I think one of the hardest thing to do in Modern Ballroom is, particularly in Foxtrot, and that is to extend the leg all the way behind to the tip of the toe and not to lower untill the passing foot is under the body. In other words not to lower the heel to soon which can cause the leg to straighten and the toe to pop up in the air. As well as pulling your partner off their step. What do others think?.

Actually, you can lower early and many teach that, but you must not lower in a way that creates excessive body speed or causes you to lean into the direction of motion rather than be poised against it. This basically means that it can be appropriate to lower the heel quickly, but not without control. This is mostly an issue with going backwards - with going fowards, you have to lower early if you weight is going to ever fully be in your heel.

Hi.
So, who lowers first the gent or the lady when the gent dances a forward walk?

TH to go forward needs to finish lowering before TH to go backward, because both need to have their weight first in the trailing end of the foot which is H for the forward person and T for the backward person, then move it through the foot together. But the difference is more noticeable in the flatter path of foxtrot than in the vertical path of waltz.

Anonymous. For what it is worth. When going bacwards man or lady I find it much better, and of course it is the correct thing to do. And that is go back to the very tip of the toe, and not just the ball if the foot. I now have a much higher heel off the floor which seems to help me hold the heel of the floor untill my supporting leg moves through. I will also add this from Steven Hanah former winner at Blackpool. If a person lowers the heel prematurely they will have to tilt their standing hip to allow the passing leg to pass therefore affecting the balance . Otherwise they will have to create another fault with the moving leg to get it through .Makes sense doesn't it ?

Assuming you have knees, there is no problem passing the moving foot through without disturbing the hip.

Anonymous. According to the Technique book , the heel of the moving foot is drawn back with the heel on the floor untill as it reaches the supporting leg. Make sure that the supporting heel does not touch the floor untill the moving foot is level. Don't blame me I am only quoting.

Quoting what?

You won't find that requirement in the book. In fact, "TH" means that the heel must be on the floor by the time the moving foot closes.

Anonymous.Try Alex Moore's Ballroom Dancing. Nobody ever reads the intoductory section paragraph three, page thirteen. I'm not saying I agree with this , but who am I to disagree?.