd LOD, 3/8L, RF back and pivot 1/2L DW, LF fwd and pivot 1/2L DW. End with LF Change 24) Open Break and Lady's Underarm Turn R - similar to doing Bolero Open Break (side step is first) and Lady's UAT R to waltz timing. I've not seen this listed on any syllabi, but I did find it in another manual and I have seen it being used frequently in Bronze competitions this last semester. - not included in the Syllabus Mastery Routine Open Break to UAT Syllabus Mastery Routine Side Hesitations, Natural Turn to Back Twinkle w/ Walkaround, Reverse Turn, LF Change, Natural Turn, RF Change, Progressive Twinkle Fwd, 1-3 Reverse Turn, Progressive Twinkles Back, Right Box B (4-6,1-3) Progressive Basic x3, Left Box B, Box UAT Twinkle and Chasse, LF Change, Natural Turn, RF Change, Butterfly, Cross Body Lead, Simple Twinkle Routines (absent figures 19-24) 1) (2m) Progressive Basic - repeated ad infinum - newcomers/ social only 2) (2m) Twinkle - repeated ad infinum 2b) (4m) Twinkle and Walkaround 2c) (3m) Twinkle and Chasse 2d) (2m) Twinkle and Promenade UAT - see foxtrot for explanation 3) (11m) Twinkle, Twinkle Walkaround, Twinkle and Chasse, Twinkle and Prom UAT 4) (8m) Left Box B, Left Box A, 1-3 Left Box A, 4-6 Left Box B, 1-3 Left Box B, RF change (fwd or back) 4b) (8m) Right Box B, Right Box A, 1-3 Right Box A, 4-6 Right Box B, 1-3 Right Box B, LF Change (fwd or back) 5) (6m) Reverse Turn, LF Change, Natural Turn, RF Change 6) (8m) Reverse Turn, Twinkle, LF Change, Natural Turn, RF Change 6b-d) replace Twinkle with Twinkle and Walkaround, Twinkle and Chasse or Twinkle and Promenade UAT 7) (12m) Reverse Turn, Progressive Twinkles Fwd, LF Change, Natural Turn, RF Change 8) (8m) 1-3 Reverse Turn to Progressive Twinkles Back, Left Box B 9) (9m) Twinkle, Twinkle and Chasse, Twinkle and Walkaround 10) (16m) Reverse Turn, Progressive Twinkles Fwd (ended DC/LOD), 1-3 Reverse Turn to Progressive Twinkles Back, Left Box B or Cross Body Lead 11) (10m) 1-3 Left Box B, RF Change (back or fwd), LF Change (fwd) to Butterfly, ended R Side Hesitation, Left Box 12) (8m) 11 ended with Cross Body Lead 13) (10m) 11 ended with Twinkle, Reverse Turn 14) (12m) 11 ended with Open Box UAT, Left Box 11-14 may be initiated by 1-3 Natural Turn with a back-step Twinkle (or Twinkle-initiated sequence) taken C/DC. This is in lieu of the first two measures Chasse may be doubled, staying in PP throughout. 15) (6m) Reverse Turn, LF Change, 1-3 Natural Turn with back-step Twinkle (or Twinkle-initiated sequence) 16) (6m) Twinkle to Promenade Pivot, Side Hesitations, Reverse Turn Silver Patterns 1) Running Steps - Silver version of change steps, only not to the side. The social style of this is to go fwd-fwd-close, but I believe the competitive version is three fwd's. 2) Open Progressive Twinkles (fwd and back) - Progressive Twinkles with Continuity steps. As a bonus, Fwd Open Twinkles can be ended with the lady performing a develope. 3) Cross Body Lead - some syllabi list this as bronze. Probably a safe bet that you won't be bothered about it if you keep your feet closed. This begs the question, Is there perhaps a silver variation like Twinkles etc.? 4) Open Simple Twinkle - aka Advanced Twinkle. Continuity steps are used, so dancers do not close feet on 3 and 6. As a result, lady must be led to switch from PP to Closed Position with Man outside partner. 5) Open Twinkle to Progressive Chasse - Use the brush step when starting the Twinkle, and then close with man outside partner at the end. Chasse stays the same 6) Open Left Turn - aka Silver Left Box. This is improved Left Box C, as continuity steps are now being employed. Body alignment changes to left side leading. 7) Open Right Turn - aka Silver Right Box. This is the improved Right box C, as continuity steps are now being employed. Body alignment changes slightly during the performance of this move. 8) Promenade and Counterpromenade Runs - aka Passing Twinkles. In all likelihood, this is the money move for silver smooth. There are two variations on this move. The first has only the follower switching from side to side, while in the second both the leader and the follower alternate switching. In the case of the latter, the person moving fwd with the Right Foot will perform the action. 9) Butterfly - the silver version of this move allows the couple to incorporate two elements that weren't available in Bronze: 1) passing footwork on the even-numbered measures, and/or 2) travelling spins. Travelling spins on the even-numbered measures are most common and spin fwd (man cw, woman ccw). Possible variation has spins on the odd-numbered measures with opposite spin. 10) Twinkle and Twist - ISTD possibly the silver variant of the Walkaround 11) Progressive Basic - I have seen this listed as aka Serpentine and distinct from progressive twinkles in one or two cases. This may be the curved running steps variant of the Serpentine action in lieu of progressive twinkles, since the running steps are kinda the silver change steps. Can anybody provide clarification? 12) Promenade Cross to Quick Chasse -NDCA 13) Pivots to Spin-NDCA 14) Hesitation Left and Right-NDCA 15) Contra Check-NDCA 16) Open Right Turn to Fan-NDCA 17) Quick Fallaway to Rock-NDCA 18) The Oversway-NDCA 19) Single Wrap 20) Shadow Left Turn 21) Single Wrap to Shadow Wrap Turns 22) Syncopated Right Underarm Turns 23) Grapevine - ?? - rather foxtrot-y. 24) Curved Three Step - I can't remember which source I pulled this from, but "Three Step" is typically International Foxtrot. Someone more informed will have to clarify whether there is in fact American Waltz move that goes by this name. Several of these silver steps seem misplaced under Waltz. 25) Fallaway Reverse Turn, Slip Pivot, Syncopated Curving Three Step - see comment above 26) Open Left Turn to Cross Swivels - seems Tango-ish to me 27) Left Side Rock and Spin -ISTD 28) Twinkle and Fallaway - ISTD 29) Twinkle and Pivots - ISTD 30) Fallaway and Rock - ISTD Many of the Bronze routines can be used in Silver level dancing, performed either with bronze technique (ie closed steps), silver technique, or a combination technique (like using the brush action of a silver twinkle but closing it to face DW as with Bronze). Routines 1) (4m) Open Left Turn, Advanced Twinkle - repeat 2) (6m) Open Left Turn, Running Steps, Open Right Turn, Running Steps 3) (8m) Open Left Turn, Open Progressive Twinkles, Hesitation with Develope, Close 4) (10m) Open Left Turn, Promenade and Counter Promenade Runs, Twinkle Close "Gold" # Spiral Combinations # Shadow Twinkles # Syncopated Grapevine # Advanced Corkscrew # In and Out Turns # Solo Pivots # Syncopated Underarm Turns # Arabesque w/ Syncopated Underarm Turns # Fallaway Locks # Pivot Locks