Thanks for a very clear answer. So LEG rise is really extending (straightening) the knees, and FOOT rise is moving from foot flat on the floor to up on the ball of the foot or maybe onto the toes. (roughly, roughly)

Now- what about QuickStep? What kind of rise and fall should I be looking for there? I dance American style in FT and Waltz, but there is no American QS. I'd like to know what my target should look like in QS. About like Foxtrot? Less? More? More Leg rise, less Foot?

Jerry

Jerryblue. This I have been told. Quickstep International Style. Work the Slows and rest or ease off on the quicks. Not the same intensity on both.
Could be called light and shade. I like to think of letting the slows take me through the quicks.

Jerryblu,

My best advice to you is to view rise & fall as reactions and not actions. Phil allures to this in his post and I iterate that one should not try to deliberately create a rise or a lowering intentionally. I've spend many months and perhaps even a year or two, when 1st started, 'sitting down' and 'popping up' and I have no doubt I looked like a complete idiot on the floor doing all these contrived rise & fall actions because that is what I thought I champions were doing to rise & fall. I hope that we can save you from the same. As an old buddist saying goes 'you will find what you seek when you stop looking for it'.

Having said that rise & fall is real and does happen. And there are characteristic rise & fall patterns in each of the swing dances. However it is also important to know that it is not uncommon to deviate from the norm to create variation and effect. Rise & fall comes from a intent in ballroom swing dances to progress in space with swing and musicality. You will Rise & fall properly once you learn how to progress with swing and musicality. The difference in the rise & fall (reactions) that have mentioned comes from the adjustments you will find yourself making in your progression with swing and musicality to match the music of the particular dance.

Rha

Anyone feel brave enough to answer my question about sitting on a chair/body rise?

Phil,

Body rise is leg rise. In dance terminology it more common to refer to that type of rise as body rise.

Rha

Thanks Rha. I was getting worried i might be missing something!

Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure how to implement your suggestion, but I will be thinking about it. I believe I'm pretty gradual in my rise and fall in the QS, but I just wanted to get an idea of whether the rise was higher than an ordinary standing position.

Jerry

Jerry. None of us mere mortals get high enough onto our toes. The last thing to worry about is how high, just get right up . In your minds eye imagine a couple whose heel hardly clears the floor. Now imagine a couple who are high on there toes. Who look the best.

Don I have a habit of coming out of the floor so your question as to who looks better depends on wether you first lower to get the rise and then do not try to rise but let the flight carry you up onto your toes. A good dancer will only be high up on the toes with some bend still in the knees if his flight puts him there. Many of us try to get the rise by pushing ourselfs up out of the floor. So the answer is yes you look good high up on your toes if you use the correct technique.

Dave - i absolutely agree with this. I've had a habit of trying to rise too much and in a slightly 'forced' way. I'm trying to cure it