"Annon. you are at the top on three and lower on three and. The whole beat is a foot position,the half beat is a body position. Dave"

It's not that simple. Nowhere is the precise timing of steps to music given. The total amount of time in beats per step is given, but the phasing is not - all of the counting in the book is in terms of the steps, not the beats.

Suomynona. In the Foxtrot yes. But in the Waltz we can count one as a step and also a beat even if it wasn't meant that way in the book. Going back a bit. We have two seconds to complete the one bar of music. If we are to be at our highest and or lowest on beat three. We can't start moving the closing foot on three. We need time, so the moving foot must start on the half beat. Trying to find more time we have couples who wrongly never go any higher that their second step or beat.For those just picking this up . This is the first thee steps of a Natural Turn in the International style Modern Waltz, in the main the closing step, and when to get the foot moving.

If we are to move smoothly and continually in time to the music we have to spend an equal amount of time on each foot when dancing the basic waltz ,but if you just arrive on the second step with little further rise(a high heal) you will be spend less time on that foot and have less control over the timing of the different speeds in the waltz 28-31 bpm. also a person with longer or shorter legs has to use that second step to to make the ajustment and that is why I say you arrive on a bent knee with a lower heal that is not to say that you can't float onto that foot or that the rise in the natural is any different than a closed change. The should be the same amount of rise throughout the basic 18 steps of the waltz and that is where we get our lovly lilting action from.

"we have to spend an equal amount of time on each foot when dancing the basic waltz"

No, this is a flawed assumption with no basis in fact. Waltz character includes the impression of *NOT* dividing the beats evenly, though as in all swing dances it is only the timing of the body, not the timing of the feet, which is important.

Yes, it is the timing of the body but the feet control the timing of the body,how much time we spend and what we do on each foot determines the speed and action of the body.

Suomynona. Her we go again straight from the book. Progressive Chasse to the right has the count of 12&3
that means that the 2nd and 3rd steps have half a beat only on each step. If Alex was not referring to the music then what is he referring to. Interestingly Alex does not mention a Chasse to the left as in after a Whisk.But does mention a chasse after a Whisk in the suggested Amalamations Victor Silvester mention it, and describes it in detail. He named it a Chasse from Promenade which usually follows a Whisk.

"Suomynona. Her we go again straight from the book. Progressive Chasse to the right has the count of 12&3
that means that the 2nd and 3rd steps have half a beat only on each step."

Yes, the amounts of time are given in units of beats. But it doesn't say which fractions of a beat of duration match with which fractions of the measure.

If I tell you something has a duration of "1" I haven't told you if it takes place between 1 and 2, or between 1.1 and 2.1 or 1.5 and 2.5 - I've just told you how long it takes.

And we also have to remember that the given durations are between the official boundaries of the step, which are the instants of foot passing, not the instants of weight change as many would nievely assume. If you want to change weight on the beat, then the steps last from sometime before the beat (or musical subdivision) to sometime after it, not from beat to beat. As long as all the steps have the same given duration you can ignore this, but once you allocate different divisions - 12&3 or SQQ - you have to pay attention to exactly when you are counting from if you want to argue formalized timing.

Dave . I am with you there. There has to be a consisancey in the way our steps are performed. Those who use the term ballistic, or throw your body in the air on that much discussed second step. Have not had a lessons from somebody with an International ranking lately or if ever. I've looked hard and often and i fail to see a step on two as big as step one. I ask you what is the lady doing while this is taking place. What happens to her no foot rise on one. Thats if we are applying technique here.

"Those who use the term ballistic, or throw your body in the air on that much discussed second step. Have not had a lessons from somebody with an International ranking lately or if ever."

On the contrary, this was the result of a lesson with the then world champion.

Those who insist on lifting the body with the feet at all times seem confined to the lower half of the final.

Nowhere did I say we lift our body with our feet at all times. spins and pivots we don't. Yes we do float onto a foot,step three of a wisk or step three of a passing natural, but the floating comes from a bent knee on the second step with an upward push and rise does continue. Just dance a wisk and then tell me you don't use that knee on the second step, of cause we first have the power from the first step. The second step of the natural turn is only longer than the first because the body swings further,it's not the size of the step. We count the second step as a long two(I think). By the way, I have had many lessons with the top pros in the past and am still learning .