Waltz vs. Mazorca

[serg_juv]

Hi,

I'd like to know what is the difference between waltz and mazorca. The music seems quite similar to me... I think they both have the same timing, and the style is also pretty similar... Am I right?

Thanks in advance for any hint

[pygmalion]

Hey serg_juv! :D

Don't know much about Mazurka, except that it's a historical dance of European origin. I've played a couple, as well. There are some nice mazurkas- classical pieces for violin or piano! If you'd like to take a look at the two dances, there's a video you might want to try. Dancing Through Time, Volume 1. It talks about the evolution of some dances during the 19th century, including both waltz and mazurka. That way, you could see both and compare for yourself. Try dancelessons.net. Look under historical dance.

[d nice]

If waltz you mean Vienesse Waltz, the music is very similar... I would say that Mazurka's tend to be a little "livilier" more of a "bounce" to it than the stereotypical Vienesse Waltz piece of music usually has.

The dances differ in steps and direction/method of travel. Vienesse Waltz is a rotational waltz (at its root, modern Vienesse has moved away from this some with large amounts of open figures and straightline travel), where the first step is an angled step which starts the bodies moving in rotation, the leader rotating "around" the follower, then the follower rotating around the leader. The Mazurka uses a straight sldiing step as it first step, the second step is a "cut" (sort of a kick-replace deal), the third step is a rotating "hop".

Mazurka is a little more of a jovial dance than the Vienesse Waltz. To confuse the issue there are several dances that use mazurka and Vienesse together or mazurka and polka.

I'm spending ten hours a week for the next month and a half doing Vienesse and mazurkas (with the occasional Schottiche and polka thrown in). I've been working on them myself, after a little bit of exposure hearing the difference in the music becomes really easy.

[pygmalion]

Hey! I accidentally found this website which contains seventy-five different video clips of historical dances -- renaissance through ragtime. The video was taken for the US Library of Congress in 1997. A couple different mazurkas are included. Enjoy! :D

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/dihtml/divideos.html