Helo, Jonathan,

Would you please tell me how to generate a good swing in waltz and foxtrot ?
Yiling Chen

You might start with the videos of waltz basics here:

https://www.ballroomdancers.com/Dances/featured_steps.asp?Dance=WAL

If you pause the quicktime player you can go through the figure one frame at a time and look at the details.

It would be very interesting to have some contrasting interpretations to compare to, but Jonathan and Melissa deseve a lot of credit for making these available.

Yichen 1. Just the sway. Sway is an inclination away from a fixed point. Find a piece of cane. Bend it you will find that each segment bends equally. If you run a tape measure down the outside and then the inside, you will find the measurment is the same. The moral here is stretch the inside of the sway and not just the outside. Happy swaying. All you need now is the swing before the sway. All I can say is from The British, I have a tape which shows the Dutch Champion doing the first three of a Natural Turn in the Waltz. On the second step both legs are straight with the body moving on to what is going to be the supporting leg as the right closes to the left. I believe this is an acquired step which has taken years to develope. For us mere mortals we can but try.