Which steps for the lady in the Internationl Waltz in the description of the footwork give step 4. HT. 5. T. and step 6. TH. and, yet in the discription of the rise and fall give rise at the end of the fifth step, and not on the fourth. And if anybody doubts that this is true. How can you easily prove it to them.

A step where the man dances a pivot or heel pull on one or four, but where there is a rise to the overall figure. bvious examples: natural spin turn, closed impetus, open impetus. Contrast 456 of the natural turn where the rise is taken from step 4.

But just because the book lists no rise does not mean there is no sort of rise at all... there is a 'growing' at the end of these step four actions which precedes the official rise a step later.

Anonymous. I don't think the Open Telemark qualifies here because there is a slight rise end of one continue to rise on two. As you have spotted when the man pivots he has no rise , the step is down. From that down position he should not rise untill the end of the next step. If a Spin Turn is done this way, which is not too often in the lower grades, it is much easier to stay on balance and produce a 456 of the Reverse with feeling, and for the lady that all important shaping. The who people wrote the technique book must have had a headache when describing the footwork. A heel must eventually become a toe. So all the heel leads are printed HT. With the above I believe it should be H. only. When the next step is taken the last step is history. At the end of four the heel is still in contact with the floor, therefore to refer to it after the beat has gone is going back in time As I said what a headache it must have been for them before they decided to call it HT..

Don, I really have no idea why you are bringing the open telemark into this - nobody mentioned it.

As for the open impetus, check the book - no rise on one. Men's heel turns are not danced like lady's heel turns.

For the lady's step four of spin turn, the footwork must be at least HT, because she dances her part of the pivot on her toe, not her heel. She then departs the foot in a somewhat backwards directions. The only other viable option would be HTH, which is actually used in the natural pivot turn to create a more purely backwards action (toe release and all) between step four and the following figure.

That leaves only the mystery of why the lady has HT on the first step of the impetus turn despite the general lack of rise. The answer probably has to do with projecting her body more forward off that foot and swinging the hips slightly to take step five on the toe instead of a second heel - contrast steps 4 and 5 of the reverse wave, where the lady has H only on 4 and then HT on 5.

Anonymous. Sorry about the Open Telemark it was not mentioned. But now we get to the intersting part. We will call the ladies second bar of music as 456 in both the Spin Turn and The Impetus. The question is does the lady turn on her right foot one half of a turn with the whole of the ball of the foot in contact with the floor and the heel only slightly off the floor on step four, before completing the turn to wherever the man is leading her on the left foot five, which is untill the end of the beat down. Remembering the man can't be anything other than down on four. One way to find out is to try it. As a male we should be able to do the ladies steps remembering to get the left foot under the body before going to the side on five, which is consistant with the first three of the Natural in the man's steps. Consistency in technique. Footnote. I don't know if the charts have differed in the past few years but in my book in the diagrams there is a clear half a turn on the ladies right foot. With a further turn to point both feet to diagonal centre on the fifth and six steps. These steps , so I am told, are among the most abused in the Modern Waltz by the not so good..

There is no pivot for the lady in the impetus, so it's closer to the forward natural than the spin turn, which has both a bit of a pivot and a bit of a forward swing. Not sure where you get the impetus as 456, it's almost always the opening figure of a group in the book so 123, but that's just a matter of convention and nothing important.

Also, the man does have a sort of rise on step four of these figures, just not any kind of rise that there is room to describe in the book's language - it's more subtle than that, but still important. Don't confuse the natural spin turn with a natural pivot turn, the footwork is subtly but importantly different.

Also, be carefull about step five - it is NOT "until the end of the beat down" - it's a toe only step! Once again, when the book gives the timing of rise it is talking about some very specific things, and not every characteristic that contributes to altitude or foot development.

Anonymous. Interesting isn't it.It is important to remember the lady does not have a true pivot on step four. The pivoting action inicates that the weight is held over the right foot slightly longer than in a normal turn, but the left foot is not held in CBMP during the turn. To do so is in fact impossible. Only quoting. Still the debatable point is should step five be the same as the 2 after 1 of a Natural with the flexing of the knee before taking step five . That is after the left leg is in a nuetral position, then flex then push to the side from the right knee. I can't for the life of me see why the Impetus Turn for the ladies steps are different to the Spin Turn.
Except we never underturn an Imetus either closed or open.

The lady has at least something of a pivoting action on step 4 of the spin turn, she does not on step 1 of the impetus which is purely a CBM forwards step, much closer to step 4 of the natural only with a flatter swing.

It makes more sense if you think about the next step - in a spin turn, we are trying to create a spin on the next step, wheras in the impetus we need to direct the energy out into travel without overspinning there (overspinning being what usually happens if the man dances the impetus with the more rising heel turn technique that is employed when the lady is on the inside of the turn).