Which is the standing foot?

Where is the body located relative to the standing foot?

Is this body position balanced due to the standing foot alone?

Is it balanced by having half the weight on the moving foot?

Which would be proper?

There are pictures 1...4 in the Learning Center Forward Walks.

A slow step takes two beats.

Do you move during the two beats from mid-stride(3) to the next mid-stride or do you move from compression(1) to the next compression?

It depends on what type of slow it is, and what precedes and follows it.

If for example you were to dance a series of slows with no rise and fall, there would be no trend of development and the timing of the action would be the same on each step. But if you dance a slow as in the initial step of a feather, that is different than the slow in the final step of the feather (sometimes call the first step of the three step) because it is a different sort of action.

Not that I would dance the entire walk as illustrated either - I merely wished to call attention to the body position relative to the standing foot in the 2nd frame, which isn't too far away from something that should be occuring (though I would not have my moving foot so far in front of the standing one until my body had accomplished more travel)

"Standing Foot" is not exactly the appropriate term, since you're not standing on either foot. But the weighted (ie supporting) foot is, as always, the non-moving foot. The roles of the feet do not change until mid-stride.

The simple answer is, it's half-way between the feet. However, the answer gets far more complicated when you factor in the various sizes, speeds and styles of steps. Even on the most fundamental Foxtrot slow walk, you'll find that the moving foot is slower relative to the body toward the beginning of the extension (meaning the body is closer to the moving foot), but then it speeds up to arrive ahead of the body by mid-stride.

At the beginning, yes. But there will be a "point of no return" whereby the body is committed to transferring weight to the next step. Where this point occurs depends on many factors such as leg & ankle position, and even ankle strength.

You can move a partially-weighted foot if the total amount of body weight is less than 50%. However, the greater amount of weight you apply to it, the more friction you have to overcome, and movement becomes hindered and labored.

The ideal in ballroom dancing is efficient movement, meaning the least possible effort to create the greatest possible effect. When you apply any significant amount of pressure to a moving foot, not only is it inefficient, but it detracts from the released action associated with swinging movement. The goal should therefore be to learn how to use the strength and shape of the standing leg and foot to support you for as long as possible through the beginning phase of the walking action.

The word used most often by ballroom teachers is "stroke". This creates a good mental image of how much pressure is appropriate for a moving foot. When you stroke someone's hand of face, how much pressure are you applying? As you increase that pressure, at what point does it stop being a "stroke" and start becoming a hard "rub"? Think about that, and it will give you the best idea of how much is considered appropriate pressure through the moving foot on ballroom steps of average size and speed.

Regards,
Jonathan Atkinson
www.ballroomdancers.com

Agreed. This is a reasonable enough illustration of the simplified idea that the body is approximately half-way between the feet. But it is oversimplified, and if done exactly as shown would appear a bit on the reachy side.

If I still had the original file I would edit it to make it even more accurate, but alas it has long since been lost in one of many hard drive crashes of long ago. The finished video clip is all that remains now. Someday I'll buy the new version of "Poser" and rebuild it from scratch.

Regards,
Jonathan

This is more of a Foxtrot timing question than a walk question, and so the answer is going to vary greatly depending on who you talk to.

Current competitive Foxtrot timing has become quite a complicated matter, and perhaps I'll write on that at some point. But the simple answer is: The foot lands (ie mid-stride) on the second beat, and the body catches up to arrive over the foot on the following "&" count.

A good simple way to get a basic understanding of Foxtrot timing is to count "one, two AND three AND four AND...", making sure the foot arrives on the numerical counts 2, 3, and 4*, and also making sure to brush the moving foot by the standing foot on every "AND" count. This will give you an idea of approximately where you should be on any given count, though the execution may feel somewhat disjointed when you're trying to be so specific.

* Note that competitors lately have gone to an even greater extreme in Foxtrot timing, where the steps will be taken on 2, 3, and 1. Technically this changes the timing to QSQ. To a newcomer it might look a little strange, but it does serve to improve the quality of swing. It's really just a matter of taste. So like I said originally, "correct" Foxtrot timing depends who you talk to.

Regards,
Jonathan

"But there will be a "point of no return" whereby the body is committed to transferring weight to the next step. Where this point occurs depends on many factors such as leg & ankle position, and even ankle strength."

