If the lady on step two was the same height as the man.She must have swung too early. Probably taking the mans centre away from him.

The issue is not one of height, but of residual sway. The person on the inside of the turn may end higher than their partner, so long as they do not lean diagonally forward over their partner. In contrast, the person ending backwards could and probably should have some residual shape diagonally forward against the movement that was just finished. Shape against the movement is good, shape into it is a very risky thing usefull only in small amounts in special circumstances.

The height at the peak of a swing is a different issue than the use of NFR at the bottom of one - that strongly impacts the foot to foot action. But at the top of the swing, the amount of rise between the parnters needs to be coordinated more in terms of not using up one partner's personal capability before the other's. You can in fact rise and lower in place without affecting your partner, so as long as the trends in your rise and fall can be matched in spirit by your partner, all should be fine. Notice how people of different heights can dance together?

Anonymous. Are you saying that in the first part of the NT Waltz that the movement is back so it's better to lean forward rather than back if we can't remain virtical on a side plain(sway).

Don wrote:Not exactly.

Swing by definition takes place on an arc. Think of how you swing a bat, a golf club, or a hammer. These are all ramges of motion taking place in different planes, but all in the shape of an arc.

The second thing all swinging actions have in common is that they require a free release of energy. For example, if you were to hold the seat of a playground swing and guide it slowly through its range of motion, it would not be perceived as "swinging". In order to swing, it needs to be sent with a free release of energy.

So here is how I would define swing: "The free release of energy through an arc".

As I illustrated with the baseball batt, golf club and hammer example, the swinging action is not necessarily tied to any one plane of motion. So you can see, then, why it shouldn't be confused (or even compared, for that matter) to sway. Sway is a position, while swing is a range of motion. Or several ranges of motion, actually... only one of which results in sway.

The range of motion that results in sway is "pendulum" swing, occurring in the same plane as the golf club. But don't forget about the equally important "rotary" swing (like the baseball batt), which has nothing to do with sway. Rotary swing results in... you guessed it... rotation. Or in ballroom terms, progressive rotation.

Coming back to the concept of "free release" -- this is the most oft overlooked aspect of swing. It is the key ingredient in your basic natural and reverse turns, and without it, you will not "swing". This is why Tango, although it rotates, doesn't "swing". It's also why social dancers often lack that "swinging" quality, even though they may be rotating and even finishing in a swayed position. There must be a free release of energy, or there is no swing.

So now back to the observation: "Swing is side to side". It has the following problems: (1) There is no arc in side-to-side motion, (2) It confuses swing, which is an action taking place through a range of motion, with sway, which is a position, and (3) It neglects the other possible ranges of swinging motion, such as rotary swing.

Now to the second observarion: "Sway comes in on 3". Actually, 3 is the beat where sway is dissolved. It is at its maximum, which is really its endpoint, right on the downnbeat of 3. You might hold it for a brief moment, but for the most part, the duration of 3 is spent dissolving the sway. As to where it "comes in", that depends on who you talk to. Some (myself included) will say it begins at the tail-end of 1, while others insist it doesn't begin until 2. We can have that discussion another day. Either way, 2 is the beat most charatcerized by sway, while 1 and 3 are spent, at most, only partly in a sway position.

Regards,
Jonathan Atkinson

The so-called rotary swing is really a misunderstanding of a situation in which the two sides of the body swing along different paths.

Thanks Jonathan for your GREAT explanation. What would be nice now would be if you could explain how we attain and release that energy . Most of us have some understanding as to what takes place,but it is not clearly set in my mind.

This is one of those things that's much easier to demonstrate than to describe.

I'll use bowling as an analogy. If you simply roll the ball out of your hands (ie "old lady tyle"), the ball rolls slowly down the lane. When it hits the pins, it tips them gently, and usually only the ones it makes direct contact with.

To really send the pins flying, you need a lot more speed. You cock the arm back, then swing it forward before releasing the ball. It also helps to move the entire body forward through space (by taking a step or two) as you swing the arm.

Likewise, in ballroom dancing, to "release" the rotational swing (ie CBM), you need to wind up beforehand (or end the previous movement in a wound-up position). Without wind-up, there's nothing to release, and you end up with a slow, controlled movement, like "old lady bowling", or trying to push a swing from the bottom.

An exercise you can do to help you with this concept is to begin standing with arms extended to the sides, feet pointing to line of dance. While standing in place, turn your body to face diagonally to center, so that the left arm is positioned behind and right arm forward. This is your wind-up. Now begin to swing your left arm forward while at the same time stepping forward on your right foot. Time the rotation to the movement so that you end square to the line of dance (arms straight to sides) when the body weight has arrived completely over the foot. Continue rotating and traveling so that you take a second step (feet all the while still pointing to line of dance), finishing with the body facing diagonal wall.

The arms should feel active but not actually disengage from the body. When I say that the left arm is positioned back, it's not actually reaching backwards. It's simply behind the body in space, with respect to the line of dance. The arms are merely extensions of the body, and represent its orientation.

Two things will help you feel the "release of energy":

(1) The first step should have enough energy that it sends you right past the first foot and on to the second. That's not to say that the second step shouldn't have any energy or leg muscle usage of its own, but a good amount of energy of the second step should be residual from the first.

(2) Try to feel as though the release of rotation is the motivating force behind the step, and not vice-versa. A common mistake is to begin moving before releasing the rotation. If need be, do the opposite to train yourself out of the habit. Start swinging your arms first, then start your step. Just make sure that you don't over-cook the rotation -- it still needs to be timed to the progression so that you end squarely at approximately the same moment your weight arrives fully over the first step.

Regards,
Jonathan

Thanks Jonathan. Dave

i love dancing its so fun

"To really send the pins flying, you need a lot more speed. You cock the arm back, then swing it forward before releasing the ball. It also helps to move the entire body forward through space (by taking a step or two) as you swing the arm.

Likewise, in ballroom dancing, to "release" the rotational swing (ie CBM), you need to wind up beforehand (or end the previous movement in a wound-up position). Without wind-up, there's nothing to release, and you end up with a slow, controlled movement, like "old lady bowling", or trying to push a swing from the bottom."

It's worth considering that while there is body rotation invovled in sending a bowling ball on its way, the ball itself follows a straight path through the swing - you would not swing it along a horizontal arc and hope to release it going in the correct direction. In bowling, the ball is the "center" that matters. But in dancing, it is the body's own center that matters. There is a rotary action during the CBM step, but the body center itself moves along a straight path down the floor even as the side (or hip) that is leading changes over the course of the step. This is not a curved path around a fixed external point, but a straight path of the body center, with the body rotating around that moving center, rather than around an external point.