Slow Waltz: Link Figures and Understand the Music

In Slow Waltz, figures are building blocks with a specific beginning and end. That means you can't string them together just any way: at the end, the foot needed for the next figure must be free. Your alignment also has to match its starting position. These connection requirements explain why a short sequence is often more useful than lots of figures learned individually.

A manageable repertoire includes the right turn, left turn and closed changes. The right turn is also called the Natural Turn, and the left turn the Reverse Turn. In their basic form, both consist of six steps over two bars. A complete figure does not automatically mean a full 360-degree turn.

A closed change, by contrast, takes one bar. It allows you to switch from one starting foot to the other without being a major turning figure in itself. You should already know the basic step and the individual left turn for this; their step instructions are not repeated here.

Later, you can add figures such as the whisk and chassé. They expand your connection options, but they are not required for the sequence described below. Seeing larger figures on TV does not make this foundation any less useful: looking at rhythm and posture in dance show dances helps you distinguish showmanship from the fundamentals of dancing.

The following sequence describes the leader’s role in closed dance hold. The follower starts each time with the corresponding opposite foot. Dance direction means the path counterclockwise around the room. “Diagonal to the wall” means diagonally outward in the direction of dance, while “diagonal to the center” means diagonally inward.

To begin the right turn, the leader faces diagonally to the wall and has the right foot free. The sequence consists of four components:

• Bars 1 and 2: Begin the right turn by stepping forward with the right foot. After six steps, the right foot is free again.
• Bar 3: Dance a closed change forward with the right foot: right forward, left to the side, right close. The left foot is free afterward.
• Bars 4 and 5: Begin the left turn by stepping forward with the left foot. After six steps, the left foot is free again.
• Bar 6: Dance a closed change forward with the left foot: left forward, right to the side, left close. The right foot is free afterward.

In the usual basic version, the right turn ends facing diagonally to the center, and the left turn ends facing diagonally to the wall. The changes maintain these respective alignments. This brings the ending back to the starting position. The six bars form a repeatable figure sequence, but not a complete musical phrase: the movement sequence and the musical section do not have to be the same length.

Triple meter groups the music into sets of three beats. The one is the start of the measure; you often hear an accent or a new bass pulse there. A musical entry works especially well at the start of a new phrase, for example when the melody begins again after the introduction. An upbeat may come before this start.

The usual dance tempo of around 28 to 30 measures per minute corresponds to 84 to 90 quarter-note beats per minute. So if a tempo marking shows around 90 BPM, it can certainly suit a Slow Waltz. “Slow” describes the dance style here, not an arbitrarily low beat count.

These three well-known recordings are in triple meter and make good musical starting points:

• Come Away with Me, Norah Jones: a calm pulse with understated accompaniment.
• Moon River, Andy Williams: a clearly recognizable waltz melody with softly sung phrases.
• Tennessee Waltz, Patti Page: an easy-to-hear triple meter and clearly structured melodic sections.

These are not standardized competitive dance recordings; small tempo fluctuations are part of the performance. Cover versions may have different arrangements. For a steady class tempo, instrumental recordings produced specifically for the Slow Waltz are more suitable. In a dance course for couples, these clear musical examples go hand in hand with learning how to connect the figures.