Neudeutscher/en
(New Allemande)
Form
Unlimited number of pairs in circle facing each other, ballroom hold.
Steps
Special chassays and waltz
Dance
Bar 1 - 2: Starting with his left and her right foot, two chassays in ballroom direction in the following way:
sidestep on 1st beat, close on 3rd beat, sidestep on 1st beat and tipclose on 3rd beat This “tipclose” is necessary because this foot has to remain unweighted to be able to do the next step back. During the 2nd beat the foot smoothly lifts and stays above ground; it should be set down exactly on the 3rd beat.
Bar 3 - 4: Same in reverse, starting with his right and her left foot.
Bar 5 – 8: Partners waltz round twice with 4 steps
This is repeated until the music stops playing. The musician should be advised to play the first 4 bars of each set slightly slower than the last 4 bars. When he wants to gain speed he should never do this on those first 4 bars, but he can do so for the waltz.
Note
This is a very simple dance; it gets its beauty only in the accurate performance of the chassays in a perfectly steady posture, letting only the feet work and not the body. The change from waltzing to the chassays is perhaps the only difficulty, because then starting position has to be taken up again. Therefore it is recommended to waltz half a turn to each bar.
Source
- R. Zoder, Österr.Volkstänze, 2.Teil, Nr.6
- Translated by Sissy Banner, Amstetten, NÖ., Austria
