Hi Waltz123,
******For years I have been taught (and have been teaching) that the body passes through the position of being squared-off to the feet when the weight is fully transferred on 1.******

I found your posting very interesting. When using CBM the theory of the shoulders square to the feet when the weight is fully transferred to the supporting foot is the teaching of the late and great Henry Jacques. He also taught his advanced dancers that Sway is always commenced at the end of the first step of the figure in which it is applied and the amount of sway achieved on this step is held but not increased on the following steps. i.e. Step 1 of the Feather, Sway would be commenced at the end of the step and held for steps 2 and 3 but not increased. He also stated that what seems to be an increase in the Sway on the second steps of both the first and second halves of turning figures on which Sway is applied is due to the placing of the foot on the ball or the toe of the moving foot, thus emphasising the Sway. The bracing of the side of the body should not be increased to give a greater amount of Sway. Henry was so much in demand for lessons that you always had to share the lesson time with one or two more couples. During the Blackpool Festival week he always took a walk along the Promenade in a morning. Dancers use to ask if they could join him. You would be very lucky to be the first.

Samways, if you want to blend the motion and have early sway you can do that. But in a reverse turn, sway while the left side is still in advance would have to be right sway - this is the same sway with respect to the motion as the left sway that will be achieved once the right side is in advance. The incline of the body is in the same direction, but it's a different direction on the body because the body is rotating.

If you have left sway while the left side is still in advance and progress that to left sway with the right side in advance, that would be a tumbling action, which is called for in some special cases, but not here.

Hi Waltz123,
******For years I have been taught (and have been teaching) that the body passes through the position of being squared-off to the feet when the weight is fully transferred on 1.******

I found your posting very interesting. When using CBM the theory of the shoulders square to the feet when the weight is fully transferred to the supporting foot is the teaching of the late and great Henry Jacques. He also taught his advanced dancers that Sway is always commenced at the end of the first step of the figure in which it is applied and the amount of sway achieved on this step is held but not increased on the following steps. i.e. Step 1 of the Feather, Sway would be commenced at the end of the step and held for steps 2 and 3 but not increased. He also stated that what seems to be an increase in the Sway on the second steps of both the first and second halves of turning figures on which Sway is applied is due to the placing of the foot on the ball or the toe of the moving foot, thus emphasising the Sway. The bracing of the side of the body should not be increased to give a greater amount of Sway. Henry was so much in demand for lessons that you always had to share the lesson time with one or two more couples. During the Blackpool Festival week he always took a walk along the Promenade in a morning. Dancers use to ask if they could join him. You would be very lucky to be the first.

LLuv2dance.I always go to my tapes and now my DVD's to study any questions such as this. The DVD's are much better being able to get perfect slow motion, and to be able to zoom in for a closer look. I can see a blending in between one sway to the next sway. As you said Henry Jaques started his sway at the end of the first step. The question now is. Where did he end that sway before his next sway. Did he teach that we end abruptly and then begin at the end of the next step ? I doubt it very much. If you new Henry Jaques you most likely came in contact with my first teachers Jack McGregor and Bemil Twiggs. They taught me to keep the dance moving from one sway to the next. I've done exactly that ever since. John Wood on my tape says the same thing that Henry taught.
And that is to start the sway at the end of the first step, that being the first step of the Feather, and the same from there on.

Anoymous. I will have to contradict here on you paragraph four. The man on step four with the modern dancer knows that he has to clear a path for the lady allowing her the straight path. This is achieved by the man curving step four slightly. Whoever is on the inside of the turn clears a path for the person coming forewards who of course is on the outside of the turn and has the straighter steps. Please don't quote the text book. Remember the original writer said. "I do not wish this book to be used with a Parrot like mentality ". It was intended to be used as a reference not something set in cement.

Onlooker - you have an Irvine or Gleave style teacher. I have an Eggleton style teacher, and was describing the performance of another from this school. You step out of the way, we stay in the way but clear our hip - both work, both win Blackpool.

Anonymous. Very neatly put. I think most of the trouble about where the foot should or should not be placed stems from those who teach strickly from the book. But that is not competition dancing. Its medal dancing.
In other words there are two styles of dancing. Those teachers who have had very little competition dancing experience, will more than likely teach straight from the book. The book they were judged on when they did their professional examination. If I was asked where is the foot placed on the fourth step of a Spin Turn. It wouldn't go down too well if I replied, more diag to wall than straight down the LOD.
Another thing worth pointing out is that if the person you are hoping to copy is very slim like Steven Hillier, He is not going to dance the same as John Wood who is to say the least well built. Peter Eggleton was rather tallish if I remember correctly. I did see him dance on many occasions, but that was half a century ago.

If dancing by the book wins Blackpool, then perhaps it is competition dancing in addition to medal dancing, no?

Anonymous. I would agree, and i think that all competition dancers have at some time or other been, involved with medal dancing. But when we move into competition dancing, over the years technique has altered immensely. The book can not keep up with these changes, none more so than in Tango. We now have even a bit of rise and fall in some parts of this dance. That a few years ago would have been laughable.In the Rumba we have all seen the ladies doing what i call a standing splits. That is one leg straight up. Not long ago that would have been a disqualification. In fact a Welsh couple, i think the name was Powell were on the floor and were literaly crucified for doing just that. In the Dance News they came in for some scathing comments and were told why they failed. Now everybody does it.

Rise and fall is most definitely still laughable in tango.