The Serenade Waltz is a modern sequence dance. The dance script was composed by Jack Kennedy in 1943. It is a 32 bar dance (see paragraph numbers) in the usual 3/4 waltz time and should be danced to a 1-2-3 rhythm to music at a tempo of 46 bars per minute. We commence the dance in Open Hold with the man facing and the lady backing line of dance. The Lady should be slightly to the left of the man so that he is outside his partner. Only the man’s steps are described here, with the Lady dancing as a counterpart, unless otherwise stated – in which case, the lady’s steps are in italics.
The man lowers (bends his legs) slightly and uses “heel leads” to step forward; backward steps are drawn with his toe (again, lowering himself) and whenever they bring their feet together in a sideways movement, both man and lady should rise up onto their toes, then lower. This is called “rise and fall”. If you find yourself confused with all the technical terms, you can skip to a video presentation of the dance below.
Serenade Waltz Dance Steps
If You Prefer to Just Watch a Video of the Serenade Waltz, Please Scroll Down
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Bar |
Man’s FootWork |
Timing | |
Serenade Waltz – 1st Movement – Step, Point Right – Step, Point Left – to the Side, Close, Step Forward and Check |
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| 1 | The man moves his left foot forward, facing diagonal to wall and outside his partner (the Lady brings her right foot back, herself backing diagonal to wall with her partner on the outside) | H | 1 2 |
| The man points his right foot to the side and slightly forward (the Lady points her left foot to the side) | B | 3 | |
| 2 | The man now moves his right foot forward to the centre, continuing outside his partner (the Lady brings her left foot back toward the centre, her partner continuing on her outside) | H | 4 5 |
| Now the man points his left foot to the side towards the centre (the Lady points her right foot to the side towards the centre) | B | 6 | |
| 3 | The man extends his left foot forward in a diagonal to centre direction (while the Lady brings her right foot back, diagonal to centre) | B | 1 2 |
| Now the man closes his right foot to his left foot while turning to the right to face the wall (and the Lady closes her left foot to her right foot while turning to the right until she is backing the wall) | BH | 3 | |
| 4 | The man now lowers his right hand, releasing open hold to take up a Natural Closed Hold. He moves his left foot forward in a diagonal to wall direction but against the line of dance and outside his partner, into a Check position (the Lady brings her right foot back in a diagonal to wall direction against the line of dance, with her partner on the outside. She then raises her left foot at count 6 – see timing to the right) | H | 4 5 6 |
Serenade Waltz – 2nd Movement – Replace, Brush – Over Sway, Recover to Cross Hand Hold |
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| 5 | The man replaces his weight back onto his right foot and commences turning to the left (the Lady moves her left foot forward while turning so that she is square to her partner) | BH | 1 2 |
| Then the man brushes his left foot to his right without changing his weight and continues turning to the left, to face the line of dance with the lady now square to himself (the Lady brushes her right foot to her left without changing her weight, while moving into a Natural Closed Position backing the line of dance) | B | 3 | |
| 6 | Next, the man brings his left foot to the side and slightly back and does an Oversway (the Lady brings her right foot to the side and slightly forward and joins the man in an Oversway) | BH | 4 5 6 |
| 7 | Now the man replaces his right foot and moves it forward (Lady replaces her left foot and commences to turn to the right) | H | 1 2 |
| The man brushes his left foot to his right foot without changing his weight, while raising his left hand and leading the lady to turn to her right (the Lady moves her right foot forward along the line of dance and continues turning to the right until she is facing the man. At this point she should be slightly on his right side and backing the line of dance) | B | 3 | |
| 8 | Now the man moves his left foot forward along the line of dance, releasing his right-hand hold on the woman and taking up a “right hand to right hand; left hand to left hand” hold, with both partners now facing each other. Left-hands should be on top of right-hands and the man’s hands should therefore be crossed (the Lady draws her left foot back along the line of dance on the ball of her foot, in Crossed Double Hold, and resting on her heel) | H | 4 5 6 |
Serenade Waltz – 3rd Movement – Check, Replace, Brush – Change of Place |
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| 9 | For the next move, the man moves his right foot forward along the line of dance and on the lady’s right side, into a Check (the Lady draws her right foot back while raising her left foot) | H | 1 2 3 |
| 10 | Now the man draws his left foot back against the line of dance while raising his left hand and turning the lady to her left (the Lady moves her left foot forward against the line of dance and commences turning to the left) | BH | 4 5 |
| The man then brushes his right foot to his left foot without changing his weight (and the Lady draws her right foot back and to the side, against the line of dance) | 6 | ||
| 11 | Next, the man draws his right foot back while raising his right hand and continues turning the lady to her left. Both hands should still be joined (and the Lady moves her left foot forward against the line of dance and continues turning) | BH | 1 2 3 |
