Webfeet: Rozsa

The annotated Rozsa Waltz

Rozsa is a deliberate and very slinky waltz, maybe not what you immediately think of as a very English dance but it is most thoroughly so... You may see it described as the 'Rosa Waltz' but it was originally Rozsa.

The source taken from the the sleeve notes for the Committee Band's Dancemusic CD

A1: 2 hands with partner, sway to man's left and right, woman turns to left under man's arms, chassé 4 left.

• Start facing each other; the '2 hands with partner' is with hands at shoulder height, fingertips to fingertips...
• Sway gently to the man's left and right (yes, that's to the ladies' right and left)
• The man lift his arms and allows the lady to turn left underneath them.
  'Left' is clockwise and the lady only needs to turn half way round and face out. Both are then facing the same direction.
  This is often called as 'turn and lock'.
• Both together, take four small sliding steps to the left; this is a chassé.

A2: Chassé 4 right, sway left and right, woman turns back round.

• Chassé 4 steps back again to the right
• Sway gently left and right
• Lift arms to allow the lady to turn back out, ending up facing the man.
  While doing this, the man makes sure he picks up the ladies right hand with his.

B1: Right hands to each other, balance in and out, change places, woman twisting under man's arm, and the same back to place.

• Holding right hands with each other, balance in (in waltz time; one, two, three) and out (one, two, three), change places with lady turning under man's arm. That's a turn to the right, anticlockwise
• Repeat - balance in, out and change places to get back to the original positions.

B1: Ballroom hold, chassé 4 to man's left and right, waltz 4.

• Can start in a ballroom hold, or can just start with the man's left holding and the woman's right; chassé 2 steps to the man's left and 2 steps back to the right.
  Whatever, by the end of the chassés you'd get to a full ballroom hold.
• Waltz round for 4.

• This dance lends itself to variations... the simplest is that gradual approach together during the chassé.
• A more radical variation concerns how far you go round in a waltz.
  Being a dance done by Englishpersons (people who find they cannot easily waltz round two full times and a single time round is a little tame) it is quite tempting to waltz round a time and a half. However this implies that dancers 'change sex' during each time through the dance.
  Do not worry! Start again with the fingertips but with the man swaying right and left (instead of left and right) and continuing with the man turning under the raised arms of the lady. And so it goes on...

Stocai have a Rosa written up (one where you chassé 4 steps right first instead of left) and there's a version escaped into the Irish trad repertoire. It's the folk process in action.

Origins...

• It's Rozsa rather than Rosa or Rosza and was composed by Gordon Potts in the early 1990's to fit the tune Rozsa by Undine Hornby. The tune came before the dance and was named after her favourite, spicy, brand of Paprika.

Tunes...

• Originally danced to the tune Rozsa by Undine Hornby and recorded by the Late Night Band
• The classic tune is the Committee Band's Vuoma-Pertti's mazurka
• Also highly recommended, Jabadaw's Waltz I & II (Martin Keates) and Blowzabella's Rose of Raby (David Shepherd)
• Plus... Martin's Waltz [MP3] from Stömp's Machine without Horses