Joey and JoAnne’s survey results

• Name the steps that you performed/will perform in the Vienna opera ball.

There were a number of “unconventional” aka non-syllabus steps, like
many performance pieces.
- basic skate steps in shadow position: forward skates, zig-zag skates
- open right turns in shadow position
- forward steps with spins out and in
- forward steps with rightward position changes
- basic polka progressives
- basic left turns
- basic box steps
- hesitation steps
- hesitation with cantor step
- basic right turns
- basic right turn with underarm turn to right
- cut time steps
- open right turns
- open fleckerels
- lady’s underarm turn to right from open position

Natural Turn – Reverse turn – Cantor step – hand-to-hand – closed change step – underarm turn – inside turn – turns in shadow position – grapevine – polka basic step

• What are the three basic steps that you enjoy? (i.e. right turn, box
step, etc…)

1. backwards box steps
2. left turns
3. lady’s underarm turn into open fan
(what was the pool of basic steps we could choose from?)

Reverse Turns, underarm turns, hand to hands

• As a man, how do you decide when to change into a different step?
What are the difficulties you face when you lead? And as a woman, how
easy or hard is it to follow?  For both: Is it intuitive? Or was it
predetermined?

Mostly intuitive taking into heavy account my constant read of the
dance floor and all couples on it. Floorcraft is a skill developed
over time: how to anticipate where the other couples may go but also
reacting and changing leads within fractions of a second. Priority is
on safety of my partner and I. That all has become almost second
nature so I just dance and read and dance and read. I try to enjoy
myself and make sure my partner is enjoying her/himself, too.

For a woman, it gets easier to follow as your skill level increases, so much of the steps get into muscle memory. We have to do it backwards and in heels! It is even easier if you know your partner and can predict and/or sense the subtle nuances in the leader’s lead.  The dance becomes intuitive if I know that the leader will be dance basic steps. If there is a choreographed routine, then the steps are predetermined, but there is still a level of muscle memory and intuition that is required to make sure that both dancers are in sync with the music and each other.

• In a ballroom, how long does it take, approximately, to circle the
entire dance floor? How many different steps did you take?

About 20 seconds, with all progressive steps. Thats about 30 basic
steps of 3 beats each.

It really depends on the size of the dance floor, the size of the steps that the dancers take. In most basic steps (eg. Reverse and natural turns) there are 3 steps each, to the count of 1-2-3, 1-2-3.

• It is said the Viennese waltz is beautiful to watch, but even more
beautiful to dance. Are there any points in the dance, when you as a
dancer feel that a strong sensation or emotion is evoked that may go
unnoticed to the audience?

The feeling of sliding along the dance fllor smoothly and gracefully.
Its something you can only appreciate as someone in the dance. You
enjoy the ride, and the feeling that youre not alone in it sharing it
with your partner. Sometimes to the point of being in your own world,
isolating yourselves from reality and only noticing the shapes and
paths unfold.

Whenever I dance V-waltz, I try to express the emotions of the music as much as possible, so that the audience can feel it too. Sometimes a v-waltz has a happy tone, such as the waltzes of old world Vienna. Other times they are darker and mysterious, such as “Vito’s Waltz” from the Godfather movies. The only sensations that may go unnoticed (hopefully) is my embarrassment if I mess up!