Sway, a position, is a result of using sideswing, an action. Since the swing is already developing at the end of one, sway will start to enter into the picture before the end of two, so the book says there is sway on two. However the initial swing is more forwrds than sideways, so the sway develops slowly and is more evident on three than it is on two. If you had to pick one aspect to assign to each of the three steps, these would be 1.CBM, 2.swing, 3.sway - with the latter two being only approximations of where they occur.

And I think you could also argue that the sway has been at least partially lost by the end of step 3.

The rise and fall debate continued.This i think has an important bearing on the whole issue of whether one is on the way, up or on the way down on the second quick in the Feather Step. Firstly for those who might be comparative beginners. In this case the Right leg is the supporting leg having just lowered. The Left Leg is the moving leg. The question is where is the moving leg supposed to be as the supporting heel, Right Foot, touches the floor. Don't jump into this one untill you have had a good look at a teaching tape in slow motion of the Feather being demonstrated.

I'm not sure exactly what action you are talking about - it almost fits one point in what the man does, with a slight inconsistency, or it could be a question about the lady's part an instant later, also with a slight inconsistency. Which are you asking about?

The Question is. Feather Step Man. Second quick. Where should the none supporting step Left Foot be as the now supporting Right Foot, the heel lowers to the floor. I will tell you it should still be extended right back rolling onto the tip of the toe at this point still straight. I have just had a look at a couple of tapes and that is the way it is being performed. If this is true the debate on is the second quick up is ended.Again i will write. As the heel lowers to the floor the opposite foot is at full extension to the rear on the tip of the toe.

This is technically a premature lowering of the heel, though advocated by about half of leading dancers including most of my coaches. At some point I mean to take some time to discuss the reasons for it, and perhaps get a lesson with someone who opposes this action and ask them why.

I'm far more concerned that the lady get her right heel down by the end of the first quick, so that there can be a touch of body rise at the beginning of the second, in order to prevent serious overall lowering until well into the last step.

Alex Moore who compiled the technique book at the request of the Imperial Society didn't invent the steps. He put together, with some help, the steps that were already being performed and in most cases already down on paper. I think a female could be reponsible for the Feather Step and mistakenly did a mirror image of the ladies steps, which is as we know lower only as the moving foot passes. It is possible that the Feather which was once a cross behind required a vertical lowering. When it was scrapped in 1922 and the right foot passed. The being up and then lowering was retained. The lady who might have had a hand in this was a Miss Kilpatrick.

These are totally different situations. The man has foot rise in a feather step, and so he must lower from it.

The lady has NO FOOT RISE ever in a feather, so she does not have to lower her feet. She only has body rise to worry about (and she had better have a lot of it at the end of step 2!)

The lady does have some situations of lowering diagonally from foot rise that use the same technique the man would use in a feather: when stepping out in promendade, when stepping out of a chasse in quickstep, etc.

I think this becomes part of this discussion. This is from a tape on technique from one of the former best. Open Impetus any dance. We are in promenade with the man about to come around the lady into a Running Weave in Waltz or a Natural Weave in Foxtrot starting diag to centre. Quote if the lady travels at the same time and speed as the man the man will never get there. Except by using the strength of his strong arm. So into the Promenade the lady will give an extra flexing of the knee to allow the man to pass. A flexing of the knee was the term used.So the flexing of the knee can be used any time it is necessary to produce a slight delay. To continue. Backward Walks as in the Foxtrot. As the leg extends back to the tip of the toe, the supporting knee flexes foreward, giving a feeling of a slight move foreward to help the extension of the moving leg. So the big question is does the same actions still apply to the first step for the lady in a Natural turn in the Modern Waltz. That is the extra flexing of the knee to allow the man to pass ????.

Gentlmen and Ladies. Watch a tape on a major International final. Most will start with a basic step in the Waltz , Spin Turn or Open Impetus. Only there will you see the beautiful swing which gives them that slow unhurried closing of the feet, that sway that rise that is still rising as most of us are already on the way down. It is my belief that this can only be achieved if the swing is done correctly right at the beginning. This will take a person onto two and three without any effort. Without swing you will come into a series of full stops and not just let it happen. Watch them as i will in a few hours time on cable. Watch them float.

Most of us have tackled the Viennese Waltz Natural Turns, and strangly without realizing it we are mostly correct. Nobody would try to swing at the same time as our partners would we. The man swings the lady lets him pass, the lady flies the man lets her pass. So we get to the Natural Turn in modern and what happens. The lady takes off at the wrong time and yet in the V. Waltz she will hold her position untill the person on the outside is past. I think it all comes down to teaching don't you?.