WALTZ TIME NEWSLETTER
April 2009
I don't want people who want to dance;
I want people who have to dance.
George Balanchine
Greetings from Waltz Time! This newsletter offers a calendar of upcoming waltz dances and workshops, dance community news and informative articles. We encourage your articles to our newsletter. What would you like to know? Please send your story or suggestions for topics to staff@waltztimedances.org.
Waltz Time is an all-volunteer committee that produces the twice monthly Sunday afternoon waltz dances at Glen Echo Park's Spanish Ballroom. The April and May waltzes are listed below or view the entire year's calendar at our web site.
We hope you enjoy our newsletter. At the end of this page there are additional links that you can use to forward this newsletter to a friend or to unsubscribe.
| POETRY CORNER |
STRAUSS BALL | QUESTION & ANSWER | VIENNESE WALTZ CLASSES | SUNDAY WALTZ SCHEDULE |
Poetry Corner: Our Dancers Submit Their Haikus and Poems!
We received two haikus for our "contest" and one poem. Please join the fun and send us your creative words! Enjoy...
- Waltz through stars tonight,
Breathing, embracing, being:
Heartbeat, dancebeat, One.
by Donna Daniel
Winter wonders wane
Warmer weather weaves its walk
Waltz wakens worn weeks
by Ron Sadowski
The haiku contest continues, so send us your creative words - haiku is the traditional form of non-rhyming poetry with 3 lines that are 5, 7, and 5 syllables. It doesn't take long to write one — just complete the first line and think of a couple more to go with it. Submit your haiku by email to staff@waltztimedances.org.
Thrilled
T'was no snap to my crackle, my pop had gone flopAnd at captain's table my crunch was all-stop
My cuckoo was silent: my puffs cocoa free
My sweet frosted flakes were now all sugar free
My Trix (humdrum vit's: no colors but tan)
My Quaker Puffed Wheat were as flat as a pan
But now that I'm back it's snap, crackle, ka-boom!!
My munch has the crunch of starved locusts in June!
Puffs covered with cocoa! I dance on my head!
Tony the Tiger has sweet roaring breath!
My Trix now a rainbow: each color star bright!
My Quaker Puffed Wheat gun, shoots both day and night!
To put it straight forward: no ifs, buts, or ands
I'm deliciously happy to be waltzing again!
by Ron Sadowski
The 26th Annual Viennese Strauss Ball
Save this date on your 2009 calendar: Waltz Time will present the 26th Annual Viennese Strauss Ball Saturday, May 2. This benefit event is always a highlight of the spring season, giving dancers a chance to strut their stuff in elegant attire – while supporting Glen Echo Park.
As always, there will be an introductory Viennese Waltz lesson at 8 p.m., followed by dancing until midnight in the Spanish Ballroom. A Grand March, dance cards, Carousel rides ($1.25/person) and refreshments complete a perfect evening. $20/person. Check Waltz Time for more details as we get closer to the date.
Please help: Waltz Time is a completely volunteer, nonprofit group. We don't have enough members to adequately manage this event, so please offer to help! For your time, you will get free admission. Please let us know at info@waltztimedances.org if you'd like to volunteer.
Get Ready for the Strauss Ball: Viennese Waltz Classes
Donna Barker and Mike Marcotte are offering a 4-week Viennese Waltz class on Wednesday nights at Glen Echo Park. The 1-hour classes run from April 8 - 29, 7 - 8pm. For full details, visit their website.
Although you can waltz any style you prefer at the Strauss Ball on Saturday evening, May 2nd, you may want to learn the Viennese waltz to give you variety and to challenge your dancing. Viennese waltz is the dance from which all ballroom dances evolved. Its popularity is world-wide. In this class you'll learn left and right turns and the change step that allows you to switch between the turns. No partner or experience is required. Cost is $40/person for the four weeks. You can register online at the Glen Echo Park website. Online registration is encouraged but you may also register at the door on April 8.
A Response
An out-of-town dancer, who googled our website, asked if we know of recordings of Viennese waltzes that one can actually dance to, not just listen to. The reply may be of interest to our readers, so we offer it here:
- I suggest a Cincinnati Pops CD of 19th-century music, called The Never-Ending Waltz, that another dancer recommended.
According to him, it is 45 minutes of nonstop waltzes played at dance – and not concert – tempos, which range from around 160 to
180 beats per minute or so. He says, "The beats are mostly very clear to me and the beginning partner I practiced them with before
deciding to recommend the CD. I think these tunes are what you might consider using for those new to this style of music and
for your own personal listening." You can buy the CD on Amazon or
cduniverse; at the cduniverse link all tunes are listed.
It's in several connected sections: J. Strauss Jr. Waltzes, Vienna Waltzes, Operetta Waltzes, Opera Waltzes, Waldteufel Waltzes,
Concert Waltzes, Ballet Waltzes and Tchaikovsky Waltzes.
- An excerpt from the cover emphasizes the album's purpose: "Director Eric Kunzel has taken strains from some of the most
beloved waltzes by the Strauss family and the many composers who fell under their lilting sway to create The Never-Ending Waltz.
All the music heard in this collection is authentic, performed in the original keys and orchestrations, without alternations or
added transitions. The only changes have been to assign parts originally intended for vocalists to instruments. Each of these
waltz suites is treated in true dance fashion, moving from one strain to the next at a constant, infectious pace without the
interpretative touches traditionally given to this music in a concert...."
Upcoming Sunday Afternoon Waltzes
Sunday Afternoon Waltzes begin with an introductory waltz lesson from 3 - 3:30 pm, | ||
APRIL 2009April 5: BLUE BAMBOO with Elke Baker, Barbara Heitz, Jonah Blaustein, John Devine, Ralph Gordon, Marc Glickman |
MAY 2009May 3: THE FIGMENTS with with Ethan Hazzard-Watkins, Anna Patton, Owen Morrison |
|
All events are held at the Spanish Ballroom, Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo, MD and
sponsored in cooperation with the Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts and Culture, Inc.,
the National Park Service and Montgomery County, Maryland.