1930s Waltz Variations: About Face Waltz

This is the third in an occasional series of short descriptions of waltz variations taken from 1930s sources, specifically, in this case, the 1936 edition of Lillian Ray's Modern Ballroom Dancing.  See the first post in this series for a quick note about the basic waltz of this era as well as descriptions of two variations.  The second post, describing a hesitation, is here.

Moving right along, today's step is known as the About Face Waltz and is a twelve-count (four-bar) sequence that travels strongly along the line of dance in alternating shoulder-to-shoulder positions.  The diagram at left (click to enlarge) shows both the man's and woman's steps.  Ray offers an aesthetic evaluation of the move:

While it borders on the exhibition it is not too difficult or conspicuous for the most conservative person to do.

The About Face Waltz breaks down into four parts: walking steps performed right shoulder to right shoulder, an about-face, walking steps performed left shoulder to left shoulder, and another about-face.  The about-face transitions are essentially the usual "step-side-close" pattern performed side-by-side, though that is somewhat disguised by the way the turning motion is distributed.

The About Face Waltz sequence
(Note that all of the steps are made along the line of dance)

1    Man forward left, woman back right (man stepping out to the left to come right-shoulder-to-right-shoulder)
2    Man forward right, woman back left
3    Man forward left, woman back right

4    (Making a quarter-turn to the right to face each other) man forward right, woman back left
5    (Making another quarter-turn to the right) man back left, woman forward right
6    Man close with right, woman close with left  (now left-shoulder-to-left-shoulder; close with weight)

7    Man back left, woman forward right
8    Man back right, woman forward left
9    Man back left, woman forward right

10  (Making a quarter-turn to the left to face each other) man back right, woman forward left
11  (Making another quarter-turn to the left) man forward left, woman back right
12  Man close with right, woman close with left  (now left-shoulder-to-left-shoulder; close with weight)

This can be repeated as often as desired.

I've given the sequence above precisely as given in the manual and in the way that matches the diagram, but I find it helpful to think of 4-5-6 and 10-11-12 as "step along line of dance (and then pivot a quarter to face partner), step sideways along line of dance (and then pivot another quarter to face along/against line of dance), close" or "step (turn), step (turn), close."  I feel that the turn is more gracefully distributed when it starts at the end of beat four or ten and completes after five or eleven.  Given how difficult it is to describe dance movement, this might be what was intended and was simply expressed poorly in the description and diagram.  The turning could also be distributed such that the final quarter turn is actually made after the close, at the start of the next series of forward or backward steps, but that really does not seem to be what was intended.

Entering and exiting the sequence
The About Face Waltz is easy to enter: the man starts be facing along line of dance (woman against line of dance) and simply steps out the left so as to come right shoulder to right shoulder with the woman while guiding her straight back along line of dance.

Exiting is a bit trickier to describe, but not all that difficult in practice.  During the last three steps (10-11-12 above), either (1) bring the man in from of the woman with his back to line of dance while she continues to move forward, or (2) rotate counter-clockwise as a couple with both partners changing the direction they are facing and ending with the woman directly in front of the man with her back to the line of dance.  Either way, the trick is for the man to start the exit by angling or lengthening step #10 (man steps backward/woman forward) and then shortening or angling step #11 to allow one partner to move in front of the other before closing on step #12. 

To end with the man facing line of dance, he should angle the step #10 slightly towards the center of the room then shorten step #11 while guiding his partner firmly counterclockwise to end in front of him on the final close on step #12.

To end with the woman (still) facing line of dance, the man lengthens step #10 while opening up some space between him and his partner, and then make step #11 diagonally to the left in front of the woman, who is already facing line of dance and makes a simply forward-side-close.  If the angle is not perfectly correct at the end of this bar, it can easily be corrected on the next move.

Comments

[Cathy]

I'm pretty sure that this is a step we still do down here. It is taught on the southern folk waltz circuit.