if you trip over the lady by rising e/o 1 - surely you would trip over the lady in the real three step by rising e/o 2 - all you're doing is shifting the rise and the flight back by one step.

another point that may be relevant is that the footwork for the cuvrved three step is HT, T, TH. in the geoff hearn technique for that figure there is only 1/8 turn on step 2 and step 2 is diag fwd (therefore placed by a fwd swing).

re the original post maybe there is something in the footer in howard that step 2 of the three step is the strongest step - question is why - maybe the body turn out of the preceding figure absorbs some of the energy from step 1

"if you trip over the lady by rising e/o 1 - surely you would trip over the lady in the real three step by rising e/o 2 - all you're doing is shifting the rise and the flight back by one step."

By delaying the rise as in the proper three step you make it possible for her to keep up with you while rolling through her feet.

If you want to rise early, you will probably find that it's necessary to dance a hover & redirect type of action as in the hover telemark, rather than a continued through action as in a proper three step.

"re the original post maybe there is something in the footer in howard that step 2 of the three step is the strongest step - question is why - maybe the body turn out of the preceding figure absorbs some of the energy from step 1"

It's the strongest step for the same reason that step one of a feather is - you have travel into the step, rise, and travel out of it. In the three step, what we would nominally think of as step 1 is really a sort of inconsiquential connector - the step really only develops from the second step.

These are of course the IDTA step countings consistent with how the other SQQ figures are numbered. The ISTD counts the second or rising step of the figure as its first step.

i dont really find that. nor does it make sense in terms of the comparative distances of travel predicted from the alternative patterns of footwork, which i think would be identical when comparing the real three step with the alternative we considered yesterday.


i take your point that step 1 is regarded as a linker but i am wondering is why that should be.

You might also like to consider the similarity of steps 4-6 of the reverse wave as lady

well the lady's for 4-6 of the wave are exactly the same as the mans steps for the three step - so the same questions would arise. i'm not sure if the comparison illuminates the situation further - except to say that this pattern does gives the very abrupt rise of fall ie the wave effect - which come to think of it, is something i like, and accept as a feature of that figure. perhaps the intention was to have that same effect on the three step although if that were the case i wonder why they didnt call it the forward wave.

Interested. Well i'll be darned. I never realized before that if i follow the book as it is written i could do a Feather Step followed by a Feather Step and keep going untill the music stopped.
Hot Stepper. Just accept it. The only other way would be to go back in time to the 20's and ask. There is probably an answer. Remember their was a Three Step before there was a Feather Step. The Feather was a cross up behind untill about 1922. A Reverse Turn didn't have a Heel Turn . It was a Viennese Cross. Information from Victor Silvester's Modern Ballroom Dancing. which is probably in your local library

I think the original post should ignore the advice of Cyd to just accept it .

Understanding the thinking behind technical details often turns out to be important when it comes to adapting figures and working out which features are intrinsic and which need to be modified. Even if a definitive answer does not emerge there is usually something to be learned along the way.

To put it another way .... as scrivener pointed out.. no technique can be exact as circumstance may change the theory ( para phrased )

A quote from Victor Silvester - "Theory and Technique of Ballroom Dancing", 1936, in example questions and answers:

"Q: Why does the rise in the Feather Step differ from the rise in the three-step?

A: Because you step outside your partner and therefore it is more natural to rise one step earlier."

Well at least there is hint of an answer there, although I dont know why rise shoud be more natural when going OP.