Jerry - thanks for the music link
I will just have to learn to live with the inconsistency that beats are defined by the onset of notes (beat 1 in waltz or foxtrot starting when the first note in the bar is struck)and the foot placements, which occur on these beats (ignoring artistic interpretation)are half-way through the steps. I know artistic interpretation is, ultimately, what dancing is all about. However, there has to be a bedrock somewhere, and that's what i'm talking about.
Because i learnt to play music a long-long time before i learnt to dance, i will probably always be more comfortable with beats, rather than steps. I do find it 'unsatisfactory' (if that makes sense) that the technique books talk about the steps in a figure, rather than where you are in relation to the music (i.e. which beat we're on) - especially since dancing is about interpreting the music.
On a slightly different, and possibly more controversial point, there are so few text books on dancing that they tend to be regarded as 'bibles' on the subject. In my profession (science and engineering) there are countless texts, some brilliant, many good, many poor and some hopeless. This is just accepted and adds to the rich character of science and engineering (which is not that unlike dancing, surprisingly).