The swing waltz is one of the really enjoyable new vogue sequence dances. It is appropriately named, in that it includes a number of swings back and forth, or sideways, of arms or legs during the sequence. It is a 32 bar routine at three-quarter timing and should be danced to music at 50 bpm. It begins with the man and lady in open extended hold, facing down the line of dance as the music begins.
Both man and lady first extend their arms in an outward sway, then inward toward each other, as if giving direction as to which way they are about to begin their dancing journey.
Swing Waltz Dance Steps
Beginning on the left foot, they both move left, right, left, down the line of dance. At the third left, they draw their right foot up to the left with their toe drawing along the floor, then lift the right to an aerial position almost parallel with the hip, toe pointed, supporting left leg knee bent. To add style, the left supporting foot should rise up to the ball of the foot at this point.
Both partners now reverse this 3 step move, going back right, left, right. The man pauses facing diagonal to wall while the lady pauses diagonal to centre. So they are slightly facing each other, feet having closed together and once again in open extended hold and in promenade position.
The next move involves the man and lady releasing the hold and each doing a solo turn – the man to the left, the lady to the right, beginning with the left foot down the line of dance. The turn involves a left, right, left, right, left … feet together. As your feet come together you both take up double hold.
Next comes one chasse down the line of dance and as you do this, both man and lady sweep the hands at back of line of dance in a circular motion, clockwise for the woman, anti-clockwise for the man. As the hands sweep overhead, another chasse is returned back against the line of dance and you come to rest in double hold as feet come together again.
The next move starts with both partners releasing double hold and swivelling to both face along the line of dance in open extended hold. The man now swivels again on his left foot to face the wall and leads the lady under his raised right hand. Both partners come out to open extended hold facing against line of dance before continuing the move.
This procedure is then reversed, with the man swivelling on his left foot to face the centre, while leading the lady back under his raised right hand. They pause for a moment in open extended hold.
The man then proceeds forward with his right foot diagonal along line of dance, then advances his left foot and closes feet together in a chasse movement. At this point, the man and lady adopt a double hold in promenade position.
From this position, both man and lady swing their right (man) and left foot (lady) forward, while swivelling toward the motion on their left (man) or right (lady) … and back again.
They both then do the same again, but with opposite feet and swinging in the opposite direction – against line of dance.
The man and lady then release one hold and turn outwards from each other along line of dance, until that they are back-to-back. They then swing their free hand across themselves while feet do a chasse and back high into the air with reverse chasse, then turn to face each other again with a right-left-close and resume double hold in promenade position.
The man and lady then swivel inwards along line of dance while swinging their feet. Then step back and swivel in the opposite direction while swinging the opposite foot against line of dance. The man then releases his right hand hold with the lady and raises his left hand to allow her to turn under in a spiral type turn along the line of dance.
At the end of the turn, they adopt normal promenade hold (man’s hand on lady’s back) and once again, swing their inside legs forward along line of dance. As they retreat from this position, the lady spiral turns back under the man’s raised hand so that they come to normal ballroom hold with the man facing along line of dance.
The final phase of the swing waltz, is a reverse Viennese Waltz with two complete turns and coming to rest in normal ballroom hold, ready to begin the sequence again.
