3446  Waltz and Boston

Date: Tue, 17 May 2005 17:15:30 +0100
From: John Ward <johnofbristol@TISCALI.CO.UK>
Subject: Waltz and Boston

The invaluable Richardson devotes a chapter to the development of the Waltz from the Boston. I won't quote the whole thing (though I will send =
a scan to anyone who is interested) but the main points are:

The Boston appeared in the UK about 1903 and went out of fashion early in 1914.
It was danced to 3/4 (not 2/4) time.
There was little turning.
Three steps covered two bars, so the steps did not coincide with the beat.
Adding tango steps (specifically the corte) to the boston gave rise to the "Tango Valse" and the hesitation waltz.

I could add that when I went to Old Time lessons about 40 years ago I learned the Tango Quadrille and the Tango Waltz. The latter was a =
sequence dance which had its own special music. It was in 3/4 time but had a tangoesque throb. Of the steps of these two dances I remember =
precisely nothing.

John Ward
Bristol, UK

Date: Tue, 17 May 2005 23:20:21 +0200
From: Ecsedy Áron <aron@MILONGA.HU>
Subject: Re: Waltz and Boston AND Alberto G. letter

I'd like to applaude Alberto's letter. It was a really good overview of
Tango-L . :)

-----

John Ward's letter:

> The Boston appeared in the UK about 1903 and went out of
> fashion early in 1914.
> It was danced to 3/4 (not 2/4) time.
> There was little turning.
> Three steps covered two bars, so the steps did not coincide
> with the beat.

Obviously our dance history teacher was quite sloppy with this (maybe the
name was misleading)... (just wait until I meet him again...*GRIN*) With the
timing I only remembered the dancing notation (which appeared to be 2/4),
but now I recall that it was compared to Slowfox (3 steps on 4 beats).

Cheers,
Aron