Anonymous. The ladies knee is supposed to bend towards her partner as the man's knee also bends towards his front. I have been having a good look at the top six couples amateures in action, one of whome is favoured to win the Blackpool event Professional Open. They all stay on the standing leg longer. My veiw has been from the inside with the man nearest to the screen moving to my left. Im afraid to say everyone of them at some time is right in the middle between the two feet. This includes the second step of a Natural in the Waltz. After arriving on step one and step two is taken. The weight is still on one. The body is on an steep angle. The body is still on one the foot has turned but is still over the same spot. Then the weight is passed from one foot to the other passing the half way mark which is divided weight.Forward in the Foxtrot same basic action. Arrive over the foot. Foot stays still, body stays on the standing foot . The other leg swing through. The body then moves along its predetermined path passing a split weight position. The lady in a Wave,no different. If you still disagree with this I would suggest you have nothing to compare it with. Give me any top dancer who does this any other way. The fact is it is not possible to do it any other way. Think of a guy jumping from the eight floor. They will pass the fourth floor. At that point, which is exactly half way. they will have the same distance in front as behind. Could say he is equally divided. I've just been looking at six of them again in slow, and frame by frame just as anyone else can do.

Quickstep, please back up and stop confusing the action of step two in the waltz with that of the slow walk in the foxtrot, which is of course step 1.

Do you not see how on the video of the feather here, the lady is keeping her standing knee forward too long, contributing to the collision of the man's too-early-swinging leg with her body? If we go back further in cause, she may be doing that because the man is allowing his body to prematurely slow, instead of having it lead his feet well into step 2.

It's right there for all to see, no purchase necessary.

Anonymous. What me must try to do is not to imagine that we are right and therefore they must be wrong. If I did I will appear to have a very swollen ego
One of the very top dancers gets much higher on the first quick of the Feather than some of the others, who have a quieter approach. They are all correct in their own way otherwise they would not be winning or making finals. I can say without fear of contadiction that a top coach taking a top couple for a lesson would not try to alter their style or interpretation. You or I would be torn to peices, and would be taken right back to the very Basic actions. It happend to a friend of mine who went to the UK and never got past the first three of a Natural in the Waltz, the girl was told that she was two inches out. She had through habit, and not being told, had moved over too far and had taken the man's center away from him on the second and third beat. This she was told would cause the next step of the Spin Turn to be even further out. The whole of the Reverse would be spent trying to get back to the correct posture. These lessons cost 75UK Pounds for 50 minutes.

"Anonymous. What me must try to do is not to imagine that we are right and therefore they must be wrong. If I did I will appear to have a very swollen ego
One of the very top dancers gets much higher on the first quick of the Feather than some of the others"

Little problem: this thread is about slows, not quicks.

"I can say without fear of contadiction that a top coach taking a top couple for a lesson would not try to alter their style or interpretation. You or I would be torn to peices, and would be taken right back to the very Basic actions. It"

Something I've noticed is that a coach given only a brief opportunity such as a single lesson to work with a couple may overlook a number of serious fundamental flaws if the students start the lesson by presenting a cohesize program - the coach may coach the performance instead of fixing the technical flaws, especially if they mention having a competition to dance in the near future. If you want to really learn how that teacher does the technique, you may have to either ask for it, or go in without a prepared program and no competitions on the horizon.

Anonymous. Must come off the slow to get the quick. The whole thing becomes related. At the end of the Slow some will rise quicker, and some not so quick. They are all correct. As written on another part Billy Irvine teaches that the first quick is accentuated ( more gusto ).

After reading these four full pages of discussion under the topic " Forward Walk in Slow Foxtrot, I sincerely want to give my salute to Anonymous. I think he ( or she ?) reasons clearly on the main points and substains his focus of the argument neatly. I consider myself as a green apple in the field of Ballroom Dancing. I have not yet read the famous books quoted here and in the past three years I am under the training of one same coach only. But somehow, I totally see what Anonymous means and couldn't agree with him more. Although I am a naive beginner ( I said so because believe it or not, my coach just keeps teaching me the basics of Waltz for 3 years and I just start to learn Foxtrot recently ), I still want to add my comments as follows:
1. Seamless is seamless. The flowing movement is so continous and so smooth that I can't see that there is a split second we should effort to strike a balance which we distribute our weight equally on both feet. Even though there is a blink of time that our weight is transitted to the middle, this is just a passage. Like Anonymous said, this is trifling.
2. During the longest stride we try to accomplish, even though we are on the heel and on the toe of the corresponding feet, the weight is not neccessarily to be must at the middle of the parting feet. Raise the toe of the front foot just 1cm, I can feel the shift of weight happen already. ( Am I wrong about this, Anonymous? )
3. At home I always think about how to improve my techniques and power of dancing. So, sometimes I sneak to the parking garage under my apartment building and practice my forward movement on the slightly upward slope so as to propel myself forward by more efforts. I definitely feel that my body is more ahead. ( Am I right about this, Anonymous? )
All in all, I just venture to write and let Anonymous know that he makes himself clear in his discussion and I am on his side. Pardon this green apple from Hong Kong for her clumsy English.

