"If the supporting heel is leaving the floor AST as the other is moving forward then both feet are moving!"

You will confuse many with that definition of moving, as the foot has not left it's place on the floor.

It also doesn't happen anyway. The standing heel will not lift until just before the moving foot passes it (for an upswing step) or just before the moving foot is placed (for a flat step). Both of these are long after "AST as the other is moving forward"

'The standing heel will not lift until just before the moving foot passes it'

Well, both feet will be moving. I find it strange that you could interpretate the defination by Anon that both feet would be moving forward at the same time.

"Well, both feet will be moving. I find it strange that you could interpretate the defination by Anon that both feet would be moving forward at the same time."

During the time in which the standing foot is flat on the floor, it is not moving - it's muscles may be changing position, but the foot itself is stationary with both ball and heel in contact with fixed spots on the floor.

Anon apparently considers that the standing foot is moving once it starts to roll forward, which is picky but true. However he or she was mistaken in thinking that the rolling began as soon as the free foot started moving. For a flat step the standing foot does not roll during most most of the stride (standing heel starts lifting only just before the moving foot finds its new place), while for an upswing step it starts slightly less than halfway through the stride (standing heel starts lifting just before the free foot passes it)

I didn't mean that at all. At the commencement of a forward walk the body weight will be held in the ball of the supporting foot with the heel lightly touching the floor. Once the body weight moves out of the foot the heel of the supporting foot will be raised and that will occur before the moving foot reaches its destination and the body weight transferred to become the new supporting foot. Hence between moving feet.

"Once the body weight moves out of the foot the heel of the supporting foot will be raised and that will occur before the moving foot reaches its destination and the body weight transferred to become the new supporting foot. Hence between moving feet."

The body weight can move, for all practical purposes the entire floor pressure used has to be in the standing foot until the moving foot has found it's position - moving an even partially weighted foot is extremely bad technique.

A few years ago I had a lesson with Stan Page, UK. He danced an Oversway and told me to put this £20 note under his right toe he then told me to pull it away. I could'nt. He then explained that was pressure and not weight.

[The body weight can move, for all practical purposes the entire floor pressure used has to be in the standing foot until the moving foot has found it's position - moving an even partially weighted foot is extremely bad technique.]

What I'm saying is the heel of the supporting foot leaves the floor BEFORE the moving foot arrives in its position to become the new supporting foot. To me, it's ludicrous to suggest that the heel of the supporting foot remains flat to the floor. This will be my last post on this subject. Anyway, thank you Anonymous for making this message very interesting and informative.

Hi puzzled
what you were shown was a very good demonstration of the laws of physics. Pressure is force divided by area. And of course the force is from the weight of the person's body, or in this case, the fraction of that weight which is on that toe. This might be quite a small force (if most of the weight is on the other foot) but if the area of contact was very small (as i suspect it was) the pressure would still be great.He sounds like a good teacher.
I'm only aware of this because this pressure gets transmited into my big toe, which complains for hours afterwards!

Hi Phil,
Maybe so. I agree with Anon (bless his cotton socks) But if I danced step 1 of the Feather, as gent, would the heel of my RF be in contact with the floor and only released when the weight is taken onto step 2? Or would the heel be released from the floor when the weight leaves the RF to be transfered? The query is 'between moving feet' Readers not understanding the last sentence then read the previous postings.

"But if I danced step 1 of the Feather, as gent, would the heel of my RF be in contact with the floor and only released when the weight is taken onto step 2? Or would the heel be released from the floor when the weight leaves the RF to be transfered?"

Neither. The step is an upswing with HT footwork, which means that you shift to the toe (and beging to release the heel) before the end of the step. The step ends when the left foot passes the right on its way to step two. So your heel will be down until shortly before the feet pass, but then will rise.

Contrast step 4 of the feather/feather finish leading into a three step. This does not have upswing, because that will not occur until the next step. So it a heel lead danced H only, not HT. In this case the heel stays down even as the feet pass, and rises sometime shortly before the moving foot finds its place.

The reason we got into this is that someone had argued that the standing heel would release as soon as the moving foot started moving, which is not true. In fact it's just under a half (upswing case) to just under a whole (flat case) step time later.