Jim. I believe your teacher told you correctly, stick to what you were told. Having said that I will add . Use the word ball of foot in place of toe. Think about it. Your moving foot is passing your supporting foot. The ball will be in contact with the floor at this point. keep it in contact untill it becomes a heel. Don't confuse this with Latin. We are talking Modern here. I was at a lecture given by one of our high profile professionals. He took one step, then asked how big was this step in relation to his body. He got various answers, like 2 foot to 3 foot. No, 7 to 8 inches was the answer. He went on, think of the jaws of a bench vice as an example. Only one set moves. What you now see is the drive off the supporting foot, not an extension of the front foot. As said above, the front foot moves only about 7 to 8 inches. Interesting isn't it. He also got us to take our shoes and socks off to make sure we used every part of our foot right from the heel to the toe. Happy Dancing