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Footwork6 minutes

Practice the Waltz Backwards: Bring Your Free Foot Back Earlier

By Bernhard De LucaUpdated

In short
  • Practice a familiar backward step on your own and distinguish the weighted foot from the free foot.
  • As soon as the front foot is free, bring it back close to your body without putting weight on it too soon.
  • Connect the preparatory foot movement with the backward step on its familiar count, without adding an extra step.
  • Increase the tempo only when the foot returns from the space in front without a hurried catch-up step.

A familiar step can suddenly feel rushed, even though you still know the sequence. Often, the path before your foot actually touches down tells you more than the spot where your shoe finally lands.

What you need for solo practice

  • A Waltz sequence you have already learned, including a backward step
  • The familiar counts and weight changes in this sequence
  • A level, clear floor with space behind you
  • Comfortable shoes that neither stick nor slip
  • A quiet practice session without partner contact

The free foot moves before the weight change

When walking backward, the foot that is to step back next may initially still be in front of your body. Once it no longer carries weight, it is the free foot. If it stays in front for too long, it has to travel a long way in little time just before landing. This is the delayed start you practise, not a new step sequence.

Moving the free foot back earlier does not mean stepping onto it earlier. Its path and the subsequent weight change are two distinct actions. The foot passes close to your body by the standing foot, then moves in the familiar backward direction. You are not looking for a pause beside the standing foot, and you do not take an extra step there. As long as the front foot is still carrying weight, you do not pull it away.

So the exercise begins at a suitable point in the sequence you have learned, not necessarily with your feet together. Keep your arms still at first: practising arms and legs separately keeps the task manageable. If the movement only feels constrained when dancing with a partner, that is a different issue from this solo foot path. For a turn that stalls when dancing with a partner, you can find tips under blocked turning paths in Viennese Waltz. Here, your only point of focus is the start of the free foot's movement.

The lower body of a woman dancing the Slow Waltz.
A side view makes it clear how far the free foot trails behind the body.

Prepare the backward walk in seven steps

  1. Select a short passage

    Take the step before the backward step in your familiar Waltz sequence, along with the backward step itself, initially without any additional turn. Name the foot that should step back and the beat on which it lands; keep both unchanged throughout the exercise.

  2. Establish the starting position

    Walk slowly until you reach the point where the next foot to move backward is still in front but is already free. Pause briefly for this exercise only, and make sure you can move it without repositioning the other foot.

  3. Bring the free foot back

    Move the free foot from its forward position close to the floor, past the standing foot and back. Don’t let it swing out to the side or lift up as it moves back; the movement works when no intermediate step is needed.

  4. Land at the familiar destination

    Place the moving foot back where your learned step takes it, and only then make the planned weight transfer. Keep the familiar step length: you are now changing where the foot path begins, not its distance at the same time.

  5. Connect the two steps

    Repeat the selected passage without the practice pause and count the familiar Waltz beats out loud. As soon as the front foot is free of weight, it begins its return; the connection is successful when the foot lands on its own beat and you don't have to rush to place it.

  6. Mirror the exercise

    Choose a familiar passage where the other foot moves backward, and repeat the same sequence. Start slowly there too; if one side feels easier, transfer the early movement initiation instead of inventing a new foot sequence.

  7. Dance the passage to music

    Dance the short passage to waltz music with a clear beat, then gradually increase the tempo. If your free foot gets caught in front again, return to the slower run-through; finish the round only after repeating it without hurriedly resetting.

Change the footwork, keep the sequence

That's right

  • Bring the free foot back close to the floor
  • Move the foot close to your body, past the supporting foot
  • Keep the existing count for placing the foot down
  • Look forward while moving

Not like this

  • Swing the free foot backward
  • Make up a sideways arc for the return
  • Add an extra count for the footwork
  • Lower your head toward your shoes with each repetition

Your exercise to check off

Before the First Run-Through

Selection

After the Slow Round

Control

At the end of the practice phase

Application

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. Yes, without music you can first become more aware of when the foot begins to move. Still count the familiar beats of your sequence so the slow exercise does not turn into a different step sequence. Leave out the brief pause from the individual exercise later. Add music once you can connect the two selected steps.

Ballroom classes for your Waltz steps

In the ballroom class, you can add the preparatory backward step back into your familiar Waltz sequence.

View all matching classes

Keep practicing the way back together

On udansa, you can find dance partners to dance your familiar Waltz sequence as a couple again after practicing solo. Just name the Waltz and the section you're currently practicing.

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Keep practicing the way back together

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