Dear Don, I desiured you improve the way I conceptualized.
Last night , we talked about the Natural spin turn ( waltz ).
I said , according to the amount of turn mentioned in book , I found that although I facing DC on 6, I only turned 3/8 from 4-6.( Book said (pivoting action, 1/2 to right on 4, 3/8 between 5-6 .)Why we did not follow the instruction?
A teacher said :" you should not try to change the turn amount yourself ,just follow your partner .even he is wrong.Book said we should maintain good contact throughout the dancing, but some couples broke this rule remarkably in the competition, what you said?!"
My teacher came up and said: "shup up!I hate you talk about the turn amount . As a bigginer ,just dance with your feet not your mouth. Won't you think you can turn 180 degree exactly? What will you say if there is less or more after my measuring ? "
I answered :Of course turning less or over may happen, but it is a defect .Technique is essential in dancing , convince me of its outdate or other reasons.
(I thought , I may be a troublesome. but I believe correct concepts are significant guidance in practicing. Theory and practice are important equally.)

Another question: how to soften my upper limbs and shoulder ? ( I wish to find a way or more accessory muscles to ues less my deltoids which hold my shoulder up . My teacher height is 178cm , I am 157cm only.)
I think I like a crab or a board in front of my teacher. He becomes so frustrated to my stiff shoulder and head which tends to move rightward or chin downward . I am so upset also for my ugly frame. Give me your expert advice . Thanks.

ylchen,

You are priceless...just too cute, man.

I may not necessarily agree with the rigour with which you want to apply the prescribed technique though it's understandable based on where you are in your journey of discovery but you do ask such insightfull questions for a beginner lady and it's the asking that's important.

Just bear in mind that while technique is important, the prescribed, written technique is not the sum total of all technique you will encounter. Also, be aware of the limitations of language in describing dance. You will find technique in all kinds of places and even within yourself. Be open to many different ideas and experiment with them. For me technique is not a separate idea from feeling, personality, performance, partnering, musicality, etc, etc. You will find technique in all things when you focus your mind on them and ponder the detail. The whole is just as important as the parts and the parts need not necessarily add up to the whole in a mathematical or western scientic sense.

I don't mean to be sexist but generally I have not seen many beginner lady dancers take a view of dance in the way you do. You are going to be an amazing dancer someday soon.

Rha

Yichen
Rha has given you an excellent response on matters of technique.
On the point about tense shoulders and upper body - i have had this problem and have had to work hard (and am still working )to cure it. I'm a man, so can't give you exact guidance, but here goes -
1) You will become more relaxed as your technique and confidence improves, and i haven't been able to find a short cut
2) the most useful piece of advice i received was from my Physio (i've had injuries from dancing!!) who said i should try to separate my ribs from my hips - feel i'm actually trying to pull them apart. Doing this automatically gives me great posture (as a man) and as a bonus, i fund it hard to tense my shoulders at the same time - in fact, they stay down while i'm doing this.
3)Controlling your head should be easy. Let the man do the work and just flow with him. Maybe you're trying to do too much work. In any case, look UP UP UP all the time over your left shoulder. NEVER look at the floor. I tell my partner to check out the lighting systems!! You could do a lot worse. And you should practise smiling all the time during your practices, so that it becomes automatic. If you're concentrating on technique, you may have a 'concentrating' - type look on your face.
Don't worry about things too much - you're on a long journey and there are lots of stops and exciting places along the way

Dead right. Especially your bonus . I will drive to the studio and find out the feeling. So happy I am . All of you are my nice friends and teachers .

Laughing. That's true, people said concentrating type look on my face throughout my dancing . Yes , I do worry too much things in my hard long journey although I enjoy the whole process of learning dancing . I should keep in mind that just flow with the man , giving response to his action . Great thanks , phil.

If you as lady end up facing DC on six, then you did make the classic 7/8 turn.

But the spin turn can have anywhere from 5 to maybe almost 9/8 of turn, depening on what you want to follow it with. You can end with the lady facing DC against line of dance and do a 1/4 turn 456 of reverse. Or you can complete more than a full turn and continue turning in the next figure with a turning lock.

Most do not dance the spin turn today quite as a natural pivot turn followed by a spin - step 4 becomes a bit looser, more of a pointing action and less of a pure pivot. But if you look at the turn in the feet, it should accomplish about 1/2 turn by the time you arrive on step 5, even if not by the time you start departing step 4. The amount of spin on step 5 itself is highly variable - that is the nature of a spin action - and this is why the overall amount of turn that is proper for the figure depends on its context.

Contact: I would not worry about it, instead that each person have good posture and maintain perfect position in relation to partner. Simply teaching constant contact is a cheap way of satisfying some of this requirement, but more visually than functionally - sometimes ultimate function requires breaking contact as recent champions have been seen to do.

Thanks a lot for expert advice .

Yichen 1. You have a lot of good advice from people who obviously know what they are talking about, having probably asked the same questions them- selves at some stage. Shoulders . I was taught to have somebody place their two hands on each of my shoulders from behind at arms length. They should be able to feel you roll your shoulders back and down. Now empty your shoulders of any weight. The Spin Turn, for the lady. A major fault is that on step five the foot collapses and sometimes the heel of the left foot comes down. You can than say goodbye to any attempt to do a overturned Spin Turn. Remember step five is a toe only for the lady. Another tip for the lady comes off a Richard Gleave tape and that is, the lady on the beginning of step four turns her head much futher to her left, and make sure the head is the last thing to arrive. For the man imagine you are on the inside of a barrel where both elbows are touching the sides. As you turn keep them there. Gee, and that's only the Spin Turn. It should be pointed out that the technique book is only on foot positions. The shoulders are more often than not doing something else. Keep trying. but don't be too trying with your coach. After all he is trying also.

Dear Don, I feel warm here as in a big family.
Very helpful advice about only toe on 5 , with much further leftward head on step 4 and head is the last thing to arrive. I found better shaping because of left upper part extention and stability deu to continuous motion. Great thanks!
shoulder :rotating back and down and emptying the weight .
I will keep in my mind when I suspend my elbows toward my coatch.

Hi Don
THat "rolling the shoulders back and down" didn't work for me - but it might for someone else of course. I would say that for me, my physio telling me to "separate upper body and hips" resulted in the greatest improvement(and it's still improving) for the smallest number of words i've ever encountered.
Someone elsewhere on the topic of CBMP responded to my example by suggesting i think more of rotating hips than upper body. I realised that i hadn't been doing that.
Yichen - please keep asking the questions. You're doing a great job here. We're all learning all the time, and the better we get, the more there is to learn.