Broadway Waltz

Upcoming 3rd Friday dances:

Dances are from 8 to 10pm on the third Friday of each month, with a free crash course for absolute beginners from 7:20 to 8pm. From 8 to 10 we have DJd music for a range of partner dancing, waltz to tango to swing. At 9pm we generally break for a short practice of brush-up in something for the experienced dancers, currently often mazurka. And we'll show beginners the simple schottische every so often.

Tickets are $7, $5 for students.

June 15, 2018
July 20, 2018
August 17, 2018
September 21, 2018

Broadway Waltz events will also be posted on our Facebook group, sent to our mailing list, and listed in a Meetup group for open role dancing.

NorthWest Dance Network makes this possible

Northwest Dance agreed to bring us back for a whole year. We couldn't handle the insurance without them, and it's also great to have an experienced organization to consult with. Big thanks to Northwest Dance Network!

Press!

The Seattle Times' activity reporter, Nicole Tsong, reviewed Broadway Waltz.

What music do you play?

We'll play fast waltzes and polkas, but we also like smooth waltzes, swing, foxtrot, tango and all the other social dances.

All sets will have a mix of tempos. We play music from the last 150 years, from Victorian brass to video game sound tracks.

A sample of what we'd play in one set

Dance	Approximate BPM	Artist, Song
Slow Waltz	120	Listen to the Mocking Bird, Home Waltz
Castle Walk / One Step		New England Ragtime Ensemble, Castle Walk
Mazurka Waltz		DC Halls Concert & Quadrille band / Zingara Mazurka
Waltz	150	Talking Heads, Dream Operator
Foxtrot / Swing	150	Kay Kyser, Music, Maestro, Please
Latin Waltz	150	The Just Deserts, La Partida
Valse musette	150	Baguette Quartette, La vraie valse musette
Schottische	140	Brassworks Band, Rainbow Schottische
Fast Swing	180	Jellyroll, Hard Boiled Hep
Rotary Waltz	150	Postmodern Jukebox, Girls Just Wanna Have fun
Polka	135	Chestnut Brass, Evergreen Polka
Cross Step Waltz	130	Idan Raichel, Todos Las Palabras
Blues	110	Asleep at the Wheel/Lyle Lovett, Trouble In My Mind
Viennese Waltz	190	Soviet Army Brass, On Manchurian Hills
Rotary Waltz	160	Final Fantasy Wedding Waltz Edit

Do you offer lessons?

We'll always start with a free floor survival and introduction to waltz and polka for any new dancers. That will run from 7:20 to 8 PM. There might be an intermediate or advanced lesson running at the same time, or during a set break. These will practice a more advanced step, e.g. the Redowa step or 5/4 waltz.

See our Links pages for where to go for more lessons.

What should I wear?

The only rule is non-marking shoes that you can dance in. So no black rubber soles unless you know they're non-marking, and you want to be able to turn on your forefoot and stop on your heels. We will have duct tape and shoe wraps to temporarily make grippy sneakers slipperier in the forefoot.

No high or spike heels! The venue doesn't allow them.

Fast travelling dances are as active as a light jog, so lightweight clothes are nicer than heavy ones, but jeans and a T-shirt work fine.

I really don't need to bring a partner?

You really don't; it's a social dance tradition and we all dance with each other. It's also fun with friends even if they aren't romantic friends.

That said, it's delightful with someone who is a romantic partner. The Last Waltz of the evening is traditionally extra sweet music and danced with your sweetie, if you have one.

How shy-making is this with a stranger?

You do put your arms around each other, but you don't squeeze each other; there's about six inches of space between you. Probably you will step on each others' feet while learning. We teach the "escape promenade" at every dance, which is walking while holding hands in a way that totally counts as dancing. This is helpful whether you're shy about the embrace or about getting your feet crossed up, or if you're out of breath, or if you want to watch everyone else dancing for a while.

Is this like on TV?

It isn't like Dancing with the Stars; it's more like historical movies. We don't learn choreographed routines with lifts, but a small set of steps that can be rearranged to fit a variety of songs and partners.

Here are some YouTube examples of social (not choreographed, not practiced beforehand) dances in these styles: a schottische, mazurka, redowa, Viennese waltz, and of course polka.

You can teach me to waltz in less than an hour?

Maybe not. We think we can show you enough that you can have fun on the floor with us and tell what it would be like to waltz. And if you would like it, we can recommend lessons.

Some people do pick up the basics first try!

SCC gym is
80'x40' — One end of the 80'x40' SCC dance gym. Photo by B. J. Bullert.

What is Breathless Waltz?

We're two people who really enjoy some fast travelling dances like the schottische, mazurka, redowa, Viennese waltz, and of course polka. Or the ridiculous ones like the Grizzly Bear. We need a big room to dance them in. We'd love to have a lot of other people to dance them with. We got addicted in the Bay Area, where there are four or five regular series of dances in this style (casual, costumed, or dressy). We keep meeting one or two enthusiasts of the fast styles at a time; if we were all in a room together it would work better! Also, bringing new dancers into the loop would be great, and Seattle has plenty of dance teachers who can teach the fast dances.

A big thank-you to the long standing organization Northwest Dance Network, which is helping us set up a new dance.

Getting to the Dances

We'll be in the dance studio of the Seattle Central College Activity Center at 1718 Broadway, Seattle, Wa, 98102. That's on Broadway one block North of Pine. Come in on the left (north) of the little plaza; there's a staffed desk to point you to the dance studio.

Image of entrance to SCC Activit Center — Entrance to the Activity Center.

By Link light rail

From the Capitol Hill station, walk one block South on the East side of the street. The Activity Center is between Olive and Pine.

By Metro

On the 49, the 10, near the 8, and more: see the One Bus away webpage.

Parking

Parking in Capitol Hill is crowded and getting more so. On and near Broadway, there is street parking; check Nagle Place, the little alley between Broadway and the park. Remember that the parking meters run til 10pm now... You might find free parking east of 12th Ave.

The Seattle Central parking garage is at 1609 Harvard Ave, one block West & one block South of the Activity Center. Parking after hours is usually $10 through 7am.

Real time display of parking lots .

Teachers and dances in Seattle

Northwest Dance, our mentor organization. They teach and hold dances all over town but especially at the Swedish Cultural Center, 1920 Dexter Avenue North. Very thorough about teaching the basics, and lots of Seattle's long-term dance teachers hold classes there.

The Century Ballroom in Capitol Hill is the prettiest ballroom in town at the Oddfellows Hall, 915 E Pine. They have beginner and advanced lessons; the waltz lessons are usually in 5-week sessions on Sundays. There's also an afternoon waltz, the Waltz Cafe, in the lovely gilded ballroom, second and fourth Sundays.

In Lake City, Waltz Etc. has a dance starting with lessons every Monday night. They specialize in understated, improvisatory dancing, often with a tango base, but over the course of a year or two teach a wide range of dances.

On the west and north of Lake Union, Roll Up The Rug has weeknight lessons and weekend dances. Anything from Viennese waltz through blues improvisation, though maybe not both at once.

Dance for Joy runs the amazing Dancing til Dusk series in Seattle parks every summer, and *also* lessons and dances all over town.

For some particularly Seattle flavor, you could learn folkdancing at Skandia, many of which are the precursors or close cousins to ballroom dances -- you can often do them to ballroom music but not always with a ballroom dancer. Really carefully taught, and rhythmically interesting.