The Hesitation Steps in Waltz are very elegant and beautiful patterns, but they often have a very practical purpose. When the dance floor is crowded, the gentleman can use Waltz Hesitation steps to keep his timing while staying primarily in one spot. Then when the dance traffic clears, he can continue with Waltz steps that require more floor space. There are 4 basic Waltz Hesitation steps -- forward, backward, to the right and to the left. These Hesitation steps can be used all four at one time, a combination of 2 or any one by itself. In the Video below you will see how to do the basic Waltz Hesitation steps, and learn both the gentleman's footwork and the lady's.
However, there is also another purpose to which we can put our Waltz Hesitation steps, and that is to replace parts of other patterns. In this way we can add variety and something different to our dancing. Therefore, in the Video we will also see 3 examples of using our Waltz Hesitations to replace part of the step, in 3 different patterns -- Waltz Underarm Turn, our Waltz Quarter Turns and in the Waltz Promenade. The result is some beautiful and different looking pattern variations that are easy to learn and fun to do.