The First Dance Craze It is hard to imagine a time when dancing was not popular or accepted in society. In fact, dancing is so popular today that it is taught in school, seen at sporting events, and practiced by millions of people. Up until the early 1800s, however, dancing was seen by many a unacceptable behavior. During the 1800s, all of this changed. A dance called the waltz helped make dancing a popular, acceptable pastime.

The ballroom dance known as the waltz began in Vienna in the mid-seventeenth century. It was called the walzer, which means the "rotating dance." Each pair of dancers stood far apart from each other, holding each other's shoulders. Dancers turned in slow moving circles. Until the early eighteenth century, peasants in Austria and Bavaria were the only ones who danced the walzer.

In 1816 the walzer first appeared in England. Prince Regent hosted a ball in London, and newspaper reporters wrote about an "obscene" and "violent" dance they watched on the ballroom floor. Their review was unkind. Reporters called the dance "disgusting" and "immodest." Nobody had ever seen a dance in which two people moved so quickly and closely together. But the newspaper reports did not slow down the dance's popularity. In fact, the disapproving reviews of the dance seemed to increase the public's interest.

A few years later, two musicians named Frank Lanner and Johann Strauss composed a livelier, faster version of the music used for the dance. Dancers had to move at a faster pace to keep up with this new music. Soon, more people began to learn this new dance. It became popular, and its name changed to the waltz.

Eventually, more and more people were dancing. During the French Revolution, Paris built over 700 dance halls. Even Queen Victoria of England became a polished ballroom dancer.

In 1834, the waltz traveled across the ocean to the United States. At this time, the United States was divided by class systems. The first-class citizens were wealthy and proper. Their behavior was controlled by strict manners and rules. Lorenzo Papatini attended a party held by one of Boston's richest women named Mrs. Otis. Lorenzo wanted to liven up the crowd and requested that the band play a waltz. He took his dance partner on the dance floor. Lorenzo surprised the crowd by putting his arm around her waist and spinning her quickly to the rhythms of the music. Newspaper reports called Lorenzo's behavior "awful." However, people in the United States had become interested in the waltz, and its popularity began to increase.

Today the waltz is a common dance that can be seen at many weddings and celebrations. There are many different variations of the waltz, and dancers can move at many different paces. Perhaps what is most important, though, is that this dance is no longer viewed as disgraceful or inappropriate. In fact, the words that are usually used to describe the waltz today are "beautiful" and "graceful." What was once viewed as unacceptable has become the basis for more than 20 other ballroom dances.

6
Why were peasants the only ones who danced the walzer until the early eighteenth century?
A.
Peasants did not socialize with members of the upper class.
B.
People with low social status could not afford other forms of recreation.
C.
The dance was considered too bad-mannered for refined people.