Aussielad, thanks for this question. My instructor tells me to stop "bouncing" and I think this is what he is talking about. I would bet my house that I do not bounce when doing the forward steps of the Fox Trot, but sure enough, when I see it on film, I am "bouncing." I like that "roll to the ball." I think that is something that can be ingrained and it is a visual enough term to be able to put to practice. It also seems it would assure the "gliding" and fluid movement you want, rather than something with a little bounce in your step.

Correct use of the knees will fix that.

Elaborate a bit, please. It feels like the bounce is coming from being on the balls of my feet a little too much for the Fox Trot. That, and some Fox Trot music simply makes me sway and bounce a bit more than strict ballroom fundamentals would call for or alllow.
Again, I know that at a social dance I can bounce and sway as much as I'd like, but I also like to have a firm grip on the fundamentals and understand what the body is supposed to be doing. I always want to do it right.
So what should the knees be doing to correct a "bounce"?

Does anyone have more to add on the "correct use of the knees" on this question? I would like an idea or two on these, to avoid the bouncing or pop up that was mentioned in this discussion.

You might try to relax the knees and push them in a more forward direction, remember if you lower six inches you only rise six inches' that's not counting foot rise or any rise from body swing.

"Elaborate a bit, please. It feels like the bounce is coming from being on the balls of my feet a little too much for the Fox Trot. That, and some Fox Trot music simply makes me sway and bounce a bit more than strict ballroom fundamentals would call for or alllow."

The real problem is one of rushing through the action. Foxtrot type movement has a number of points in the action where it's comfortable to stay, and a number of points that feel insecure which are tempting to rush through. The problem is that if you rush through the insecure ones, then you hit the next part too fast, rise too high, etc and generally loose the character of the dance.

So you have to learn to move slowly and smoothly through those less secure parts of each step. Most of that will be developing strength in your feet, to allow you to move your weight further before you loose balance and have to go through to the next step. But also learning to take that between-steps energy and carry it through each step.

In the end your knee action will improve, but the knees are not really where the answer lies - the problem there is just a symptom.

Actually, the physically easiest way to do the dance properly is to make it fairly small, with very little knee usage at all and limited leg division, by doing it all with your feet. That has the additional benefit of developing foot strength. That's pretty much what you see even in competition videos of 20-30 years ago - proper and serene with outstanding control and mastery, but not overtly athletic in the way it looks today. The knees will only really start working when you scale up the distance traveled, and you don't want to do that until your feet can let you make those big movements very smooth and even instead of pulsing.

This topic could be confusing to some. Some people here are thinking International foxtrot (or American silver) but others may be thinking American bronze foxtrot. This step is different in the two. So please clarify which style you are referring to.

I would be thinking more along the lines of American Bronze, as that is what I would be dancing more often. Though I do know some of the silver level and International steps. Not enough people in my circles know that style, though. So my "bouncing" I believe is occurring on the first part of the step sequence, or the SS. I think my QQ is solid, with a slight rise and done at a bit of an angle, which helps keep things smooth.
I feel I am much smoother when switching to a SQQS sequence, especially when taking it outside partner with longer strides.
This helps me understand what anymouse is referring to with how strength in the feet is a real plus.

dheun. Can you explain what you meant when you wrote " Especially outside partner with a longer strides ".
Is this on a Feather Finish. Or a Feather ending. Or step four of a Reverse Weave in Waltz.

dheun wrote: "I would be thinking more along the lines of American Bronze, "......

Yes, I know. That was the reason for my last post.

Then Polished wrote: "dheun. Can you explain what you meant when you wrote " Especially outside partner with a longer strides ". Is this on a Feather Finish. Or a Feather ending. Or step four of a Reverse Weave in Waltz."...........

And Polished is thinking International foxtrot which is completely different. No wonder he is confused about dheun's statement.

Bronze American foxtrot, unlike International, gets most of the rise and fall from the ankles, not the knees, at least on the forward slow steps. The QQ closing steps of the basic have a different type of rise and fall. The rise for the forward steps (assuming you can call this a rise) is created by an early push by the ankle that is behind. That little rise that is created by the back foot is absorbed by rolling from the heel to the flat of foot, on the foot in front. The knees are only used to the extent of what you do in normal walking. If you try to produce this rise and fall from the knees, it will be late and end up producing a bounce. It will likely to too big also. This rise/fall should be very small.

You might be better off thinking of this action as a "strut" or a "springing action" rather than rise and fall. It is considerably different from rise and fall in International foxtrot, and much smaller.

Most beginning dancers never get to the point of actually producing this correctly. It's not easy to do, and in my opinion is beyond what a average beginner should be able to do. However if you are an above average dancer you may be able to get this, and if you do, and if you decide to compete, you will be far ahead of the other competitors.