After reading these four full pages of discussion under the topic " Forward Walk in Slow Foxtrot, I sincerely want to give my salute to Anonymous. I think he ( or she ?) reasons clearly on the main points and substains his focus of the argument neatly. I consider myself as a green apple in the field of Ballroom Dancing. I have not yet read the famous books quoted here and in the past three years I am under the training of one same coach only. But somehow, I totally see what Anonymous means and couldn¡¦t agree with him more. Although I am a naive beginner ( I said so because believe it or not, my coach just keeps teaching me the basics of Waltz for 3 years and I just start to learn Foxtrot recently ), I still want to add my comments as follows:
1. Seamless is seamless. The flowing movement is so continous and so smooth that I can¡¦t see that there is a split second we should effort to strike a balance which we distribute our weight equally on both feet. Even though there is a blink of time that our weight is transitted to the middle, this is just a passage. Like Anonymous said, this is trifling.
2. During the longest stride we try to accomplish, even though we are on the heel and on the toe of the corresponding feet, the weight is not neccessarily to be must at the middle of the parting feet. Raise the toe of the front foot just 1cm, I can feel the shift of weight happen already. ( Am I wrong about this, Anonymous? )
3. At home I always think about how to improve my techniques and power of dancing. So, sometimes I sneak to the parking garage under my apartment building and practice my forward movement on the slightly upward slope so as to propel myself forward by more efforts. I definitely feel that my body is more ahead. ( Am I right about this, Anonymous? )
All in all, I just venture to write and let Anonymous know that he makes himself clear in his discussion and I am on his side. Pardon this green apple from Hong Kong for her clumsy English.

Green Apple. Your English is excellent. Pharagtaph numbered 1. This should really be a new thread. Marked Seamless.As a lady answer one question. Where is your body at the time that you step back as in Foxtrot or Waltz as the moving foot is placed in position. If you know the technique on step one for the lady there is No Foot Rise. Wouldn't that mean that the lady actually stands still as the man passes. I can say right here that if the lady does not allow the man to arrive first she will be there before him. Would you not say that this is a slight pause which should appear to be seamless. I will quote from the book again. Lady Waltz first step back LF. Commence to rise at the end of 1. NFR Foxtrot Rise at the end of 1. NFR. And again from the book and nothing could be clearer. If you are able to watch any tapes you will see excactly this. Swing the left leg back from the hips ( not the knee) At the full extent of the stride ( the very last bit of the toe touching the floor) lower on to the ball of back foot so at this point the ball of the back foot and the heel of the front foot are touching the floor. Continue to move backward , draw the RF back to the LF and at the same time slowly lower the left heel to the floor. MAKING SURE IT DOES NOT TOUCH THE FLOOR UNTILL THE RIGHT FOOT IS LEVEL WITH IT. End of Quote. If this is done correctly wouldn't you say that as the left heel rolls to the floor there is a feeling of being in one place as the knee bends towards the front. Tell me one more thing. A sprinter after they leave the blocks and untill they lunge at the tape. Is their body not verticle with the legs going first. As Jonathan once wrote the legs will travell twice the speed of the body. All of the above is for the competition dancer or for one who would like to dance correctly. If you go to 5. 27. 2006. you will se a part copy of the Administrators comments given on 2 25 2004. I would suggest that you read it carefully. Plus the writting above from Alex Moores book, some of which is on page 13. There are some good teachers from Europe residing in Hong Kong. Several Russians so I have been told. Good Luck.

GreennApple. Make that spelling Paragraph in the first line.

Green Apple,

I am intrigued by your idea of practicing the forward walk on a slight incline.

In actual dancing of course the walk must be a free action to which the dancer fully commits his or her body weight before there is a leg there to receive it. But it is human to want to practice slowly, experiment, and understand the evolution of the movement. The problem with the forward walk (unlike the backward one) is that you cannot slow it down without altering the technique, since you cannot move slowly through the phase of instability.

I'm not yet sure, but your idea of walking up a slight hill may give just enough resistance to allow practicing a slowed down walk with the kind of forward body position required for a real one - with the incline providing the slowing that is impossible to achieve while maintaining a proper body position when the walk is horizontal.