Interested. I'm not sure if this will help On an ordinary Lock Step after a Progressive Chasse the Lock Step is supposed to be taken Diag to wall. The shoulders are without any further movement are in the correct place after the Chasse. But for some reason those who dont know open the shoulders which makes the CBMP on the first step absent.
Now to the V 6 after the Spin Turn. There must be a very heavy right side leading on that first step which is for the man back right foot.
With the right side leading keep the shoulders where they are and go into the Forward Lock which now becomes, without changing, a Left side lead.
All of this doesn't mean you have to dance like a brick wall on legs. Its just plain common sense after we have learnt what is CBM and what is CBMP

3 wise men (all of them !)

There is also a R shoulder lead on step 1 (RF back) of a back lock after a half natural. And if you were to dance a back lock into a running finish (to the right !) the shoulders would stay put put into the first step of the running finish. Yet in Howard this combination (of half natural, back lock & running finish) is still standardised with the last step of the back lock as slightly rightwards.

I can kind of see that as the R leg moves onto the new track there would be a reaction force that would tend to make the shoulders more square, and also one might be tempted to move the upper body as a short-cut way of getting onto a new track, but those things could be avoided with disclipline, and in any case, would apply to all combinations).

Right SIDE lead.. the term "Shldr" was discontinued in descriptions, many yrs back... for obvious reasons

Trence. This is where written instuctions fall down.. When we say shoulders we mean from elbow to elbow also. If our side is leading then so are our shoulders. The elbow in the V. 6, first step for man, is the furthest part of our body that is away from our front. Not only that our shoulders are capable of turning more than our hip and should do so on that particular step. But to the less educated there might be a tendency to turn the shoulders without turning the hips. Instruction is needed. I think you'll agree. It can't be learnt completely from a book.

Never implied that it could ( dont think Ive taught from the book in 30 plus yrs ).. Point is.. the very reason that one does NOT use the term shldr, because that is precisely what people with little knowledge will emphasise, when attempting the more complex figures .
You must assume that peole who are teachingt from techn. books are apt to make literal translations.

I'm sure that we would prefer to believe that students and inexperienced teachers had been properly taught to interpret the technique, and then to use the published texts as a (study) guide, rather than as hard-and-fast statements of fact.

Hi Interested,

You wrote:
/* i think i understand why the sidewards component is there on step 2 of the forward lock (to create space for the partners foot as it comes into a crossed position */

Why didn't this foot position occur for the lady when dancing the forward lock on the V6?

In the mean time - whilst thinking about the above - what happened to Jonathan's Heel Pull on the Slow Foxtrot Natural Turn?

lluv2dance. The book does say a type of Heel Turn and then calls it a Pull Step. I think Victor Silvester is the more acurate description. He instructs.
Pull RF back to the side of LF, turning from L. heel on to RF ( feet slightly apart ) then brush LF towards RF . Thats it word for word.
I take it that if i drag my R to my L with feet slightly apart, thats it. Isn't that what Jonathan demonstrates.
We might now ask. With that timing as it is in the book, what can we follow the Natural Turn with.

A Heel Pull is much more closely related to a Heel Turn than you imply. But there isn't one 'correct' way to dance one.

Compare, if you will, the following:

Quickstep: Natural Turn with Hesitation
Foxtrot: Natural Turn
Waltz: Hesitation Change
Quickstep: Natural Turn at a Corner
Foxtrot: Impetus Turn

And see subtle variations in the width of the feet apart at the end (together, obviously, in the Impetus - the only actual heel turn). Note too the differences in the division (or not) of the Lady's turn. Much here for a student to ponder. But don't say in an exam that you draw the feet together - you don't. We are scribing an arc with the R heel around the floor, moving from one open position to another open position. By comparison, heel turns are a doddle.

If we look at Hilton or any other Professional who we can find on you tube, you will find that the Featherstep in the Foxtrot is on beats 1 2 which is a Slow. The same on an Open Telemark or a Double Reverse Spin, Curving Three Step. All are on beats 1 2.
And yet in Alex Moore's book as well as the much later ISTD Ballroom Technique we find that the suggested move after the Natural Turn is a Feather Step. With the timing given for the Natural Turn if followed by a Feather Step would not be acceptable on the floor in a competition today. Not only does it put us out of Rhythm if we continued we would also be out of phrase.
What can follow is a Three Step followed by a Feather Step taken diag to the centre. Which is exactly what Marcus does after a Change of Direction. See Marcus Hilton Basic Foxtrot.