Happy New Year to everybody!
But now for something completely different:
AIt is generally known that the
Waltz originally was a rural dance which was refined for the saloon. Its international success started when it was presented to the Cogress of Vienna at the Austrian court.
The effect of a "hillbilly" dance being "domesticated" as a elegant dance occurs frequently throughout history, the other main example being South-American
Tango.- The name "waltz" means "roller", as the dancers "roll around each other" (indicating the close contact between the couple which was not characteristic for all dances of that time). The original "proto-waltz" probably is close to what today is known as
Landler, which seems to mean "the rural one". In this case, it would be close in terminology to the
Guajira ...
I have my own theory why the waltz was so successful, and first of all got a chance in courtly ball rooms:
- Why the Waltz made it in Austria: The post-enlightenment interest in everything natural made it possible and respectable to observe the habits of the simple population.
- Why the Waltz made it in Austria, part II: The emerging nationalism all over Europe is related to the interest in national and even regional traditions.
- Why the Waltz caught on in general: The Waltz has an odd time signature. I conjecture that not too few noblemen and noblewomen had a desire to dance to odd-measure music. What dance can you choose? The Minuet was too closely linked to the old regimes and too often ridiculed. This left a gap which the waltz was happy to fill.
Now in Alt.History, it is often helpful to consider the seemingly most absurd alternative.
What if Schuhplattler had made it instead of the Waltz?
Just a random probe:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mltf0H8Ob2E
Before you call this ASB consider that the Waltz at court would have been completely laughable from a 1780ish perspective, 35 years and less before its breakthrough.
Also remember that courtly dance fashion has ingenious ways of taming a dance and making it look elegant, er, to a degree the original wasn't.
Any thoughts?