Re: FOXTROT timing

I learned American FT, but I was always fascinated by International because the pauses and the stealing of fragments of the beat were so different than the usual S-Q-Q I had learned.

I would love to see that discussion of a continuity FT step.

Jerry Blumenthal

Eh!?

Hi bjp22tango,
Thank you for your explanation.
You vertical time-line works well.
It is clearer now.

My confusion is about which duration(before a beat or after a beat)
belongs to that specfic beat.

Based on the explanation,
I now understand that it is the duration after a beat.

Is it the same with Foxtrot ?
In SQQ sequence,
when I land my foot on S count,
do I have 2 more beats to use
before reaching the next Q ?

BTW, I don enjoy the hobby tremendously,
but it can get very challenging,
or shall I say frustrating, at times.

I'm pretty sure standard practice is that a beat begins on the downbeat and ends just as the next downbeat begins. So if you count 1, 2, 3, 4 each number begins a new beat and lasts until just before the next number. So as you figured out from the vertical time line, it's the time after a beat that gets counted as that specific beat.

Yes, it's the same for foxtrot. If you step right on the beginning of the 2 count S step (right as 1 hits), then you have 2 beats to use before you hit the first 1 beat Q step. Not to get too far into it, but this is also why you can see foxtrot timing being changed around a bit and still be considered on time. If the S lasts for 2 beats, then your foot can actually land at any time in that interval and you've stepped on the slow. So you could step on the 2 count instead of the 1 count and you're still stepping on the S.

In explaining The Samba timing to a beginner in such a way they can actually dance it nothing beats the Whisk. A Whisk to the left, two beats.
Left foot goes out on the count of 3/4. Right foot crosses behind into a Latin Cross position on the count of a 1/4 . We now have a weight transfer which is on the spot for the remaining beat. Then do the same to the right. Now try a Boto Fogo using the same rhythm, using a 3/4 on the first step and finishing on a whole beat.. Good Luck.

Ken. Some excelent information there.I actually saw Wally Laird dancing Modern in the early 50's long before his move into Latin . Talking of getting credit which many times gets forgotten. I never hear the name Philip Mayhew and Olga. They were pioneering Latin in those very early days. I saw them give a demo in Bob Burgess's place in South Kensington London in 1953, up to that time I had never seen any of the Latin dances. Thanks.

Hi Don,
I also saw Philip Mayhew and Olga Kotch? do a dem. Talking to Walter the year before he sadly passed on. We reminisced about the time he entered both modern and Latin at the Royal Albert Hall. Having received recalls in both comps he was recalled to the final of the Latin. Walter told me that he knew he would be pushed for time and during the changing of costumes he and Lorraine heard the Latin music start to play. In time they stood in the entrance to the floor and this was one of the moments they knew they would have to concentrate on one style. Just one other small point. He was dancing with Ande Lyons and in 1956 won a competition to find Britain's best exponent of ballroom and Latin dancing. Good to know you are from the UK, Don.

Well, we have had the slide rules out,and various calculations, some to technical for me, to discover were the (a) belongs. Part of the beat cannot be taken away from a beat that has not yet arrived, and that goes for any dance rhythm. So it must come from the beat behind, and not the beat that as not yet struck. Unless you want to dance out of time.