My partner is 7 inches shorter than me.
She complains of back aches when we do quick step, especially during the outside partner lock steps. There is lots of CBM with quick step, but I am wondering if her back aches are due to our height difference in just this dance. We don't have this problem in waltz and foxtrot.

We had a teacher look at us and he said I was leaning forward some and this was
creating the problem. I thought that I had corrected this, but the problem is still there. I dance with another partner that's about 2 inches shorter than me and we don't have a problem.
Has anyone experienced this problem with quick step and dancing with a shorter partner.

The solution is CBMP, not CBM.

You will go forward from your left hip, leaving your right behind. She will go back from her right hip, NOT her right shoulder, almost as if she is sitting down on a diagonal. That should fix the back arch.

Anonymous. The ladies shoulder must go back with the hip. If it does not the feet for the Lockstep will be out of line . The front foot should be on a straight line with the back foot. Also don't forget to pull the heal a little for stability.

Anonymous, you are simply wrong.

The lady's right hip must go back by itself, without the right shoulder going with it. She must feel like she is sitting down. If her right shoulder is allowed to go back to, her partner will end up on top of her, arching her back in the way they were trying to avoid.

Anonymous. It is very simple to prove this point. If on a Back Lock you are not able to pull ( there is a bit of pressure with the heel there ) your LF to your RF on a straight line. Anything else is like moving off line by about one floor board or more. Again your left foot should move to the Lock position straight from whence it came. And there is only one way this can be done. That is the whole side hip and shoulder. Any other way would be like dancing with a brick wall. You know the golden rule Never Twist your Spine.

The original poster's problem is precisely that caused by taking the right shoulder back.

The solution is to leave the right shoulder forward (or more descriptively, stretch the left shoulder strongly forward) while pulling the right hip strongly back. This is the essence of the partner outside position - left top forward, right hip back, strong internal stretch. The crease line which forms across the right hip is the key element that gives the partner a path to move forward into the oustide partner step - skip that, take the right shoulder back, and the backwards partner will fall/arch into the movement painfully. Keep the left shoulder forward and the right hip back, and everything is clean and easy.

And it is this which allows the figure to swing on a straight line into an easy and automatic cross.

Anonymous's. You are obviously not the Anonymous who wrote that on a Back Lock Quickstep the ladies right hip must go back without the shoulder. I would like to point out that the right side is already back after a Progressive Chasse. To get CBMP on the first step of the Lockstep the LF is taken across the body and shoulders which are still. Quote quote quote.Contrary Body Movement Position is attained when either foot is placed across the front or the back of the body
without the body turning. Its interesting to note that if the Lock is to be followed by another Lock we have CBMP. If it is follows by a turn we have CBM instead. A turn can be a Spin Turn or even a Quarter Turn. Contrary Body Movement or CBM is the action of turning the opposite hip and shoulder towards the direction of the moving leg and is used on all turning movements. If your partner says to you this is like dancing with a block of wood. You can be sure your CBMP and CBM is none existent. That also applies to the men.

Whoever you are, you are somewhat confused.

A back lock is always follwed by partner outside step taken into CBMP.
If that step will be a turning figure, it may also have CBM, but it absolutely MUST be taken into CBMP with the partner outside - this is a function of the ending position of the lock step (side lead) rather than a function of the following figure.

The most common problem with the partner outside action - the problem the original poster was having - is getting the right shoulder too far back, especially in combination with leaving the right hip forward. This results in the classic falling backwards/arched backwards position of discomfort (and rather painful even to watch). The solution, as always for partner outside, is to stretch the left shoulder forward and the right hip back. This naturally means that the right shoulder will be forward or the right hip - the right hip is going back _without_ the right shoulder.

And this is true of every single partner outside step...

Anonymous. First you can't have CBM and CBMP at the same time. Second you cannot have CBMP if you are turning. Third What I have I been writting here. If your left side is forward and your right side is back how are you not in a position to now place your leg across your body which is CBMP. Fourth, The right hip cannot go back without the right shoulder unless you twist the spine. What a mess that would be. Lets get to Basics. A Quarter Turn is a quarter turn to the Right for the Man. A progressive Chasse has a quarter of a turn to the left. Both both you and your partner are now , with no further turn, ready to go into a Lockstep with CBMP. If this is to be a Spin Turn the step has to be outside partner. It is impossible to get back in line. The debatable part here is if you try CBMP here even though you are ouside your partner, or your partner is outside you. You will not be able to turn. Maybe you think you are performing one where actually you are doing the other. Even on an Ouside Spin stepping outside partner on one and two, it is CBM and not CBMP. Lets get this straight. CBMP is the shoulders still, and the leg moving across the body. CBM is the foot is in position with the shoulders moving to the foot. Any trouble falling back on a Lock, Try getting up on the toes on the Lock and lower on the fourth step not fall. It is an up step.

Whoever you are, you need remedial technique lessons.

"Anonymous. First you can't have CBM and CBMP at the same time."

Yes you can.... and you often do. Some examples: natural turn commenced outside partner. Quater turn commenced outside partner. Lockstep commenced outside partner (slight CBM). But don't take an anonymous coward's word for it, look it up and see the truth of the matter for yourself - all of these figures go into CBMP but also have CBM.


"Second you cannot have CBMP if you are turning."

Yes you can... see any turn commenced outside partner or in promeande.

"Third What I have I been writting here. If your left side is forward and your right side is back how are you not in a position to now place your leg across your body which is CBMP."

Outside partner and partner outside are more than just CBMP foot placement - they are whole body positions. That body postion requires the top to be stretched forward and left and the hips to be stretched backward and right.

"Fourth, The right hip cannot go back without the right shoulder unless you twist the spine."

Yes it can. Incline the spine slight Not exactly an official sway, but enough to create a clean partner outside body position - a position which by its very nature stretches the shoulders in opposition to the hips.

"What a mess that would be."

Actually it's called good dancing. And while outside partner CBMP does not requirse much in the way of spinal twist, promeande acrossin CBMP does. That is essentialy to quality dancing - it is doing it without that creates a mess of mispositioned hips and collapsed topline.

"Lets get to Basics. A Quarter Turn is a quarter turn to the Right for the Man. A progressive Chasse has a quarter of a turn to the left. Both both you and your partner are now , with no further turn, ready to go into a Lockstep with CBMP."

Actually you aren't. You are in a side lead that will automatically create CBMP, but a lockstep will require slight additional CBM rotation. Don't take my word for it - look it up (and please don't post again until you have)

"If this is to be a Spin Turn the step has to be outside partner. It is impossible to get back in line. "

It doesn't matter what the figure is to be - anything following a progressive chasse must commence outside partner. If it is a lockstep, it commences outside partner. If it is 1-6 of a natural turn or natural spin turn, it commences outside partner. The outside partner is caused by the side lead at the end of the progressive chasse - it is not caused by any property of the figure that comes next.

"The debatable part here is if you try CBMP here even though you are ouside your partner, or your partner is outside you."

Gosh I would hope so... natural CBMP is more or less synonymous with natural outside partner... neither one EVER occurs without the other (promenade is after all just mutual outside partner)

"You will not be able to turn."

Yes you can, if you use CBM to initiate a turn - see again, the natural turn commenced outside partner.

"Even on an Ouside Spin stepping outside partner on one and two, it is CBM and not CBMP."

Another step you need to look up before you post again in ignorance...

"Lets get this straight."

Yes, please take some lessons and read up on the figures you use for your examples.