I got stuck watching a 1980s “oldie but goodie” movie where teenagers were getting thrown in jail for dancing. It’s really not one of my favorites because I have trouble believing that one could be arrested for dancing in public. So naturally, I did a little research. Apparently it has been going on for decades. Dancing the Zweifacher in Bavaria, face-to-face with your partner, would do the trick back in the 1700s and 1800s. This wild folk dance is fast and lively, and actually quite complicated. Even as a musician, I find it hard to follow. It was popular among the working class in Germany and Switzerland as a way to unwind after a grueling day on the job.1 Zweifacher actually means “two-fold,” which describes the complex rhythm of the dance.
It is a combination of a Waltz in 3/4 time (ONE, two, three, ONE, two, three) and a Polka in 2/4 time (Ompah, Ompah), with a pivot step in between the two. It’s described as including “trickery” by the band as they switch back and forth between the two rhythms without warning, keeping dancers on their toes, literally. Oddly enough, early documentation of the Zweifacher can only be found in arrest records, not history books.2 It seems this was the original “Dirty Dancing.”
Der Deutsche and The Landler were dances that gave rise to the Viennese Waltz in the 18th Century.3 All of them use that flowy 3/4 time (ONE, two, three, ONE, two, three) that feels natural for a dance, and is the dance d’jour for movie ballroom dances set back in the days when men wore white poofy wigs and women wore ornate dresses with the largest skirts I’ve ever seen. They would all twirl around the room in mesmerizing synchronicity, stopping only to trade partners or take a breath.
Some considered the Waltz a crime as well as it required partners to dance so closely together; to the point that religious leaders in the day called it “vulgar and sinful.” The Waltz was so scandalous that it earned an article in The Times of London, on July 16, 1816, warning parents to keep their daughters from “so fatal a contagion.”3 My guess is there are parents out there that wish their kids would dance the Waltz instead of the writhing, gyrating, moves found at some homecoming dances today.
Once banned by Parliament during the English Civil War and being called a “thinly veiled form of idolatry” in New England’s history, the Maepole Dance or Maypole Dance, of all things, was also once considered scandalous.4 The preparations for this frolic included setting up a tall pole which had either garland or ribbons affixed to the top. Then, dancers bobbed and weaved in a circle around the pole to lively music creating a pattern with their ribbons. Historically, locals wore their traditional garments when performing this dance, meaning Germans wore their Lederhosen and Dirndls at this festive celebration. This dance is still performed today in many countries, typically on May 1st, or “May Day.” It has been used throughout the years to signify new beginnings and celebrate springtime.
Over the years I have watched a popular television dance show where celebrity stars are partnered with professional dancers and they learn basic ballroom dances. They ultimately compete against each other, are eliminated weekly, gain a ton of muscle mass, lose a bunch of weight, and dance in some of the most ridiculous costumes. However, if we’re talking about dances that could get one thrown in jail for promiscuity, current ballroom dances are no exception.
Have you watched couples dance an Argentine Tango? This is a precision dance with kicks and flicks where partners are literally interwoven to the point it’s hard to tell where one person starts and the other ends. The music is sensual, the costumes barely cover anything (for the ladies anyway), and it is one of my favorites because of my type-A, perfectionist personality. To do it right, couples have to be so in tune with each other and the timing so exact, otherwise, the gentleman goes home with ice on his nether-regions and the lady most likely to the ER as she has been dropped on the floor more times than a toddler drops its toys. When done well, it’s a sight to behold for sure. However, couples are literally stuck together from head to toe throughout the entire dance. Shocking! Not really.
The other modern-day ballroom dance that might qualify as scandalous is the Quickstep. In this dance, couples are moving “quickly” around the ballroom, their heads turning from one side to the other, and their elbows (in fixed position), moving up and down in a coordinated fashion. The lady is dressed in a gown adorned with many feathers and sequins. I’ve seen some dancers catch their heels in the miles and miles of fabric. In this particular dance, the couple literally appears to be running around the dance floor in circles for no apparent reason. The problem? They are connected to each other from their ribcage down to their thighs the entire time. I realize there’s too much activity happening on the ballroom floor for this to be mistaken for intimacy, it’s more like a sprint, however, what happens in rehearsals? Hmmmmm.
I’m not a prude, and having worked in surgery for as many years as I did before becoming an event planner, I’ve been entangled with the surgeon on a regular basis. Sometimes the body part of our patient needed to be retracted (pulled) at a particular angle with one hand, while I remained in proximity to the sterile instrument table with the other (to hand the doctor what he needed), all the while playing a game of twister with one another. It’s funny what different eras throughout history consider appropriate body contact.
These days, I would love to learn ballroom dance. It would be something out of the norm; it looks like a lot of work but a lot of fun once mastered. In the last 300 years (which truly is not that long in the timeline of life) we’ve gone from arresting people for dancing too close to each other, to accepting, not only full-body contact dancing, but depending on the dance, the putting of ones hands in places that shall not be named to be in the right position to perform moves that win the competition.
Do you plan dance events? Leave your opinion about dance history here or
send me an email!
Don’t forget to like, comment on, and share this blog on your social media!
Want more? Visit tracybaer.com!
1.PDF. Alpine Zweifacher. Patrick McMonagle. 2009. Folkdancing.com. chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.folkdancing.com/Pages/seattle/Zwiefacher.pdf
2.PDF. Zweifacher Online: Tricky Rhythms and Movements. The Paper Partner Companion. Patrick McMonagle. 2022. Folkdancing.com. chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.folkdancing.com/zwie2/
3.Traditional German Folk Dances You Should Know About. Culture Trip. Dayna Gross. 2024. https://theculturetrip.com/europe/germany/articles/traditional-german-folk-dances-you-should-know-about
4.May Day: America’s Traditional, Radical, Complicated Holiday, Part 1. National Museum of American History. Joran Grant. 2016. https://americanhistory.si.edu/explore/stories/may-day-americas-traditional-radical-complicated-holiday-part-1
Discover more from Tracy's Tidbits
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.