It's interesting to compare Pino & Alessandria's basic timing with that of past Blackpool champion Sinkinson's. Pino"s slows & quicks are easy to see but Sinkinson's seems to dance all steps at the same speed with a continues flow.

cdroge. Both Andrew and Pino would be both on time and in phrase. Look for the quicks. Are they not right on the button. If you watched Andrews last Foxtot as a solo at Blackpool you will find he danced to an incredibly slow tempo.I'm pretty sure it was the 75th Blackpool Championships.

"cdroge. Both Andrew and Pino would be both on time and in phrase."

yes, but that means something different in each case.

"Look for the quicks. Are they not right on the button."

In fact, they are not. In Sinkinson's case, he does not dance the quicks of SQQ by stepping on them! Instead, as cdroge observed, he moves in a more continuous manner through the entire sequence. As has been posted here in the past, the measured intervals between his footfalls for a SQQ group do not match the beat intervals, because his dancing is timed in the body movement, not in the feet.

Anymouse,What should one look for in the movement of his body on a slow. I feel that he is swinging his legs at one speed through the whole bar of music. The placement of the feet seem to be at a constant timing of ",1,1,1,1,1,1,1. Cheers

Cdroge wrote:

"The placement of the feet seem to be at a constant timing of ",1,1,1,1,1,1,1. Cheers"

To a first approximation it looks like that, and on merely "good" dancers the foot timing may be fairly equally spaced. But when you measure the intervals between the step landings on someone who can draw the last quick out as much as Sinkinson famously could,you find that the time interval between the footfalls of last two quicks is the largest of the sequence, about one and three quarter beats, vs. the one and a third of equal distribution or the slightly more than one and a half beats of most other top dancers.

To get these measurements accurately, you have to go through a video counting the frames one at a time and work that as a fraction of the total frames in a SQQ grouping - you can't simply count while watching and expect an accurate answer. The measured timing turns out to be quite consistent over many measures of different SQQ figures.

It's a worthwile experiment to do this for videos of the various greats, then for video of yourself.

Anymouse, is that not the same as saying that the longest time span is from the first to the second quick.

To Anybody. Sometimes it is easier to go to a different dance to understand what can happen. If I am about to step forward on my LF for a Rumba Basic Walk. If I hold the beat one for as long as is possible and a bit longer. In the case of the Rumba the body is moving but not the foot. Then the LF will move at speed and still arrive right on the beat. I have taken as long as it is possible between beat one and beat two. Others may be slower. we are both in time with the music. This is why the movements seem faster today than yesterday and yet the music is slower . Its come down from around 29bpm to around 25bpm.But appears to be faster moving. The reason for the shift in timing is to allow more movement of the hips. The above formular can be used in any dance. Myself I always in the Foxtrot look at those quicks and see if they are on the beat. If you look for yourself you may see it also . But first have no preconceived ideas in your head of what you think you should see.Just see what is there.
Whilst I have your attention I would once again draw you towards " Google Marcus Hilton youtube". and find The Basic Foxtrot. Let it play right through. There are three following each other. The third one is counting without music If anybody can find a place where Marcus does not place his quicks right on the button then tell me.
If anyone has difficulty finding those exact videos of Marcus Hilton. Before I added them to my favourites I had to go through three proceedures to get to where I wanted to be. I would be pleased to direct anyone to that correct place.

Cdroge,

"Anymouse, is that not the same as saying that the longest time span is from the first to the second quick."

No, the longest interval is from the second quick to the slow, or more precisely between the footfalls corresponding to those steps.

posted in error, see below

"Anymouse, is that not the same as saying that the longest time span is from the first to the second quick."

Strictly speaking, what was determined was that the time interval between the footfalls associated with the final two quicks is the longest duration. But steps official endure between points of feet passing, not between foot falls.