According to the instructions on Ballroom Dancers, in american Viennese Waltz, a Natural Turn begins on the RF for man and the Open Break with Underarm Turn to Right begins with the LF for man. The instructions for Preceded by and Followed by indicate the the Natural Turn may Precede and Follow the Open Break with Underarm Turn to R. I do not understand how this is possible.

Looks like the precedes list was written based on just the Open Break as a component, not the whole figure including the LF forward change. Since we're moving to a more component-based approach to our syllabus, we will probably eliminate steps 1-3 of the figure, rather than modifying all the precedes to say "4-12 Open Break & Underarm Turn".

Regards,
Jonathan Atkinson
www.ballroomdancers.com

Jonathon,
Thanks for the explanation, it really helped to clarify the precedes. Love the site and enjoy working through much of the material.


Sharon

I updated both the man's and lady's parts of the Open Break & Underarm Turn in Viennese Waltz. It now begins with the side step leading into the open break, and ends with the side step that follows the underarm turn ("as first step of following figure").

This change makes it fall in line with the precedes and follows list, giving you many more options for entry and exit. Check them all out, there are some nice ones that most people don't think about, like exiting the underarm turn with a natural turn.

--J