conflicting information i have recieved has confused me.can you please tell me when waltzing does the lady go back with left or right foot?

Depends on 3 things---

Amer. style bronze-- lady-- back right.

They tend to commence everything in Br.. with the Mans left foot .

Intern. style-- lady --- Nat. turn-- left foot back

Rev. turn-- right foot back

You may prep any step, with a proceeding movement, if you so wish .

When the lady has her weight on the right foot, and is going backwards, she uses her left foot. When she has her weight on the left foot, and is going backwards, she uses her right. Otherwise she ends up on her **** on the floor. I think the all technique books would agree on that basic concept.

You post seems to imply that there might be something unusual for a lady to be going backwards: but she does that nearly all the time in any ballroom dance, and uses both feet, as appropriate.

Novice. I would imagine that you are confused about how to start the Modern Waltz for the Basic first three of the Natural Turn. You have probably been confused when you see a Closed Change before the first step of the Natural, .
In a competition you will have seen a step on the RF on the third beat of the last bar of music ( ladies steps, man the opposite which is is his LF. This is a preperation step and gets no mention in the technique books because it is not part of the first step of the Natural. It is just a walk in to get moving. Either way is correct. One word of advice. As you are aware, or soon will be, the ladies poise is off set in the way she is set up with her partner. Make sure your first step goes straight back and not out to the side. Quoting Alex Moore who wrote the book. Page 13. The usual fault for the lady is to allow her left foot to move slightly to the Left instead of straight back.
Next time you are out. Have a look among your friends and watch for this fault. Common sense will tell you that if this is not done correctly she will be pulling off a straight line which will result in losing her centre with the man.I hope this helps.

Novice, it won't be long before your question will be a moot point, as the other posters have noted, the woman is moving backward most of the time.
Not to confuse the matter, but if you watch the Progressive Backward Changes video of the American Waltz on this site, you will see one of the rare instances in which the woman is stepping forward to initiate a step. It's a nice step, one that we like as a way to move away from traffic on a crowded dance floor, especially if other couples aren't particularly paying attention to the proper line of dance.

I always find it interesting-- someone asks a very basic Q ( which foot, etc )looking for a very simple answer-- before you can say " Boo " , there are long dissertations on how to dance !!

simple Q , require simpler answers-- the mark of good teaching --teach technique- but DONT teach technically

Well, mine is the "model answer" it seems ;)

Whatever applies to the lady as she is going backwards also applies to the man when he is going backwards. When there is a turn involved the person on the inside of the turn takes smaller steps than the person on the outside.
Who has the most steps going backwards.Is it the man or the lady. It will depend on their choreography to some extent, but in the Basic Waltz its about even. Foxtrot is interesting. All of the top competitors perform a Wave in their routine at least eight bars.Lets not fall into the misguided notion that the lady is the only one going backwards.

Wich foot to start with for the ladies
mainly depends on which foot the man
starts with. The correct way to start a Waltz is for the man to do a side step
with the right foot, then rise to free
the left foot to start the left turn with. All this nonsense about "natural"
and "reverse" etc just confuses the issue.

Michael. There are correct names for the different moves that must be named. Since the beginning a Natural Turn is a Turn that goes clockwise over the first three steps. The Reverse is a turn that goes anti- clock over the first three steps In both cases making 3/8ths of a turn over the three steps. To call them a right or left turn, isn't it just as easy to call them by their correct name.