Scriv. would dis agree with that techn. if a Prom is danced to its correct position, then the mans R and ladies L should NOT make contact.. if it does, it is caused by the lady opening too " wide " and also the man not taking his right side sufficiently away..
Thats scrivs theory... think I will stay with the "masters " concept .

Terence2. You are now talking about two hips on each person when you wrote the man's R and the L should not make contact if the Promenade is danced correctly.
Its years since I read Len's book, which was compiled from his notes after he had passed away. Surely he wrote The man's L and the ladies R hip. And not the man's R and the ladies L hip.
That is at the end of the Progressive Link.
If we stand in the normal Tango Hold our set up for the man is both feet, offset, pointing diagonal to the wall with the body turned 1/8 of a turn anti clockwise. Normal opposite for the lady.

"Its years since I read Len's book, which was compiled from his notes after he had passed away. Surely he wrote The man's L and the ladies R hip. And not the man's R and the ladies L hip."

As it would be essentially impossible for the man's L hip to contact the lady's R in either promenade or close position, we can obviously conclude that his warning was as stated, against the thing that a sloppy couple easily could allow to happen, which would be his Right hip contacting her left.

Promenade is a subject that confuses many, but it can actually be easily understood if you simply consider for a minute that having the foot positions "open" means that the feeling in the body will not be one of being opened out, but rather one of being stretched very "closed" to the partner. The body is stretched in opposition to the opened out foot positions.

i am following this discussion with interest. but the writers' definition of terms such as "closed", "close", and "open" is not clear to me. could you clarify please.

what are the exact points of contact specified in scrivener's promenade position and are they different from guy howard's promenade position.

What needs to be considered is this...

Techn. is the advancement of a theory,and as Len stated, there is no absolutes, as circumstance may warrant change.. so.. you may have 2 or 3 coaches describing a specific action with opposing or different views...As len would say, do what works for you.

And..... he did say HIPS.. if you had attended his lectures, Or taken lessons with him, he would have made that implicitly clear .

And... please dont quote me what current Champs are doing.. thats only their " take " on the matter .

Majority have strayed so far from the concept ( as Irvine also noted ) that it has started to resemble F/t with its " swing " action and absence of " stillness ".

Trence. I always remember being in a class run by Len Scrivener and Nellie.In Two Walks in the Tango which are Slow Slow. To stop people swinging the steps Foxtrot style they called the two Walks Stop. Stop. Thats how I have done ever since. The Link they called it Quick. Stop which is still only two beats. But thats the action they wanted.

Remember it well !!.. he also use to say " step, catch ".
That dynamic ( among many others ) is missing in todays dancing

Interested. Find on any site showing pictures of dancers in competition. On the Progressive Link you will find that the ladies right knee is in contact with the man's left but behind.
The ladies left is behind the mans right but touching. The heads of both are in Promenade. If the next step is to be a closed Promenade. They will with the outside foot step one floor board wide which allows the inside foot to step through in Promenade. Its all there if you know what to look for.
I should have put that the heel is off the floor with the toe in contact on the man's left and the ladies right. This is a sure sign that what you are looking at is after the Progressive Link has been completed. I'm looking at one right now page 229 Alex Moore's book. You could also look at Jonathan and Melissa on this site and tell me if it differes from what is written above.

Anonymous. This might be a bit too technical for some but whether it be a Promenade step in any of the International Style Dances. The lady is always stepping behind the man, never with him . Her position is always to the man's right side and there she should stay. If I can illistrate this. We would never try to walk through a narrow doorway side by side, or if you like both being square with each other. So there is no need to attain a wide open position on a Promenade step. Think of a very narrow opening. If it is done correctly there will be no struggling for clean clear foot positions for each of the partnership.

"So there is no need to attain a wide open position on a Promenade step. "

I would agree that there is no productive need or reason to attain such an open position.

However, many less experienced dancers will do it accidentally. As you know the foot alignments in textbook promenade are divergent, and if the dancers were to mistakenly allow their bodies to match their foot alignments, then their bodies would be inappropriately turned out.

It seems more logical that there would be a warning about this easy to make mistake, than about avoiding the almost inconceivable situation that you suggested the passage was intended to warn against.