As long as we're doing the wall drill, make sure to do it with the critical post-beginner detail: your standing knee must not develop more than a tiny bit ahead of your standing hip, rather as you flex into the knee your standing shoulder and hip must move forward to stay over the knee. Hard, isn't it? Especially hard to do it without falling into the step. But that's what seperates the men from the boys - and makes keeping the free foot in your own space so much simpler.

The way to avoid falling is to not lower until you are ready to move, perhaps even a tiny bit behind the beat - then you can push out of the standing leg without hesitation, so that the movement is controlled, and rather than falling onto the free leg. This does conflict with the over emphasis on lowering given to beginners who tend to forget to lower at all, so it's a detail that can be saved for a few months later, but it's a necessary component of fully developed dancing.

And of course it applies to the forward action only - going backwards, the knee and hip initially move in opposition.

Dear Jonathan,
Thanks a lot for showing the wonderful images and your convincible words.They are quite helpful for me in my practice . Hoping more valuable pictures and analysis coming . such as the Tango setup in different angles.
yling .

Yichen-1
Having followed your postings with interest I have to say how well your written English has impoved.

Thanks for your warmest encouraging . More learning and practicing is an effective way for me who has no chance to study Englsih in the school.( I learnt Russian in my high school, there were full of politic vocabularies in my text books . I felt quite frustrated when I failed to answer a tourist's simple question about the place and tram in Russian ,then my teacher taught me phonetic symble and asked me coming back to read and write what she had taught me next day. The cultural revolution destroyed several generations in China . As a learning and communicating tool , I have great pressure from poor English. I am shame also why I put more effort on dancing but English . Fortunately , I enter this website and learn a lot by chating with all of you .
Always seeking truth from facts is essential to improve ourselves I believed.
I love this healthy website and extremely greaful for sharing your knowledge and friendship.

Thanks for your warmest encouraging . More learning and practicing is an effective way for me who has no chance to study Englsih in the school.( I learnt Russian in my high school, there were full of politic vocabularies in my text books . I felt quite frustrated when I failed to answer a tourist's simple question about the place and tram in Russian ,then my teacher taught me phonetic symble and asked me coming back to read and write what she had taught me next day. The cultural revolution destroyed several generations in China . As a learning and communicating tool , I have great pressure from poor English. I am shame also why I put more effort on dancing but English . Fortunately , I enter this website and learn a lot by chating with all of you .
Always seeking truth from facts is essential to improve ourselves I believed.
I love this healthy website and extremely greaful for sharing your knowledge and friendship.

Dear Jon,
In the walk forward action, male partner right heel had been lifted gradually in picture 2 . Is it correct ?
I compared with the two ways ,(a: I started to lift my supporting heel while my moving foot was almost swinging foreward about 1/4 of its full stride (old ) and (b) maintain two foot to move in similar speed, I got spontaneously earlier lifted heel ( supporting foot ) and closer thighs relationship in latter, which help me to use my supporting foot as long as possible and less bumping at mid-stride and faster body speed . If my observation and thought are correct , I will obtain more time also. Can same method be used in walk backward ?( earlier toe release ( supporting foot )
Thank you very much.

Amongst truly expert dancers it is well agreed that the heel must lift before the feet pass when moving forward from a
HT step into an upswing step, such as when leaving step 1 for step 2. However there are a variety of opinions on when the heel should lift for a flatter action such as step 3's TH into step 1 - some advocate not lifting the standing heel then until just before the moving heel touches the floor. I can better follow the argument for still raising the heel early, but I'm not sure that it's optimal in non-upswing cases, and it is not formally consistent with TH footwork (since if you lift the heel before foot passing, you have actually ended the step on T, for THT).

Going backwards similar considerations would probably apply, only less thought in general is given to the backwards action, so there may be less awareness.

Anonimous and others. I think some of you guys are getting too technical. Imagine telling a baby how to walk, Flex your knee . step foreward on the heel lower the toe. The child would finish a mental cripple when it came to walking. Technique is fine I'm with that but I dont want to look like a cans of beans on a conveyer belt in a food factory.I would though like to repeat a question posed by the late Harry Smith Hampshire. On a Feather Step as the heel on the second quick touches the floor where should the moving leg be ?

Some advocate that the heel should already be down before the other foot closes, others say only as it closes. Based on a very small survey, it seems that those who keep the departing heel down longer when leaving step 3 also lower it earlier when arriving on step 3, though who knows if the reverse is true.

A strict reading of classic technique for a forward TH step is ambiguous - it is only specified that the heel must be down by the time the other foot passes, and that it must not rise again until the other foot has passed. The question of how much before or after is left unanswered.

ylchen,

The speed at which the supporting heel releases depends on a number of factors, such as the speed at which you want to rise, if at all. But on a basic, level forward walk, "gradually and throughout" is probably the best language I can use, without getting too technical.

Think about the speed at which the back heel lowers on a back walk: It begins lowering at the moment the foot stops moving back and weight begins to transfer onto it. It lowers gradually an continually throughout, making contact with the floor at roughly the same time as the body arrives vertically over the foot, which also happens to be roughly the same moment the moving foot passes it. (People have varying opinions about the fine-tuning details, but we'll call that the "happy medium").

Now take that action and play it in reverse. Voila! The forward walk.

From the moment you begin to move the body forward of the standing foot, the heel begins to rise right away. It rises gradually and continually as you move away from it, so that when the back leg reaches its fullest extension, the heel is at its highest point. From that point forward, the heel will begin to lower again as the moving foot moves towards the standing foot.

As an aside, some will argue that the heel should continue to rise for a brief moment beyond the point of mid-stride, so that the foot can reach a full point to the toe (At mid-stride, with weight still on the foot it has only really reached the ball). This might be something to strive for at the most advanced level, but I advise againt it from the standpoint of teaching the average dancer. 99% of students I see make the opposite mistake and roll the foot too far over and for too long, resulting in a slight forward pitch of the body into the next step. There's also an odd tendency for students who focus on pointing the back foot to turn it out, as in Latin, resulting in horrible tracking on the next step. So I have found myself needing to teach most students to start the next heel lowering immediately after mid-stride, focusing less on pointing and more on the "stroking" action of the free foot. As a student, you know you're ready for a more pointed foot when you can accomplish it without sacrificing the tracking and stroking actions of the free foot, or the leg timing or posture.

But I digress. You were asking about the speed of the lifting of the heel. Take a look at the image sequences. You'll notice that in both instances, the heel is lifted gradually and throughout. Victor's heel seems to rise slightly later than Timothy's heel does, but they are very similar. The difference is likely based in the fact that one is dancing slow Foxtrot, the other Quickstep. In any event, they are both very well timed. Strive for something in that ballpark, and you should be very pleased with the results.

Regards,
Jonathan