Anonimous. Nothing is being said about the ladies part of the first three of a Natural. They are not the same in reverse as the mens steps. Reading here just might give the wrong instructions to the ladies. One of our top lady coaches teach the lady to throw out the anchore on step one NFR , stay there untill the man passes , then follow him up,not with him. No two people swing at the same time, and that includes the V. Waltz. One for the notebook Bill Irvine said in a lecture given in Singapore that he teaches that in the Foxtrot the third beat should be accentuated. That in a Feather is the first quick, and so on. The reason was given as musical expression.

Yes Don .I agree with you. WE take it in turn to swing . The person on the inside of a turn waiting for the person on the outside of the turn to swing through and pass. This creates a more powerfull movement using less energy than if we danced by our self. This also happens in the pivots and spins, at least on our part. My mistake in the past was forgeting to keep my body turning when i was on the inside of the turn. My partners mistake was to slow her body down when she felt me slow down to allow her to pass, we still have this problem at times. When I say waiting on the inside of the turn ,we still have to swing our hip back and up but not with the same power that the person is using to drive forward and up into the turn. You lost me on the foxtrot .

Cdroge. It seems that ladies have difficulty staying on the LF longer after having pointed their RF to the side. I suppose the fault lies with the teaching in the early stages of a dancers basic training. The same of course is for the man on his backward step or anywhere where NFR is mentioned.For those who do not know what NFR means it is NO FOOT RISE. And would you believe there is a whole load of NFR in the basic Quickstep. Now Foxtrot. There is only one way which is try. Hit every third beat a little harder. If it looks good and feels good, then do it. If not forget it. It is possible to be a bit too dreamy on that third beat and actually be behind the music. I was always instructed to be spot on the beat with my quicks and let the slow's take care of themselves.

Don. I will try that when I next dance a foxtrot. I asume you are dancing on the 2cd beat,example ,lowering on one. But I don't agree with you on the second quick. Most coaches I have been to,always say to be a little late on the second quick in order to arrive just in time to lower on the one,this gives a smooth continual foxtrot.

cdrogue. I think we now are aproaching in the discusion whether the technique book on the second quick is correct. The late Len Scrivener after he passed away, his notes over his years of dancing was published in a book form. He said the technique book is wrong. He said that at the end of the first quick, which is the second step, we are actually on the way down. To do it the other way impedes the movement. So I go to my tapes of a major competition, and what do I see. If you can see any top competitor in the Feather doing down. up. up.then lowering from that up position I can't. So to get back to Sir Bill Irvine 's accentuation of the third beat falls in with the above. I mean how could anyone be up at the same height and than lower. It would be like dropping off the edge of a cliff face.

Don . I don't see what up.down ,up, has to do with arriving a little late on the second quick. There is a second compresion off the (ball,toe,) of the first quick which gives us more flight so at the end of this flight as we arrive on the ball of the right foot we may be starting to lower. As we have a (ball'heal, Ball)on the second quick we have to make sure our body does not arrive to early over the foot causing our weight to shift back. I like to feel that my legs are swinging at the same speed or that my timing is 1.1/3 beats on each step,but what I think Im doing and what I actually do are not the same and would take a good teacher to analize it,but everyone says my timing is spot on ,and that we are very smooth and it feels good so I don't care what the book says. Doug

cdroge.You'r dead right when you say what you think you do and what is being done are not the same. One of the teachers here says that it is a pity we use the name quick for a step. because quick to most of us is just that , quick. He prefers a 1234 count. If I read this right you appear to agree that the second quick is on the way down
Once I was also told to delay the second quick by dragging or delaying before stepping onto it.I think this became popular at a time when the dancer arrived on the first quick to soon, which goes back to not using the full timing of the slow before it correctly.I have on tape the solo foxtrot performed by the six finalist in a IDSF competition. They all at the start of their routine do absolute basics. The camers work is excellent with a head to toe look at the dancers. The ones I rave on about is the German Couple Ferruggia and Kohler. They are worth trying to copy. I have looked hard and often and cannot see anything but an unresricted go go go.

There is if anything a slight rising action as the first quick moves into the second, but the division of the legs naturally begins the loss of altitude.

You are going down, but think up.

Anonymous. We seem to have got onto the Foxtrot now. We have suggestions that the hip does something and the knees, and variouse other words of advise Nobody mentions the length of the step in relation to the dancers height. If it is too short and you don't want to arrive early, there will have to be a hesitation on the steps to stay in time.If it is too long, overstriding. you will never keep time. Even some of our better dancers, if you watch, appear at times to be a little behind the beat sometimes. If a judge wishes to find a difference between the dancers something like that could decide who is the winner and who isn't.

annon. There can only be an increase in rise on the second quick if the right foot is suspended in flight and does not touch the floor untill 4.1/2 lowering on one.