Hi Sandra,
To continue the thread you started. The timing of the DRS can be either; S.Q.&.Q OR Q.Q.&.Q. depending on the precede. The continuity of the turn is usually stopped by the lady by leaving the heel turn too early. Although technically not correct, hold on to the heel turn so that you overturn then step 3 becomes more lateral than forward. The gent plays a very important role. The common fault of the gent is to attack step 1 with a strong body rotation. Explain to your partner that you need the strong body rotation over steps 3 and 4 and not on step 1 as you have extra steps to dance. Tell him, slowly in, quickly out. No comments on that last sentence please!

Sandra

You are the lady so do 'nothing' with the 'lower' part of the body except follow the directional intent and timing of the man. Don't question the timing or direction just follow, follow,..with the 'lower' part.

After that it the man's problem.

You could use your upper body's outward, upward and leftward shape/ poise more proactively to lubricate and lighten the movement. Careful not to turn your centre away.

The lady should follower her partner with her body center, not with the lower part of her body. The lower part of her body merely stays naturally under the upper part - or it should, but this is often neglected by those who reach with the feet and destroy their balance and posture as a result.

The rotation of the heel turn needs to continue, but this is done by exiting the heel turn itself promptly, which is to say getting into the ball of the foot and preparing to step out in what is indeed at first a mostly lateral action.

By 'lower' I mean everything from approx around the diaphram and below operating as a 'whole'. Not just the legs as you understood. In one sense the legs almost don't exist and do what they have to do. Again, don't get me wrong here, footwork and leg usage is very important in analysis and study but it is entirely reactionary when you're in the 'zone'.

I don't like the 'follow with the body center' idea because it is generally misunderstood by the uninitiated lady who tend to position it in isolation to the legs and 'upper' body putting everything out of wack and causing exactly the problem you describe so well.

The 'upper' part is also part of this integrated frame but I only referred to it separately to draw attention to the 'modern' idea of the lady using shape and poise proactively to complete movements that the man initiates and that he subsequently 'follows' or reacts to. Hence a great follower for me is more reactive with the 'lower' during the initiation of movements and 'proactive' during the latter completion of the movement.

Hi Rha,
I found your reply to the DRS query very interesting and informative. When you have the time would you please write your thoughts about the application of CBM : How it is achieved and its uses. The reason for this is because I've always found CBM to be an interesting subject and very little has been written about it. Or, is anyone else prepared to continue with the thread of CBM.

There is one popular 'technique' description which says that it is the 'turning or rotating of the opposite side of the body towards the moving leg...' and indeed this is a reasonably accurate observation of what is happening.

To expand on the above. If CBM is an accurate description of a body reaction then the action that produces CBM is 'body swing'. Body swing is produced when at the start of movements you use the supporting leg to progress the side over the supporting leg faster than the moving leg side in such a way that it aids the early linear progression while also assisting the subsequent turn that may follow. While the word body swing may give the impression that it is initiated in the body it is really commenced from the legs. I don't mean swiveling of feet. The legs and feet dance linearly so there is no turn of the feet but the correct usage of the legs/knees/hip joint in combination allow the frame/ partnership to manifest early rotation within itself even though the entire frame/ partnership is progressing linearly.

Even linear movements without turn will benefit from body swing because this is how the body naturally galvanises the entire body in powering a movement.

A good explanation, however one small part is exactly backwards:

"If CBM is an accurate description of a body reaction then the action that produces CBM is 'body swing'"

This is incorrect - CBM is the first action, which is in turn followed by swing.

Further, CBM and swing are actions, while CBMP and sway are positions, that may often result from these actions, although they do not always, and there are other ways to end up in those positions.

Anonymous,

Obviously I disagree with your point of view that 'CBM is the first action, which is in turn followed by swing'.Also, your point of view is the single biggest misconception about CBM. But I'm glad you brought it up because it gives me a chance to elaborate on how I understand CBM.

I'll explain exactly why by elaborating on my previous reply.

Firstly you seem to imply that the concepts 'swing' and 'body swing' mean exactly the same thing in the 'ballroom' context. While they are closely related ideas they have subtly different meanings. 'Swing' is commonly used in a more general and loose sense. We all dance Waltz or SlowFox with 'swing' whether it is good 'swing' or bad 'swing' is another matter. In fact it is possible to produce some sort of 'swing' without CBM or a pretty distorted idea of CBM (though many of us would regard this as very unattractive).

The concept of 'body swing' is used to describe 'swing' that is produced or created in the way the I described in my previous reply ie. usage of ankle/knee/ hip joint in combination at the commencement of the movement to get the one side travelling faster than the other and produce an early rotation within the frame, etc, etc...(read my previous reply). The essence of the 'body swing' idea is that CBM is not a separate action preceding 'swing' but rather, for it to be applied and danced correctly, it must be an integral part and product of the very swing itself. In this sense CBM as a concept is an 'observation' of a reaction produced by the commencement of swing using the idea of 'body swing'. If you produce 'swing' using the concept of 'body swing' you are commencing your 'swing' in intent (mind) and action (body) from the very, very start of the movement. If you produce 'swing' using the concept of 'body swing' you will have produced the CBM reaction.

I believe that it is this way of viewing and applying CBM that enables one to easily understand and apply the CBM concept in one's dancing. A common mistake is to deliberately produce an action (vs reaction) of 'turning or rotating of the opposite side of the body towards the moving leg...' without any intent or notion of 'body swing' in the dancers mind. Additionally this action incorrectly originates only in the upper body (shoulder action). What follows is a complete distortion.

I agree with you that cbm has to fall naturally into it's place in a downswing - upswing progression.

However, a simple energy conserving downswing-upswing will not include CBM. CBM requires that a rotational acceleration be produced (best thought of as the trailing side of the body encouraged to catch up and often eventually take the lead). This requires something propel that side of the body, and this something is the specific way you move across the foot while transitioning between 3 and 1.

Swing does not necessarily involve CBM,
however CBM taken between 3 and 1 will, when executed at the magnitude appropriate for most figures which feature it there, necessarily result in a particular type of swide swing over the next two beats. And it's that particular side swing that produces by sway around the latter half of 2/beginning of 3.

A person-sized rectangular weight swinging as a pendulum will not naturally exhibit the twising type of motion we call CBM unless something acts to twist it - swing does not cause CBM, standing leg action does. On the other hand, applying translation + CBM to this test pendulum would produce side swing and result in sway...

To further clarify the distiction of intent required to generate CBM, let me suggest an example for Quickstep.

Consider something like a progressive chasse followed by either a forward lock, or a natural turn, and how you would lead the difference. According to the ISTD, there is CBM on the first steps of both the forward lock and the natural turn, but the CBM on the forward lock is given as "slight" - very, very slight in fact, as this is essentially the only active difference between the first steps of these figures. When it says "commence to turn" for the natural turn, what it means is do that action that commences a turn - and that action is CBM. Wheras the forward lock would lack the feeling of commencing a turn, because there is to be essentially no turn over the figure.

Both figures commenced from the same position. Both land on the same part of the foot at the start of 1. But in one a strong feeling of CBM is included to create a turn, and in the other the CBM must be weak enough to not lead the lady into a turn. To me, this says that CBM must be an intentional parameter, which coincides with the free downswing, but must exist as a unique intent.