Anonymous. The length of the step takes care of any additional lowering. Can you imagine if we lowered on one in the Quickstep.

"Anonymous. The length of the step takes care of any additional lowering. Can you imagine if we lowered on one in the Quickstep."

You should indeed be lowering during the early part of STEP one in the quickstep, as in most other dances which .

But of course that would not be BEAT one - it would still be beat four.

"....believes that a "step" lasts from one foot placement or weight change to the next - that a step is a swing of the leg, rather than how it is actually defined as from one foot passing to the next, then they will form a mistaken impression of where the rise and fall goes."

Ok, then how does the "book" define step 2 of a basic waltz box, for example, where the right foot goes to the side of the standing foot (for the leader)? What about a chase step? There's no passing of the foot in either case. I'm not trying to be argumentative here. I just would like to know.

GuesAd. Go to. If a step lands on a beat

"Ok, then how does the "book" define step 2 of a basic waltz box, for example, where the right foot goes to the side of the standing foot (for the leader)? What about a chase step? There's no passing of the foot in either case. I'm not trying to be argumentative here. I just would like to know."

For a forward right turn:

Step one begins with the right foot passes the left and ends when the left passes the right.

Step two begins when the left passes the right and ends when the right is halfway closed

Step three beigns when the right foot is halfway closed and ends.... not specified, as a guess, when the right heel touches the floor.

The rule for closing rather than passing steps is that the end of the previous step and start of the close+lower step is when the foot is halfway closed.

In response to guestAT's question: the basic box step - once you have got the hang of this, you should attempt to draw your right foot to brush past the left before placing it out to the side. This would be more in keeping with the true waltz technique. If you're stepping with the left on beat 1, this brushing occurs on beat 1&. What anonymous is pointing out (i think) is that the technique book, talking only about steps (and NOT how the steps relate to the music)would define this brushing as the start of step 2.
I don't know what level dancer you are, but i'm guessing you're not a very experienced dancer (forgive me if i'm wrong).Don't lose a lot of sleep worrying about steps being taken on 1&, or starting on 2& etc. Just place your steps on the beats (except for syncopated steps) and concentrate on smoothness and good shape. That's enough to be going on with!!

"Don't lose a lot of sleep worrying about steps being taken on 1&, or starting on 2& etc. Just place your steps on the beats (except for syncopated steps) and concentrate on smoothness and good shape. That's enough to be going on with!!"

Indeed - worrying about the precise timing of beats to steps is not likely to help your dancing at all.

The only reason for getting into it is when someone who hasn't fully read and understood the technique book tries to claim that what you are doing does not match the book - when in fact, the error is in their misintrpretation of precisly what the book is asking for. The only reason for getting into the precise details of when one step ends and the next begins is to show them the error of their intrepretation of the details.

But as far as dancing is concerned, don't worry about it!

You're right I haven't been dancing long, maybe a year. But I've been a musician for more than 10 years. All this talk about steps not landing on the beats (or syncopated beats, whatever) leaves me wondering how you stay with the tempo of the music. I don't know if it's a matter of symantics or what. You've lost me.

Hi GuestAT
like yourself i was playing music for decades before i started dancing. Step on the beat. I'm sure that, like me, you'd find it alien to do anything else (foxtrot is different altogether).There's nothing in the technique book that says you mustn't. You should be aware of when steps 'officially' start, but as i said, don't worry about it at all until you've progressed up the ladder

"All this talk about steps not landing on the beats (or syncopated beats, whatever) leaves me wondering how you stay with the tempo of the music. I don't know if it's a matter of symantics or what."

It is basically a matter of semantics. In a dance like waltz, most of the steps probably do land on the beat for some reaosnable definition of "land" and "beat".

However, when we formally speak of a "step" in dancing, we are speaking of a collection of actions that takes place over a period of time. At some point, someone maybe a decision and put the dividing line between these steps at the point where the feet pass, rather than at the point where the foot is placed or weighted.

In other words, steps - and the actions they are required to include - begin some noticeable time before they land, and continue some noticeable time after they land. If the landing is to be on the beat, then the time period of the overall collection of actions assigned to that step beings before the beat, and ends after it. Of course you only need to get into that if you want to debate which step period an action is assigned to - or if you want to consider which beat an action belongs to, you have to take into account that the overal periods of the steps defined this way are offset from the beats - the beats land near their middle, not at their beginning.

Of course you could also ask where the instant of a beat is, and how that might correspond to motion. For a drummer, the sound comes at the end of the motion (really where the downstroke becomes a rebounding up). For a violinist, the sound occurs during the stroke of the bow. What about for the conductor? I think it's near the bottom of the baton's movement... but maybe it depends on if the conductor originally trained on violin or percussion? Fact is, the orchestra quickly adapts... as most likely do dancers. People may feel that "on time" is an objective measure, but it can actually be demonstrated to be quite subjective.