The Box Step

By Roger Tomasaki, Niu Valley
The box step is danced by using a forward and backward pair of altering figures to step on the four corners of a square. Where did it come from? Actually it had been used for thousands of years in different cultures and different dances.

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In the book "Dancing" by Marguerite Wilson, Philadelphia 1899 she describes what she calls the waltz, and what is today called the natural turn in the Viennese waltz, (using ballet terminology.)

She said "Before trying to turn, these steps ought to be practiced forward and backward in an imaginary square, as indicated in the following diagram:...". The diagram shows the box step, though she does not call it by that name. Thus, she is introducing the box step as a preliminary practice step to build coordination before learning the natural turn. She describes the process of turning later. She is not describing what is now known as the "turning box", she is describing the natural turn in the Viennese waltz. Still later she describes the reverse turn.

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What they now call change steps she calls the pursuit, and she prefers the man to go backward in the work of alter steps. The box step was an exercise, not a dance. The box step is not the waltz step. The waltz step is different. For plenty of people it does not look like or feel like a dance, and some people think it ought to not be promoted as being a dance, But the box step has so long been represented to be the waltz step, (this misconception ought to have been corrected long ago,) it is too late to change now.

How did the box step go from merely an exercise to being thought about by uninformed teachers to be the waltz step? No one knows. Plenty of knowledgeable teachers recognized the movement from other dances. Some teachers may have looked at the diagram and not read the book, thus honestly fooling themselves in to thinking the box step was the waltz step. Whatever, it's now been solidly accepted by most everyone.

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When Arthur Murray first saw what he thought was the Rumba, he instinctively knew that the American people would never learn the rock step and the slow step to that music. He introduced the box step, with a slow, quick, quick and the rest is history.

What made it even more solid was that he sued Fred Astaire for using "his" box step in the Rumba and what is more, he won. The courts knew doodly about dancing. Then Fred Astaire then changed his box step to quick, quick, slow and he got away with it. That began the screw up that has remained to this day.

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Even in Latin America the people. the middle and upper brackets are not fanatical about dancing. They dance it as a social skill to dance at weddings and dinner/dance occasions at the country club. Many have learned in the US from Arthur Murray or Fred astaire studios. So you go someplace and they are dancing it slow, quick, quick. You go that way. You go some place where they dance it quick, quick, slow and you go that way. Let's dance.

Fortunately, plenty of dancers throughout the country and specially here on Oahu, are discovering the elderly Mambo steps to make use of in the Rumba and nothing could be more ideal. The basic, the crossover break, the underarm turns, the hand to hand, the spot turns etc etc. Fit like a glove, stunning. New invention? Ha, that is the way it was danced 100 years ago by the originals before it got screwed up the experts.

"Lord, grant me the patience, but I want it right now."