- Era: 1880s into very early 1900s
The simplest description of the racket waltz is that it is the step of the one-slide racket converted to waltz time, with the extra beat of music per measure added to the initial slide. Edna Witherspoon, in The Perfect Art of Modern Dancing (1894), gives it the alternate title "The Society" and notes that "if thoughtlessly executed, it is a most ungraceful and unattractive dance." Allen Dodworth, in Dancing and its Relation to Education and Social Life (1885), adds that "The racket, in this accent, is that unfortunate dance known as the "Society," and is the medium through which not a few show an entire absence of good taste in motion." Honestly, it's not that bad! It does not seem to have been quite as popular or well-known as the galop-time rackets I described earlier this summer, but it is an easy dance that works well to brisk waltz music.
The instructions below are for the gentleman; the lady dances opposite. The dancers start in a normal late-nineteenth-century ballroom hold with their bodies angled diagonally forward along the line of dance. There is no full turn; the dancers zig-zag along the line of dance.
How to dance the racket waltz (two bars)
1,2 Slide left foot diagonally forward along line of dance
3 Draw right foot to left, displacing left (into second position raised) (="cut")
& Draw left foot to right, displacing right (cut)
1,2 Slide right foot diagonally forward along line of dance
3 Draw left foot to right, displacing right (cut)
& Draw right foot to left, displacing left (cut)
The mnemonic is "slideslide, cut-cut, slideslide, cut-cut", or "one/two, cut-cut, one/two, cut-cut." In effect, this is a sort of early hesitation waltz. Contrast the pattern with the one-slide racket in galop time and the simplicity of the conversion to 3/4 time becomes obvious:
Galop: 1 2& 1 2&
Waltz: 12 3& 12 3&
All moves are made at angles, first diagonally left forward then diagonally right forward, with the change of angle occuring on the pairs of cuts. It is also possible to dance with the gentleman going backward, although zigzagging back and forth along the line of dance with the leader unable to see where he is going requires great care. By altering the angles, the dancers can also wander chaotically around the ballroom, which may not be appreciated much by other dancers.
To enter the racket waltz, simply stop turning in the waltz. End with the gentleman facing the line of dance or the wall; the former will be easier from the "new waltz" of the late nineteenth century than from the constantly-rotating earlier waltz. Slide along the line of dance at a slight angle. Tilt back and forth a bit on the cuts while turning so that the other side is toward line of dance, being careful to kill all traveling momentum. This is not generally something to try with someone who has never learned rackets, though a skilled lady might be able to pick it up on the fly.
As noted above, brisk music is required or the slide on the first two counts will drag horribly.
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The Racket Waltz is described in the following sources:
Allen Dodworth, Dancing and its Relation to Education and Social Life (New York, 1885, reprinted 1900)
M.B. Gilbert, Round Dancing (Portland, Maine, 1890)
Edna Witherspoon, The Perfect Art of Modern Dancing (London & New York, 1894)
Note: in this source, it appears as ' "The Society" or Racket Waltz.'
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A master list of all my racket posts is here.
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