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Waltz Lessons in Sacramento

Three counts to the bar, rise and fall, gliding around the floor

Waltz classes in West Sacramento: Level 6+ Waltz (Invitational), Tuesdays at 8:00 pm. Levels on the schedule: beginner, advanced. Private Waltz lessons with an instructor are available too.

  • 3/4 time
  • 84–90 beats a minute
  • travels around the room
See upcoming Waltz classesFeel the count
Couple in a smooth ballroom hold at Spotlight Ballroom, the woman in a turquoise gown with arms extended.
Waltz is a progressive dance: it travels counter-clockwise along the line of dance.[1]

About Waltz

Dance Vision presents the waltz as the classic, elegant ballroom dance, the one most people picture first. The feet stay in contact with the floor, so it looks smooth and gliding, and its shape comes from rise and fall and sway rather than sharp accents.[3]

It is danced in closed hold to music in three, with the accent on the first beat of each bar. The basic step traces a box on the floor, a shape that comes back in rumba and foxtrot.[3][4]

How Dance Vision describes Waltz, summarised in our own words. Dance Vision’s own articles: How to Dance Waltz · The 19 Different Types of Ballroom Dance

Feel the count

Count it 1 2 3, 1 2 3: three counts to the bar, with the accent on 1.[3][5]

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3

Time signature 3/4. WDSF competition tempo (2018 rules): 28–30 bars a minute (about 84–90 beats a minute)[6]. The slider runs from a slow practice speed (60% of the low end of that range, a way to learn a new pattern, not a rule) up to the fastest. The click sounds only after you press play.

  • NDCA lists 29 bars a minute (87 beats) for International waltz and 30 (90 beats) for American Smooth.[2]

Upcoming Waltz classes

From the studio schedule, in Pacific time. Confirm a class with the studio before you come.

Open these in the calendar

Also covered in

General classes that include Waltz among their dances. Each week can cover a different dance, so ask the studio which week is Waltz.

Songs to practice to

  • Can’t Help Falling in Love Michael Bublé[7]
  • Tennessee Waltz Mary Ford[7]
  • A Time for Us Andy Williams[7]
  • Fly Me to the Moon Anita O’Day[7]

Titles only, taken from dance-music lists that teachers and DJs have matched to this dance. Use the slider above to hear the tempo first.

Where it comes from

Waltz grew out of the Ländler, a German and Austrian peasant dance, in the 18th century. The name comes from a German verb meaning to revolve.[5][3]

It was the first widely popular dance to use a closed dance position, and it stayed a leading ballroom dance through the 19th and 20th centuries.[3][5]

Waltz has been danced in competition since 1923 or 1924.[1]

Where it appears: International Standard (also called English or Slow Waltz) · American Smooth[1][2]

Where people dance it

Waltz is a Standard-category competition dance, usually the first in a dancesport round, and NDCA lists it in both its International Ballroom and American Smooth events.[1][2]

The ISTD examines it as one of the five Modern Ballroom dances.[8]

International and American versions

International (Standard) waltz is danced in closed hold from start to finish. American Smooth waltz moves between closed and open holds and can travel into shadow and side-by-side positions while keeping the same three counts.[3][4]

NDCA lists 29 bars a minute for International waltz and 30 for American Smooth.[2]

Sources for this page (10)
  1. International standard waltz - Wikipedia (background only) Read 2026-09-23.
  2. NDCA Rules & Regulations, January 2025 edition, section IX 'Dances and Tempi', B. Approved Tempi (International Style Ballroom and American Style Smooth) Read 2026-09-23.
  3. How to Dance Waltz - Dance Vision Read 2026-09-23.
  4. The 19 Different Types of Ballroom Dance - Dance Vision (DVIDA syllabus publisher) Read 2026-09-23.
  5. Waltz | Romantic, Viennese, Ballroom | Britannica Read 2026-09-23.
  6. WDSF Competition Rules (status: June 17, 2018 WDSF AGM, updated 01.09.2018), Rule E.3.2 tempi table and Rule M.1 Smooth Dance table Read 2026-09-23.
  7. Slow Waltz - The music of Dancesport (George Pytlik, DanceSportMusic archive) Read 2026-09-23.
  8. ISTD Syllabus Outline of Modern Ballroom, Dance Faculty Qualifications, September 2024 ('Dances and Tempi' page) Read 2026-09-23.
  9. DVIDA Directory | Dance Vision Read 2026-09-23.
  10. Dance Vision home page Read 2026-09-23.

Everything on this page is paraphrased from these sources, each read on September 23, 2026; nothing is copied.