| 12 | Now the man draws his left foot back while raising his right hand and continues turning the lady to her left. Both hands should still be joined and the lady now on the man’s right side and backing the line of dance (the Lady moves her right foot forward and continues turning until she is backing the line of dance and on the man’s right side) | BH | 4 5 6 |
Serenade Waltz – 4th Movement – Lady’s Turn – Forward Step, Back Step |
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| 13 | The man moves his right foot forward, raising right their hands and leading the lady to her right to face the line of dance (the Lady brings her left foot back, drawing with the ball of her foot onto her heel) | H | 1 |
| (the Lady brings her right foot back while turning to the right to face the line of dance) | BH | 2 | |
| The man’s left foot brushes to his right foot without changing his weight (and the Lady brushes her left foot to her right foot) | 3 | ||
| 14 | Now the man brings his left foot to the side towards the centre (the Lady brings her left foot to the side towards the centre, a long step) | BH | 4 5 |
| Now the man brushes his right foot to his left foot without changing his weight while the lady moves across in front of the man to be on his left side (the Lady brushes her right foot to her left foot without changing her weight) | B | 6 | |
| 15 | The man then bings his right foot back against the line of dance while raising his left foot (and the Lady brings her right foot back, being on the man’s right side and raising her left foot) | BH | 1 2 3 |
| 16 | The man moves his left foot forward along the line of dance (and the Lady moves her left foot forward along the line of dance) | H | 4 5 6 |
Serenade Waltz – 5th Movement – Side, Close – Forward and Swivel to Shadow Hold – Swivel |
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| 17 | Now the man moves his right foot forward and to the side, while turning to the left (and the Lady moves her right foot forward and to the side) | B | 1 2 |
| The man then closes his left foot to his right foot while facing diagonal-to-centre, with the lady now again on the man’s right side (and the Lady closes her left foot to his right foot while facing diagonal-to-centre, herself being now on the man’s right side) | BH | 3 | |
| 18 | The man then moves his right foot forward and does a swivel to the right, to face diagonal-to-wall (and the Lady moves her right foot forward and does a swivel to the right, to face diagonal-to-wall) | HB | 4 5 6 |
| 19 | The man moves his left foot forward in a diagonal-to-wall direction (and the Lady does the same as the man for bars 20 to 35 ) taking up Shadow Hold | H | 1 2 |
| The man moves his right foot forward in a diagonal-to-wall direction | B | 3 | |
| 20 | Then he moves his left foot forward and does a swivel to the left, to be facing diagonal-to-centre | HB | 4 5 6 |
Serenade Waltz – 6th Movement – Walks to Aerial Lift – Backward Walks – Step to Aerial Lift |
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| 21 | The man moves his right foot forward in a diagonal-to-centre direction | H | 1 2 |
| Then he moves his left foot forward in a diagonal-to-centre direction | B | 3 | |
| 22 | Then his right foot goes forward again and he raises his left foot and sends it forward | H | 4 5 6 |
| 23 | Now the man brings his left foot back in a diagonal-to-wall direction and against the line of dance | BH | 1 2 |
| Then he brings his right foot back while turning to the right to face the wall | BH | 3 | |
| 24 | And the man’s left foot then goes forward in a diagonal-to-wall direction | HB | 4 5 |
| Then the man raises his right foot and sends it forward in a diagonal-to-wall direction and against the line of dance. The lady should now be on the man’s left side | – | 6 | |
Serenade Waltz – 7th Movement – Heel Turn – Aerial Lift – Back, Side |
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| 25 | The man brings his right foot back in a diagonal-to-centre direction and commences turning to the left | BH | 1 2 |
| Then he closes his left foot to his right foot. He should now be facing diagonal-to-centre and does a Heel Turn with the lady again on the man’s right side | BH | 3 | |
| 26 | Now the man moves his right foot forward in a diagonal-to-centre direction | H | 4 5 |
| And he raises his left foot and sends it forward in a diagonal-to-centre direction | – | 6 | |
| 27 | Then he brings his left foot back and commences turning to the right | BH | 1 2 3 |
| 28 | Then the man brings his right foot to the side so that he is now facing diagonal-to-wall and is slightly behind and on the lady’s right side | BH | 4 5 6 |
Serenade Waltz – 8th Movement – Point, Point – Change of Hold |
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| 29 | The man points his left foot forward behind the lady | T | 1 2 3 |
| 30 | Then he points his left foot back towards the centre | T | 4 5 6 |
| 31 | Then the man moves his left foot forward in a diagonal-to-wall direction (and the Lady moves her left foot forward in a diagonal-to-wall direction with a heel lead) | H | 1 |
| (the Lady moves her right foot forward in a diagonal-to-wall direction while moving away from her partner) | – | 2 | |
| The man now Brushes his rifght foot to his left foot without changing his weight and releases the hold with his right hand (the Lady closes her left foot to her right foot, being slightly away from her partner) | B | 3 | |
| 32 | Then the man brings his right foot back while using his left hand to lead the lady to turn to her left to face the line of dance (the Lady brings her right foot back) | BH | 4 |
| (the Lady brings her left foot back) | 5 | ||
| Finally, the man Brushes his left foot to his right foot without changing his weight and turns to the left to face the line of dance. Partners resume Double Hold (the Lady brushes her right foot to her left foot without changing her weight while turning to the left to face her partner) – Ready to begin again! |
B | 6 | |
