Hi to all,
When I awoke this morning, I immediately said, 'The Bradley Drag'. I recall this figure being danced with step one quite short, then step 2 with a lateral slide action; man and lady with their heads turned to look back and down as they pulled up the body while straightening the knees. This action will account for the rise e/o 2.

Josephine Bradley was one of the pioneers of English ballroom dancing. Terrence and Don(Polished) will remember her and they probably danced in her studio in South Kensington, London.

I suppose I should have remembered this earlier but I am 75 years old having started stage dance at the age of 3 years. So much has happened in those 72 years.

I sure do remember her.. along with Elsa Wells, both made huge impacts on the profession .And yes, i did visit and dance at " socials "... also at Colliers, Peggy Spencers et ,al.
But... Mainly at Hammersmith palais on " dancers" day and nites.

( for those of you that dont know Elsa, she instituted the "International " )

Incidentally, you and I both started at exactly the same time ,doing nearly the same thing !... i transitioned ( more like my Mom helped ! , )into Old time and B/room about 4 yrs later . It, O.T. seemed to be more popular then (?) .

Interested. In the technique book it says that the Change of Direction can have an extra slow. If the Change of Direction is to be followed by a Feather Step and you use the timing S S S you would be stepping off with your LF on the count of 1 2. which would leave you with 3 4 for the first of the Feather Step.As we all now know that's back to front and you would be dancing out of rhythm.
If you dance out of rhythm you are not dancing to the music. You would also be out of phrase. The music is playing 1234 and not 3412. Count it for yourself and see.

ADD an additional S on the R foot to put into sequence for Feather ( ya cant dance a feather off a S on the L foot )

I could also dance it Slow "and" Slow, Slow ( which I teach to comp students ). The S, "and" is compressed .

Have you bought a technique book, Polished?

Polished. I get the principle. But people do dance "out of rhythm" sometimes to make things fit - sequence dancing does this a lot - as do ballroom dancers. You can have an extra slow when following by a feater, but you dont have to, the example I gave is one which doesn't have an extra slow but you are stil on the "correct beat" for the feather. The CoD in the amagamation I suggested IS taken on the "wrong beat" - but this example makes my point well -is it actually possible to have a natural zig-zag without being on the "wrong beat" either on the precede or on the follow ? I can't think of a way.

I do not much like the SSSS Change of Direction with the hesitation. But what I do like is like is to put in a little LF ronde (just for the man) in place of the hesitation.In fact I often make the ronde last for three beats rather than two and then take the final step of the Change of Direction on a Q.

Interested. As you are aware in the Technique Book the Change of Direction is S S S which is 12 34 12 This will have you stepping through with the moving foot on 1 2. Marcus Hilton in the Basic Foxtrot video does an unusual count on his Change of Direction ( without a Ronde Action ). He uses five slows. Why five and not three. Because he is fitting it into a 32 bar phrased routine of course.
The other way you mentioned using a Q instead of a S on the final step of the COD. You will have to make the first of your Feather a Q also. If you don't you will be hopelessly out of time. Even Sequence Dancers wouldn't do that.
You might like to count Marcus on his Change of Direction where he alters the timing from the normal as he follows it with a Three Step diag to centre.
If by some chance you have a group that leaves you with the wrong leg free. This is where a Syncopation comes in. A Syncopated Open Telemark for instance. Or in the Waltz, if it suited, a Syncopated Whisk if the man had beat one on his RF. Even then you must stay in rhythm and also in phrase.Cheers

Hello lluv2Dance and terence2 I'm quite interested in the Bradley Drag. I'm a dance historian and I'd love to speak with you both more about it and dance in general. My profile has my phone number in it, but I'm located in the U.S. so email me please Forrest@DanceHistorian.com or we can of course use this board to go about communication, though it would be fun to share vintage sources with you which email allows.