Dave . To add to the above the down the floor thing are all heel leads and are all slows, and keep concentrating on exactly what you are doing. Don't nod. Keep the body upright. Ladies in particular at first when going forward will nod, which means the head will come too far forward leaving the feet behind and result in nodding.

Onlooker, thanks for the info . fortunately I know all this .I just wanted to se if I could learn something new. Nodding the head is interesting i will have to look for this. We do lead slightly with the head as we step forward but as our weight begins to arrive over the new supporting foot(heal) the body will rise slightly allowing the hips(pelvis) to come back under the body so that we are again perfectly virtical. Not to many people are aware that this happens and may disagree. Its at this point (heal) that some would say we pull our weight onto the foot and most would disagee?

Dave. I like the description of how to stand by Slavic which is of course a Latin disk . He says pull the spine down at the extreme base. Above stretch it up without lifting the shoulders. The spine in our imagination doesn't stop at the back of our head but goes straight in an unbroken line through the head to the ceiling. The last sentence came from another teacher who is world renowned also. If you are worried about poise, everytime you pass a door , stand against it. When and if the time ever comes that an adjustment does not need to be made. Your There

Dave. The slight incline of the body towards your partner on some steps is mentioned in Alex Moore's book under poise and balance. Where it becomes noticable is if a top couple do a continuous Wave, most of our top dancers have this in there routine. For what it is worth we on the 2nd and 3rd step of a Reverse are told to imagine we are about to dive forwards from a diving board. If the body at this stage is too verticle it can cause a balance problem. If there is any beginners reading this don't try it execept under the guidance of good coach.

Onlooker I must check this out on the Hiltons vidio. We find it easier to go into the continuous wave from a curved three step. I like to get lots of turn on the curve three step when possable.

Onlooker ,I looked at the vidio and it seems incorrect. You are in effect keeping the head well forward between step two and three. The Hiltons have the normal left sway between one and two so the mans head weight follows his sway but he is vertical between two and three. I must agree that it feels good doing it as you say by myself. but what it looks and feels like with my partner I can't say. Perhaps we are vertical on or before the third step and it only feels that we are tipped forward.

Dave. In a Wave as the lady does the heel lead prior to doing the man's Feather. Can you see a movement away from the verticle by the man on that step.

Onlooker. It's difficult to say as he is dancing a side sway. But on the first step mans(LF) he will of cause have his head weight forward more to his ball of foot than heal like all mens backward steps but I still feel that he is vertical on the sway.

"Dave. In a Wave as the lady does the heel lead prior to doing the man's Feather. Can you see a movement away from the verticle by the man on that step."

You may not be able to see the start of the swing as clearly in the man when he is going backwards, but if the lady is going to develop a feather swing, in particular if she is going to get her heel off the ground as or before the other foot passes (as a feather requires) the man is going to have to do something in his body that suggests it.

A question was asked about poise and residual sway between steps two and three. Remember that as a passing step the feather does not use the pendular rise - to - stall of the waltz. Instead the swing converts to a metronomic or overhanded motion. As a result, the body will be more vertical with respect to the floor, and the path flatter, at the highest point of the rise. Many "advanced intermediate" dancers carry a huge amount of man forward poise through the reverse waves, with the lady shaped quite far back - at first it looks impressive, but when you see how far behind her feet she is, you realize it's not good, coordinated dancing, but just blissful ignorance.

I would like to add to Soft & Easy the importance of squeezing the ankles on lowering.