Our studio's Int. foxtrot beginner group class has always used the same amalgamation you mentioned first: feather, reverse, three-step, natural.

Avoiding Heel turns is virtually impossible, if one wants to actually " dance " F/ T.

They, are going to appear in Q/Step and Waltz at Br. level which will give ladies more opportunities for practice .

Set sequences for practice of " swing " and footwork, are all well and good, but introduction of components has equal merit .

I introduce the concept on the 2nd lesson of my classes .

Thanks for all comments.

My instinct is to teach the heel turns as soon as possible. I agree that you can't "dance" FT without them, and there's no getting away from that.

I might try Feather/Three Step down LOD as a first exercise, though. Heel turns in week 2 sounds like a sound plan.

Learn the Heel Turn in both Waltz and Foxtrot. Then make sure your class understand that a Heel Turn, in the to be learned later Double Reverse Spin for the lady, is difference to a normal Heel Turn.
Anybody know the difference.

as a student I would suggest learning heel turns early and practicing them often, particularly in a heeled ballroom shoe as they are not so hard in flats or bare(stocking) feet but made more difficult for me the higher the heel (more difficult to back weight).

While it's tempting and probably very common to teach Foxtrot sequentially, I find much greater success to work conceptually. It's much more effective, not to mention memorable, to teach the elements out of order and then string them together towards the end of the class.

This approach is not without its dangers, however. You must be very good at pacing, because if you run out of time before finishing, your class will be left without having really danced anything at all. Furthermore, this approach is not for the A.D.D. instant gratification crowd... It requires a considerable amount of patience, as they will not be able to dance a repeatable sequence to music until the very end of class. Of course, the same could be said for Foxtrot in general. So if you have a group of people truly interested in learning Int'l Foxtrot, it's a good sign they might be candidates for this method of teaching.

In the simplest of terms, I like to think of the Int'l Foxtrot as being very similar to most other smooth & standard dances, in that the fundamental sequence of movement is the two-way turn. The two-way turn is a sequence of two turns (typically two measures each) and two changes (typically one measure each). This amounts to six measures total, which can be initially presented to a class as two 3-measure sequences, which are near mirrors of each other. When presented in this manner, the Foxtrot will not be intimidating for either student or teacher.

The three measures to be taught, in order, are (1) the heel turn, (2) the change (e.g. Three or Feather), and (3) the passing turn (e.g. Feather Finish or 4-6 Natural Turn).

I attack the heel turn first thing head-on, by teaching it as a series of actions (e.g. step, close, turn, change weight, rise, step) to both men and ladies together. (This helps men understand what they're leading). The action consists of 1/4 turn, finishing checked on the forward step, so that it can be repeated in the opposite direction. The exercise has them repeating natural, reverse, natural, reverse, back & forth with 1/4 turns from one wall to another. Then I teach man's parts to the men, and put them together to do the same exercise as a couple.

Next I add a "prequel". That is to say, I tack measure 1 on to the beginning of the heel turn, which is actually measure 2. Three walks, *then* heel turn. This exercise is also repeatable, however, you will continue to dance the same direction of turn over and over, since you are now dancing and even number of steps (e.g. LRL, RLR). A good solution is therefore to have the class dance a series of, say, four repetitions in one direction, then change feet, and dance four in the opposite direction.

Up until this point the class has been dancing quarter turns only, aligned towards walls. At this point I usually introduce the alignments, the concept of diagonals, and challenge them to add an extra 1/8 turn to the heel turn measure. I now have the class dancing the first measure toward either DW or DC (depending on which foot starts), and finishing the turn down LOD.

The last measure to be taught is the passing turn. Once appended to the end of the sequence, the class can dance two individual 3-measure sequences, which can then be linked together to create a two-way turn, Foxtrot style. Although the sequence can be linked together with either part first, since this is Foxtrot, one would expect to start with the RF toward DC into the Feather and Reverse Turn.

In writing, this may appear horribly convoluted and complex. But trust me, in practice it has just the opposite effect. If you have reservations, have a non-dancing friend volunteer to be your guinea pig. In a group setting, this will take an hour, but one-on-one, you can tackle it in 20-30 minutes.

Good luck with your class.

Regards,
Jonathan Atkinson
www.ballroomdancers.com

Jonathan. A question. Do you believe that the man should learn the ladies Heel Turn, for instance in a Reverse Turn Foxtrot. And do you believe that the lady should learn the man's steps in a Reverse Turn also.
If i read your paragraph five, second line correctly, you have both man and lady all doing the same thing at the same time when you wrote " both men and ladies together ". Later when you write as a couple . To me that means one in front of the other and not side by side. Which is all doing the same steps exactly Solo.

Knowing what your partner is trying to do by having tried it yourself is a good thing.

However, if teaching the men about the lady's heel turns, it is important to be clear that the action in a lady's natural heel turn is substantially different than than in a man's open or closed impetus heel turn - when the lady does the heel turn, the rise occurs into it, but when the man does the heel turn, the rise occurs a step later, when exiting it.

ALL class work should be predicated on continuity of attendance... the method of teaching any class should take that into account.

Unfortunately, todays market is geared towards the " instant " dancer, and no matter what people say, their threshold of concentration for the finer points, is very limited.

Even in the UK where one might expect a keener interest , Ive not found it so. This has much to do also, with the age of my clientele .

Time constraints, usage and several other factors need to ne considered if one is going to sustain a " medal " type class .
Thats why I asked the Q why FT ( the reply was they have had W and QS ) this is usually a good sign for continuation but not always .

My current classes have a blend of standard W and QS.. but.. Amer. style Tango and FT. This approach works very well for the senior type student .( I also teach them Sq Rumba )

I am glad the topic of heel turns came up in the context of these postings, and it was also good to hear that most of the teachers say it is good to get that concept ingrained in a student early. I have been dancing for many years, but to this day, I will have to confess that I am not positive I have the heel turn engrained in the way it should be. In short, I have a feeling I tend to execute that turn on the ball of my foot. My instructors have never pointed it out as a specific problem, or something I am doing totally wrong, but it just seems that I am on the balls of my feet a lot. Even when stepping back, on a closed impetus for example, I don't feel that weight shift grounding my heel. But maybe it is? Should it be that pronounced, or am I unecessarily concerned about the fine details? After all, I'm not dancing in front of Len Goodman, who almost always chides celebrity dancers on their inability to do heel leads and heel turns.