waltz

thumb|Detail from Book frontispiece|frontispiece to Thomas Wilson Correct Method of German and French Waltzing (1816), showing nine positions of the waltz, clockwise from the left (the musicians are at far left). At that time, the waltz was a relatively new dance in England, and the fact that it was a couples dance (as opposed to the traditional group dances), and that the gentleman clasped his arm around the lady's waist, gave it a dubious moral status.

The waltz ( , meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, in triple (Triple metre|) time, performed primarily in closed position, originating from German-speaking regions of Europe in the 18th century. Along with the ländler and allemande, the waltz was sometimes referred to by the generic term German Dance in publications during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.