Do most of us in the Modern Waltz get too high on step two leaving no further rise on three. Also who agrees that as the feet come together the thighs should arrive before the feet. This could rectify the problem of rising too early.

I find that I actually bend me knee slightly as I arrive over step two. If I did not do this, the act of moving onto a straight leg over a foot that also has some toe rise would indeed make me too high at that point. But by flexing the knee slightly as I come onto it, I only take part of this potential rise during the early part of two.

Step three is basically taken by starting to restraighten the leg - this causes the other leg to swing closed, a closure that would start with the thighs and progress to the feet as my equally anonymous twin suggests. As the arriving foot closes under the moving one, I rise slightly higher in this foot to accomplish the weight change - in fact, I probably rise to a higher point than I could statically sustain, because the peak of the rise is immediatelly followed by the start of the lowering. If were demonstrating on action at a time, I would not attempt to achieve the peak rise until I was ready to procede into the next step.

Related question: who rises too early in the chasse? I do!

We always study the natural turn, and never find time for the other cases...

I watch with wonder a tape of the worlds top amateurs where in the Modern Waltz all the finalists seem to start with a Spin Turn. I've checked the tempo, it is exactly the same that i dance to and yet they seem to rise forever and have so much time as they close their feet. I was told that in Europe with those top teachers they spend a lot of time on just that, the first three.

One of the things to remember is that music stops being thought of as 1,2,3 and instead starts to be thought of as phrases. So the dancers won't necessarily be "on" the music on every beat, rather they will aiming to meet it at a certain point in each figure or phrase of actions. This can allow extra time for blooming rise in the couples which have developed the foot strength to do it.