This week I was talking to my best friend Cassie, who is also doing this course, about how we are getting on with Module 2. I said that I struggle a bit because for some topics about Austria it is quite difficult to find something on the internet. Then Cassie said to me: "You know, when I think of Austria in a performing way, 'Opera' and the 'Viennese Waltz' comes straight into my head." I was like, "oh yeah, I didn't even think of that!" So I started researching...
...personally for me the most traditional and classical waltz music is "The Blue Danube Waltz" by Johann Strauss II.
...a little bit of history...
The Viennese Waltz is the oldest of the current ballroom dances. It emerged in the second half of the 18th century from the German dance and the 'Ländler' (a folk dance) in Austria and was both popular and subject to criticism.
The dance reached and spread to England sometime before 1812; it was introduced as the German Waltz and the folk really liked that new dance style.
The Waltz is performed in a three fourth beat.
The Viennese loved the dance when it was introduced in Vienna in the late 18th/19th century. The most prominent event that introduced this new dance was the Congress of Vienna in 1814/15.
The posture and how the arms are held is very strict and an important issue in the Viennese Waltz (as you can see from the picture below, who are professional ballroom dancers).
The waltz was significantly different from its form today. In the first place, the couples didn't dance in the closed position as today (as you can see from the two pictures - the one above is nowadays in a professional way; and the one underneath is in the earlier years)
There was another difference from our present technique. The feet were turned out and the rise of foot during the dance was much more pronounced than it is today.
At the beginning of the 1930s the Viennese Waltz had its comeback as a folk dance in Austria and Germany. The former military officer Karl von Mirkowitsch made it acceptable both for society and ballroom, and since 1932 the Viennese Waltz has been present on ballroom dance floors and it will never be missed out on a ball in Austria and Germany.
Bibliography:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viennese_Waltz
- https://www.google.at/search?q=viennese+waltz&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=667&site=webhp&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi8rbejhu3LAhWEnRoKHebVC10Q_AUIBigB#tbm=isch&q=viennese+waltz+earlier+times&imgrc=wETNpI7UPAm-PM%3A
- http://www.vienna-unwrapped.com/vienna-waltz/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CTYymbbEL4
- https://www.google.at/search?q=viennese+waltz+haltung&rlz=1C1ZMDB_enGB504GB507&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=667&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiC8dCzje3LAhVGVBQKHcCrAlAQ_AUIBigB#imgrc=bwiTI6V4C9hTiM%3A
yes - very useful to talk about differing traditions in the arts - and... did this research tell you something about your inquiry topic? other sources?
AntwortenLöschenhave a google and look at Summon - use the expertise of others to ground your ideas for the proposal - you will be doing a lengthier search later
saw this using key words - austria cultural arts
http://www.acflondon.org
is there a similar one in Austria?
Start your proposal using the Handbook outline...
AntwortenLöschenthanks for your comment Paula.
AntwortenLöschenthis research actually told me that it can be very interesting comparing two countries, because there is always something that a country has more of it, e.g.: a typical austrian tradition. from my point of view the austrians have more things, which we can call 'our tradition', like the viennese waltz.
i think english people have so many theatres and operas that it is nothing special anymore, where we in austria only have a certain amount and it is something uncommon to go to the theatre and watch a musical or an opera.
what do you mean by "Summon"?
this website sounds very interesting and i find it very good that english people have such thing in their country. unfortunately we don't have anything similar to that. i just googled "english cultural forum" and i found out that there is even an austrian cultural forum in new york, so it's seems like a really big thing. but i couldn't find anything about the english cultural forum.