Latindiver. You are absolutely Correct.,when you say in CBMP the man doesn't turn his hip he only turns his shoulders to oppose his hip. You must, like me wonder how anybody can be having lessons and not know this.This is true. A friend of mine only a short while ago asked me to explain CBMP and CBM.as well as NFR. The following week we ran into each other again and she said, I asked my teacher what is CBMP. He didn't know what she was talking about, and yet he was a qualified teacher.

You might be curious to know that some of th world's leading teacher make no distinction in their lessons between CBM and CBMP... they want the same body position in either case!!!

Don, I know it sounds like a beginner question but nevertheless it does not make any sense to me, just to turn the shoulders. Usually while dancing you find yourself in a movement and the advice "turn your shoulders" sounds not very useful to me as in my opinion it should be a complete body action. I found that most dancers never go back to their basics and ask the same questions as they did as beginners with a different view and more experience. But if somebody is not prepared to review the very basics, there is no chance to really improve the dancing.

"Don, I know it sounds like a beginner question but nevertheless it does not make any sense to me, just to turn the shoulders. Usually while dancing you find yourself in a movement and the advice "turn your shoulders" sounds not very useful to me as in my opinion it should be a complete body action."

It depends on the direction of turn.

For a natural turn, you will turn mostly your upper body. For a reverse turn, you will turn mostly the lower part - feet and hips. Eventually the other part catches up of course.

"Latindiver. You are absolutely Correct.,when you say in CBMP the man doesn't turn his hip he only turns his shoulders to oppose his hip. You must, like me wonder how anybody can be having lessons and not know this.This is true."

Don, Don, Don.

It all depends on the direction of the rotation used to set up the CBMP (or more likley, the side lead that precedes it).

If it's a natural entry like an open impetus, the man will turn his shoulders to the lady while leaving his hip slightly open.

On the other hand, if it's a revers entry like an open telemark, the man will open his hip and foot to promenade, while leaving his shoulder closed to the lady.

Anonymous. A Swivel here is when the feet are together and they both turn. Open Impetus. The man takes his head back with the left leg. This should give him the correct foot position as he is about to take step three. The lady after step five will swivel the feet to point exactly as the man's feet are pointing. At this point most inexperienced are open to wide. From the correct position all that is necessary is to step one floor board wide to allow the inside foot to come through, man first . If this is to be followed with a Running Weave the lady must watch the size of the Promenade Step. Done correctly CBMP will look after itself. The beauty of the Open Imputes is that it can be done slowly to study each movement. I would stop on beat two or step two and check the feet. Now have a look at your Open Telemark.

Don, regardless of how you step or pause getting in there, one partner will rotate their hips more than their shoulders, and the other will rotate their shoulders more than their hips, with which it is depending on the direction of turn in the promenade entry.

Yes, many couples are too open in promeande. But everyone ends up with a hip to shoulder difference of some degree.

And by the way, in promenade the man's and lady's feet have an intersecting alignment - officially there would be a 90 degree angle between their feet with each dancer's own feet parallel, however in practice the take is much closer to the direction of movement.

Anonymous. Just let it happen. What I have been noticing watching, and watching DVD's is that , the Open Telemark it just happens. I had to look again to see that it was an Open Telemark. I think most of us get to the Open Telemark and try to put something extra in it. The same applies to the Fallaway. I thought did I see Fallaway there or not. They let it just flow. If at any point we have to wrestle with the step, don't

"Anonymous. Just let it happen."

That's not bad advice.

However, if you wish to engage in a debate about what happened, you would have to be a bit more precise - specifically, you would not have to make the error that you did. Getting into promenade requires at some point that there be differential rotation between hips and shoulders - not all that much, but it is definitely there, so you are quite foolish to insistently deny such and obvious fact.

Anonymous I deny nothing. You can do it as you like. All I know is most people Open far too early and far too wide.
It is impossible to put it into writing otherwise all that would be necessary is to read the book and there would be no teachers. If I write, I have a clear picture in my mind of how I have been shown. But it doesn't always get onto paper. Did you know that the worst taught step is the Whisk. Very few teach according to the correct technique. When I saw Andrew Sinkinson demonstrate the Whisk. All I could say was Wow. I've been trying to do it the same ever since.