That is specifically why I was calling attention to frame #2 which you have labeled extension. In this picture, we can clearly see that the entire weight of the body core is located forward of the toe of the standing foot. Therefore, this is not a position which can be sustained in balance - it is an approximate picture of what the dancer looks like after the point of no return (which is also the point beyond which you cannot hold a pose while explaining it). That part does not depend on strength at all - only on geometry.

What does depend on strength is how deeply you can bend your standing knee while supporting your weight, and especially how far forward in your standing foot you can take your center of balance before hitting the point of no return (aka imbalance). For a high level dancer, that will be practically to the end of the toe - for a casual social dancer, it may be the ball of the foot.

The end result is two distinguishing characteristics of advanced dancers: they can move their body to the extreme end of the standing foot (forward or back) before loosing balance, and they can also complete a graceful movement to a soft arrival after they have passed this point of no return. And do it all while keeping the upper body nicely aligned. They do what anyone can do while walking down the street, only on a much more magnified scale that draws out all phases of the action.

There are pictures 1...4 in the Learning Center Forward Walk and a Foxtrot has 120 beats/minute.
One beat takes 0,50 second and two beats take 1,00 second. A slow step takes two beats.

A slow step in the Learning Center Forward Walk takes 100 cs.
Periods of the time from the position of a step to the next position at some level can be.

The first beat begins on instant of the time 0 and ends on instant 50 cs(centiseconds).
The second beat begins on instant 50 cs and ends on instant of the time 100 cs.

Moving from the position 1(compression) to the position 2(extension) takes the time 0 to 25 cs.
Moving from the position 2(extension) to the position 3(mid-stride) takes the time 25 cs to 50 cs.
Moving from the position 3(mid-stride) to the position 4(follow-through) takes the time 50 cs to 75 cs.
Moving from the position 4(follow-through) to the position 1(compression) takes the time 75 cs to 100 cs.

The first quick step begins on the next instant 0 of the time from compression(1) and is highest up on the instant 50 cs. The second quick begins on instant 50 cs and is down in compression(1) on the instant 100 cs of the time ready to start the next step on the next instant 0 of the time.

It does fit, doesn't it.

Anonymous. You still haven't given up on your opinion that there is no miday between steps. And yet you have repeatedly said the body keeps moving which it does. So is there a midway if we slow motion a tape of a demonstrator, who's front foot is being pushed along by the standing foot.
Yes or No will do.
Waltz 123 has written above that the illistration is over simplified. Try to get it into your head that the body, everything is moving.
One last departing word. Dancing is an art not a science. Just dance lest you turn into a robot whose computor has been given a load of information and that is all it can do. For those who want to put everything into pidgeon holes and fractions , forget it , it won't work. Learn the correct footwork and CBM's The most important thing is the music, without it there is no dance. Study there for a bit and just dance dance dance.

"So is there a midway if we slow motion a tape of a demonstrator, who's front foot is being pushed along by the standing foot."

You'll have to define what you mean by midway before anyone can tell you if it should or should not occur. Obviously there is a midpoint in the action, but that the body looks like there...

"Waltz 123 has written above that the illistration is over simplified. Try to get it into your head that the body, everything is moving."

Indeed, I have some real problems with the way the forward walk is presented. However, I wished to call your attention to the specific body position shown in frame 2 (labeled, perhaps erroneously 'extension') as this is a position which needs to occur, and which you keep misunderstanding. Every time I describe this position in which the body is over the knee and ahead of its only standing foot, you start assuming that the body is pitching forwards. Look at the picture and you will see that the body is vertical.

Go ahead and throw away the rest of the sequence, but try to learn how to include something like this particular position of body and stnading leg in your dancing. (feel free to keep the moving leg back further back than shown though)

"One last departing word. Dancing is an art not a science. Just dance lest you turn into a robot whose computor has been given a load of information and that is all it can do."

Of course dancing is an art. Science is a tool for understanding complicated subjects, including arts. Science lets us figure out what top dancers are actually doing and why. It reveals the truth about things you may want to continue denying - such as the role of this particular position of body relative to standing leg, and the fact that such a position is unbalanced. You don't have to know it intellectually, but you will need to start doing it that way if you hope to keep up with the state of the art.