Please, can someone tell me definitively if this is an "open" step or can be utilized in a gold routine for competition. My teacher does not know and I would not like to be penalized for dancing out of syllabus.

Would depend ( to some degree ) on the comp. in which you are dancing .

usually, such variations are reserved for the highest levels .

It's not legal under either ISTD or IDTA (I believe the later is what's usually used for pro-am in the states)

Not necessarily-- there are several well established soc. CDTA-- NADTA etc etc. but they all pretty much follow the same guide lines.
I was an Examiner for the NADTA, and we adhered to the " english soc. " divisional breakdown, in International style .


have judged numerous comps. in many cities at many levels . the more prestigious events, tend to go strictly by the book ( with an invigilator ) smaller events, can pretty much be open season, after bronze level ( even that raises some questions ! )

many yrs ago, it was chaos at some of the smaller non sanctioned events .

Thanks for the explanations. I have confirmed that it is an open step and will just keep it under my belt until I compete out of syllabus in the near future.

It would depend on the school and our syllabus you're using. In my school we teach fallaway position in bronze 3, and it is considered a closed step in competition because it's a school figure in our syllabus. The rules for different comps vary-mostly open category in our comps mean you can use school figures in a higher level and coreography in your amalgamations-closed means you can only use school figures. There should be a rulebook provided by whoever is running the competition that your teacher can reference-as I said before, every comp I have been too has different rules and you have to abide by those specific rules.

"It would depend on the school and our syllabus you're using. In my school we teach fallaway position in bronze 3, and it is considered a closed step in competition because it's a school figure in our syllabus."

The "three fallaways" is a far more complicated variation (fallaway, counter fallaway, then back to fallaway) than a generic fallaway. Most syllabi do include some forms of fallaway at some point in their levels, such as a bounce fallaway or fallaway reverse and slip pivot.

But it's going to be a very odd syllabus which includes the three fallaways.

The "3 fallaways" is a lovely figure. Sway is allowed (in a single fallaway there is no sway). The new Video/CD set released by Mirko Gozzoli and partner includes the "3 fallaways" in the foxtrot section

"in a single fallaway there is no sway"

In the book version there is none.

Many people dance basic fallaway position with sway against the movement. This can be a nice variation.

Unfortunately, some of them can no longer (or never learned) how to dance a basic fallaway without sway, using support from the feet rather than sway against the movement to keep the couple from falling apart.

A Fallaway is a good one to look at. The first three steps are nothing more than a Whisk Position. A Whisk has a Sway on the second and third step. See Jonathan Crossley's Fallaway in the Foxtrot. . So is a Fallaway without sway actually going against the correct technique. This is just putting foreward an idea by one who for years kept very upright.