Waltz

The Waltz is a smooth, turning partner dance in three-quarter time, known for its gentle rise and fall as couples travel around the room. In competition it is danced in two forms: the closed-hold International Standard Waltz and the more open American Smooth Waltz.

At a glance

Styles

International Standard · American Smooth

Time signature

3/4

Tempo

International Standard:28–30 bars per minute (84–90 beats) · WDSF rules 29 bars per minute (87 beats) · NDCA rulebook American Smooth:30 bars per minute (90 beats) · NDCA rulebook WDSF publishes a range for each International dance. The NDCA publishes one figure for each dance it lists and lets the music director move it by one bar a minute (two for Nightclub dances). Where neither publishes a tempo, the range is typical, not a rule.

Hold

International Standard: Closed hold American Smooth: Closed and open hold

Competition levels

Bronze, Silver and Gold syllabus, then Open and Championship, for amateur, professional and Pro/Am couples

Origin

Austria and southern Germany; modern form codified in England Late 18th century; modern technique 1920s

The Waltz grew out of turning folk dances in triple time from the German-speaking lands, especially the Ländler of Austria and Bavaria. By the second half of the 18th century, a couples dance called the Walzer was popular among ordinary people there, and by the 1780s it had become fashionable in Vienna.

As it spread across Europe in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the close embrace caused a scandal. Critics called it improper, and it reached fashionable English ballrooms only around the 1810s. The dancing master Thomas Wilson published a guide to waltzing in London in 1816.

Over the 19th century the dance split by speed. The fast, rotating form became what we now call the Viennese Waltz, while slower versions developed in the early 1900s, including the American Boston and the Hesitation Waltz associated with Vernon and Irene Castle in the 1910s.

In England in the 1920s, teachers refined the slow waltz into a traveling dance with continuous turns. The Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing formed its Ballroom Branch in 1924 and gave the Waltz a fixed technique, which became the basis of today's International Standard style. American Smooth grew up later in the United States as a freer, more theatrical alternative. See the history of DanceSport for the wider story.

The Waltz feels like a swing of a pendulum. On beat one the dancers lower into the floor, then they rise through beats two and three and lower again, a pattern called rise and fall. That steady swell, together with sway through the turns, gives the dance its romantic, floating look.

Most figures take one bar of music, with three steps to three beats, and many of them turn. Couples travel counterclockwise along the line of dance, so a good Waltz looks as if it never stops moving, even when a figure pauses on a hesitation.

Basic count

1, 2, 3

Time signature

3/4

Tempo

28–30 bars per minute (84–90 beats) · WDSF rules 29 bars per minute (87 beats) · NDCA rulebook

Hold

Closed hold

In International Standard the couple stays in closed hold for the whole dance, with body contact and a shared frame. Steps are long, footwork is precise (a heel lead on the first step of most forward figures), and the turn and sway come from the whole body rather than the arms.

WDSF rules set the tempo at 28–30 bars per minute. Judges look for a smooth, unbroken flow, clear rise and fall, controlled sway and good use of the floor. Because the hold never opens, the quality of movement between two people is what separates couples.

Basic figures

• Closed Changes
• Natural Turn
• Reverse Turn
• Natural Spin Turn
• Whisk
• Chasse from Promenade Position
• Closed Impetus
• Hesitation Change
• Outside Change
• Reverse Corte

Figure names are given as the syllabi write them, in English.

Basic count

1, 2, 3

Time signature

3/4

Tempo

30 bars per minute (90 beats) · NDCA rulebook

Hold

Closed and open hold

American Smooth Waltz uses the same music and the same rise and fall, but couples may release hold, dance side by side, turn under the arm and strike open poses. Beginners usually start with box-based figures, where the feet close on every third step, before moving on to traveling, continuous figures.

The NDCA rule book lists the American Smooth Waltz at 30 measures per minute (90 beats), and lets music directors vary traditional dances by one measure either way. Judges reward the same flow as in Standard, plus musical phrasing and the way open figures are woven into the travel.

Basic figures

• Left Box Turn
• Right Box Turn
• Progressive Change Step
• Balance Steps
• Fifth Position Breaks
• Underarm Turn
• Closed Twinkle
• Cross Body Lead
• Syncopated Promenade Chasse
• Natural Spin Turn

Figure names are given as the syllabi write them, in English.

The Waltz is the first dance in an International Standard event and also opens most American Smooth events. It is competed by amateurs, professionals and in Pro/Am, where a student dances with a professional teacher. See how US competitions and Pro/Am work.

Newer dancers usually enter single-dance Waltz events at Bronze level, where only syllabus figures are allowed, then progress to Silver and Gold. The levels and categories guide explains how those divisions work.

The Waltz is a staple at ballroom socials, dance studio parties, weddings and formal balls. On a social floor most people dance a relaxed, box-based version that fits a crowded room, opening it up into traveling turns when there is space.

1. Count out loud at first: one, two, three, with a little more weight on one.

2. Lower on the first step of each bar and rise through two and three; the rise is gradual, not a bounce.

3. Take the first step of a forward figure with a heel lead, and keep your feet close to the floor.

4. Keep a steady frame with your partner so the turns come from the body rather than from pulling with the arms.

5. If you start in American Smooth, learn the box step first; in International Standard, start with the Closed Changes and the Natural and Reverse Turns.

Waltz music is in 3/4 time at a slow, lilting pace, with a clear stress on the first beat of each bar. Competitions use lyrical orchestral or string arrangements, film and stage-music styles, and slow contemporary ballads arranged in triple time.

• Viennese Waltz

  Viennese Waltz explained: its Vienna origins, tempo in International Standard and American Smooth, the basic turns, and how it differs from the slow Waltz.

• Foxtrot

  Foxtrot explained: its 1914 New York origins, Slow Foxtrot in International Standard and Foxtrot in American Smooth, tempos, basic figures and differences.

• Tango

  Ballroom Tango explained: its Río de la Plata roots, Standard and Smooth tempos, basic figures, and how it differs from Argentine Tango.

• Quickstep

  Quickstep explained: how it grew from the 1920s foxtrot, its WDSF tempo, the basic figures beginners learn first, and tips for dancing it lightly at speed.

1. WDSF Competition Rules 2026, Rule E.3 Music (tempo table)
2. NDCA Rule Book, July 2026, Section IX.B Approved Tempi
3. ISTD: History of Modern Ballroom
4. ISTD: Modern Ballroom Professional Modular Examinations Syllabus Outline (2018)
5. USA Dance Rule Book 2026, Appendix B Syllabus Guidebook (American Style Waltz)
6. Wikipedia: Waltz

What this page was written from. DanceFlow is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sanctioned by any of these organizations.

Last checked against its sources on November 3, 2026.

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