The basics:
Dance: Tender Moment Waltz
Choreographer: Rita Masur
Music: “Their Hearts Are Dancing” by the Forester Sisters
Description: 48 count, 1 wall beginner waltz
The review:
Different listings of this dance mention a large number of alternative musics, but as I have only danced to “Their Hearts are Dancing” I will focus on that for the purpose of this review. Certainly like many beginner waltzes it is not hard to change the music and still have it fit well.
“Their Hearts Were Dancing” is another sweet waltz song, with a nice moderate beat and a gentle flow, so it’s easy to see why it was chosen for this dance. If a trickier dance were being choreographed to this song, I would expect it to have probably one restart, but leaving it out in the interest of keeping the difficulty down is perfectly acceptable to me.
As to the dance, the first thing that sticks out is the fact that it’s a 1 wall dance. The original 1 wall waltz is, of course, “Waltz Across Texas”, which also happens to be 48 counts. “Waltz Across Texas”, though, has a few more turns and travels a lot more than “Tender Moment Waltz”, which doesn’t count against it for me, but may for others who prefer dances to use a decent portion of the floor. However, I would note that with very little effort it’s possible to turn “Tender Moment Waltz” into a 4 wall dance by changing the 1/2 turn in counts 37-39 to a 1/4 turn, and I don’t think that it’s unreasonable to make that change while keeping the level of the dance at beginner while at the same time adding an iota of variety for more advanced dancers. It would depend a lot on the instructor and the class, and whether this is aimed as an “ultra beginner” dance or more for dancers who have already learned half a dozen or so of those.
The dance starts with four quarter turns in a sort of “star” shape on the floor, a step I find quite appealing for a number of reasons, not least because it’s a gentle way of introducing dancers to the four walls of the room. It’s followed by side back rocks (aka “balance steps”), which I don’t mind on their own but are a little tricky to do coming out of the star.
Counts 19-30 and 31-42 are the same – forward point, back point, half turn waltz, basic waltz back. There are also several reasons why I like these steps. Firstly, the repetition is absolutely essential to keeping the dance at the beginner level – as I mentioned before, the last half turn could be changed to make the dance cover four walls, but otherwise altering these steps would bump up the difficulty probably past where the choreographer was aiming. Secondly, I like breaking up the turns with the forward point, back point steps. After the initial full turn in 12 counts, this slows things down so that it takes 24 counts to get all the way around, and invokes extra elements of symmetry in the step patterns. Thirdly, each of the 12 counts is split across two sets of 12, rather than fitting neatly in a slot. This introduces a different kind of symmetry again, and by preventing the dance from being divided into straight sets adds to the flow.
The final steps are also repeated from earlier in the dance – counts 43-48 are the same balance steps from counts 13-18. Here, as earlier, they have the problem that they start side movement when the dancer’s momentum is preparing to travel forward, making them feel out of place. It’s hard to say what would go better in their place, but it would almost certainly involve less lateral motion.
Ignoring the issue with potential restarts the dance fits the music well, and it introduces some basic waltz concepts that are highly important for beginners to grasp. I dislike the placement of the balance steps, but otherwise find the dance gentle and pleasing.
Hi Chris, I am the choreographer of this Linedance: “Tender Moment Waltz”…My name is Rita Masur….I just want to “reply” to your comments of my choreography….where you say “The dance starts with four quarter turns in a sort of a “star” shape!!!! THAT IS NOT CORRECT! It is described as a “Left Turning Waltz BOX”…More people do not dance the Waltz Box Correctly…If you followed my description correctly you will notice when you have finished the box…You are squarely looking at 12:00!! You will then be in the right position to do your “Balance Left and Right”.
I do like your idea very much about making this a 4 wall linedance…When I choreographed this waltz, I did it for the new beginners and I wanted it to be easy and relaxing!
Also I choreographed this waltz to the Scooter Lee’s “Rock and Roll Waltz” …When I submitted this dance to a website, I was told it would not do too well because at that time there was quite a famous Intermediate line dance everyone was dancing…So because I thought it was a pretty nice waltz I finally changed the music to “Their Hearts are Dancing”…I felt intimadated by the person….because I was and still feel like an amateur choreographer…
After thinking more and more that I liked Scooter Lee’s song “Rock and Roll Waltz” much better….I contacted the website and changed it back to “The Rock and Roll Waltz”…I thought this music fitted my choreography much better…PLEASE COMMENT AGAIN … after taking another look at the Left Turning Waltz Box the way it is described….and see if I described the “Box” correctly…If you notice I described each 3 counts …stating which wall you would be facing…Thank you for your time…Rita
Hi Rita,
First and foremost, thank you so much for coming by to comment. Also, my apologies for getting that step wrong – when I write these reviews, I usually do so after having learned the dance in class and danced it for a few weeks, and I also try to have a copy of the sheet handy to see where I may have mis-learned something. The “star” movement I talk about still gets you back to 12 o’clock, but you’re moving backwards before you go into the balance steps rather than sideways. If I do it as a box, like you said, then that balance step does fit a lot better.
Secondly, I can definitely appreciate the pressure of being an “amateur choreographer”. It’s terrible choreographing what you think is a nice dance to a song, only to discover that a more recognised name has beaten you to it, since you know who’s likely to win that battle – even worse is when your dance has been out for a while before the other one appears, pushing yours into obscurity. You’ll be glad to know, then, that our class is still doing “Tender Moments Waltz”, usually as a split floor with a harder waltz like Nadia Friels’ “Silent Night”. And to be honest, I think “Their Hearts Are Dancing” is a nicer song than “Rock and Roll Waltz”, and we’re not likely to be switching the song in our class because the teacher has been teaching it to the beginners with “Their Hearts Are Dancing” for too long now.
Finally, from one “amateur” to another, please keep up the good work – this is still a lovely beginner dance, which is something we can always do with more of.
Thanks for your comments Chris…I also love the song “Their Hearts are Dancing” and I will say I use this song a lot too, not only for my waltz but for other choreogrpaher’s waltzes!
I get the urge every now and then to choreograph a simple easy beginner dance to a piece of music I really like and it gives me pleasure to see a room full of beginner dancers enjoying it too!! Thanks Chris. Happy Dancing, Rita
Thank you Chris…I also like the music: Their Hearts are Dancing…It is such a beautiful, romantic waltz beat! Thank you for teaching my linedance: Tender Moment Waltz…Happy Dancing to you all, Rita