the slow foxtrot is all about being relaxed and going with the flow of the music and the three step or the feather step is exactly the same but with two different names the man does do different to the lady (of corse) but the movement is still the same!!!!!

Anonymous. I know it seems stupid but the way the Three Step is written has the man starting on the LF and not the RF. and is Q Q S and not S Q Q. For some unknown reason the last step can become the first of a Natural Turn. The same happens on the Feather which finishes on the Mans LF which can become the first step of a Reverse Turn.
How confusing it must be for somebody trying to learn from a book. At this moment in time I have never heard a satifactory explanation of the above mentioned. The only thing I can think is that in the beginning maybe they counted steps.Feather and a Reverse counted in steps would have the Feather Finish finish on the ninth step. So they put in an extra step to make it ten. Even that doesn't seem to make sense Does anybody Know ??

Henry Jaques described the feather with 4 steps RLRL,SQQS (I shall use man's step throughout), and the three step as RLR, QQS, but he confused things by stating the starting position for all figures as "feet together".

For amalgamations he used two terms "followed by" and "into" where into meant the last step of one figure became the first step of the next.

He thus described "feather step, into reverse turn, followed by three step, into natural turn".

For me, Guy Howard has the most logical description which removes all overlap. He describes a feather as 3 steps RLR,SQQ and the three step as LRL,SQQ.

As regards learning from the book, please bear in mind that is not the aim of the books. They are intended as a technique manual against which a teacher may be examined. As such it is often necessary to include some action following a figure to demonstrate that the teacher is aware of the need to complete lowering, recover sway, regain alignment or to take the following step in an OP position.

"but he confused things by stating the starting position for all figures as "feet together"."

But that's TRUE. Whatever happens before the feet are together is formally part of the previous figure.

Reply to social dancer
I agree that removing overlap in describing figures (a la Guy howard) is probably the most sensible approach. Of course one figure leads into another, but it's a mistake to include part of a following figure as part of the figure which precedes it. Other sports don't do this. Nobody would teach serving in tennis by saying a ""serve"" involves hitting the ball then dashing forward to the net. That does happen in matches ,but just as often it doesn't.

wouldn't some forward travel after the serve be necessary as follow through?

I suggest you watch a base-line player, and then a serve-and-volleyer. Then you might understand my point

Phil. I think we all agree that the manual has one step lapping into another
but still no explanation why. I don't have Guy Howards book. Does he do the lapping on a Feather Step. I wouldn't even go too much into a Closed Telemark where the last step is also a lap followed be 234 of a Feather Step. There doesn't seem any rhyme or reason. for that extra step to be included as part of the Telemark..

As far as I remember, ALL overlapping steps are removed in Guy Howard's book.
There is no such thing as 2,3,4 of a feather because his feather (and feather finish etc)has only three steps.

As man, all feathers are R,L,R and all three steps are L,R,L which does not take too much remembering, and standard timing is SQQ for them all.

Telemeark and Impetus turns are also 3 steps, so you can go a long way into foxtrot with 3 step figures counted SQQ.

Social Dancer. You must have a copy of Henry Jaques book as well as Guy Howard's. Henry judged my Gold Medal with the IDMA the same year he left the UK. Very fussy man. I was ticked off by him because I had the top button of a double brested jacket undone. I don't think anybody at that time did that button up. Not even Humphry Bogart. I was also in several competitions where Guy Howard was the sole judge. As a matter of interest in one of the competitions I was in he did the judging , he did the scrutineering and also did the recalls. Nobody else got a look in. I never saw him dance . I entered the scene after he had that serious injury to the leg.