Learn to dance the Slow Waltz

The ideal way to learn the Waltz from the ground up! Professionally certified instructors and former champions George and Wendy Pytlik show you how to dance the Slow Waltz in this comprehensive two-hour program.

In this lesson we cover the music of Waltz, proper posture and dance hold. Understanding posture and hold are critical for building the foundation to look great on the dance floor. With the right information, even a raw beginner can look like a polished dancer very quickly.

In this lesson we cover the Left Foot Box step in detail. The Waltz Box Step is one of the most important figures in dancing. The forward half of this figure is also known as the Left Foot Closed Change. We include a number of important details to help you avoid bad habits in your dancing.

This lesson covers a figure known as The Hesitation, which consists of a pause in the movement to create a beautiful effect. This figure is used to create light and shade in your dancing, and can help when there are issues such as people in your way, so that you can pause and wait for traffic to clear. Often danced poorly due to a misunderstanding of the lead for this step, we show you how to lead it correctly.

In this lesson we show you how to turn the Box Step. There's a fair amount of information here because people often get into trouble with their feet when they try turning the box for the first time. We take you step-by-step through the process to make it comfortable and easy to learn.

This lesson covers a figure from the American Smooth syllabus called the Lady's Underarm Turn. This is a lovely step for social dance settings, giving the lady an opportunity to show off her dress and move around on her own. We also give you a variation that provides a creative option to enhance your dancing.

This lesson covers the Right Foot Box, and right turns. You can only turn in the direction of the foot that's moving, so the Right Foot Box can only produce a right turn. We show you some of the common pitfalls people run into when dancing the Right Foot Box, to help you avoid trouble.

Now it's time to take the individual figures that have been covered and put them to work to create movement. In this lesson we show you how you can combine the Left Foot Box and left turns with the Right Foot Box and right turns to dance around the room, using a common pattern that's used by all levels, including the most skilled dancers.

We advance your skills in the Waltz by showing you a technique known as Waltz Rise and Fall, to make your dancing look more polished. It takes a bit of practice to get it right, so we go into detail to help you understand how to create smooth rise and fall action.

Congratulations for getting this far. Now it's time to upgrade your Waltz! The final lesson shows you how you can double the amount of movement on the floor by making only one surprisingly small change to how you dance the typical Waltz sequence. This is the exact same technique the champions use in their choreography.