"Anonymous. The pre- positionig is not from just below the knee. The positioning of the foot is not like a stop."

Of course not - because you must never stop when lowered unless you check. You may only stop on a rise.

"In the Waltz step four Natural Turn. As the foot lowers on (and) the foot moves with the lowering and is seamless. If starting from a standing still position. The foot will be comfortably behind on the toe the knee will be flexed and ready to move on one. The person in front will have the feet together RF poised ready to go."

To some extent the body is already moving throughout the entire lowering - though most of that shows up only after the standing heel has touched the floor. The positionioning of the backwards partners foot at this point is indeed, for all practical purposes, from below the knee only. The thighs do not really seperate until they do so in response to the travel of the body!

Otherwise you are dancing the tango and not the waltz.

Anonymous. The body is moving but at this stage the movement is verticle only. It is not moving back.

"Anonymous. The body is moving but at this stage the movement is verticle only. It is not moving back."

Incorrect.

It is already moving back. Granted, lowering from foot closure the horizontal motion is small until the standing heel has touched the floor, but it is not zero. And after the standing heel touches down, the knee bending coincides with a quite dramatic horizontal travel. Or at least it does no good dancers.

Anonymous.The body moves on an horizontal plain after the foot is in place. If the body moves before the foot you will fall over.

"Anonymous.The body moves on an horizontal plain after the foot is in place. If the body moves before the foot you will fall over"

Gross ignorance!

Only in tango would you come even close to waiting for the foot to be in place before moving the body.

In the swing dances, you most definitely move the body BEFORE the foot is in place. And yes, during part of that action the body is FALLING.

Try studying with REAL TEACHER

Anonymous.If i were you i wouldn't write such stupid dribble. There are so many people who know what is being currently taught. And you put in writting that absolute rubbish. Am i being unfair if i say that over the weeks you have criticised the Learning Centre.Also Alex Moore as well as John Wood and Ann Lewis just to name a few. Just take a good look at yourself and admitt that in actuall competitions you are very inexperienced. I would suggest that your world class teacher just lets you get on with it. There are lots of dancers who for them there is no hope, so the teacher pats them on the back and lets them get on with it. Is that you.

"I would suggest that your world class teacher just lets you get on with it."

Not likely, given that I hear them making the same points to all of the couples they work with during a visit. And also, given that I am not talking about one teacher, but a category of teacher, and the points that are common (with variation as I explained) to what all of them present.

You do not need to work with a world class teacher every week. However, if you want to learn the state of the art in terms of the truth about how dancing really works, then you do need to consult with the best of the best often enough to have some guidance when deciding which local teachers to work with on a daily or weekly basis on which subjects. Otherwise, you are only getting second rate information, with no higher guidance.

Anonymous. You didn't answer the questions did you. My guess is after putting your foot in it so many times you wont.

I have often gotten the impression in lessons with top teachers that they do not want a student running around saying "so and so said this".

So I am not going to name specific teachers. Instead, I talk about concepts, and a general category of teacher.

If you were in the habit of taking occasional lessons with a representative number of people from that est-of-the-best category you would instantly recognize these concepts. In fact, you'd probably be able to guess which teacher each of them came from.

But out of respect for those teachers, and their candor in being willing to share true points that are too controvserial to print, I am not going to name individuals. Take some lessons and discover for yourself how much the best have to teach you, regardless of your current level.

Anonymous. If a teacher puts in writting or on DVD then they can be quoted and their name mentioned in giving details where the infomation come from and what they were discussing.