"Thats right. The body moves from over the heel to the ball then the foot takes over."

The moving foot can't "take over" until it has found it's resting point on the floor. There's an awful lot of body movement that has to happen between the time when the body passes the standing toe, and the time when the moving foot has stopped moving and is ready to take weight. During that time, the body is supported ONLY by the standing foot, but PROJECTED PAST IT, INTO AN UNBALANCED, YET STILL SUPPORTED POSITON.

"Your last paragraph. Now you are talking my language. Its not very clever the way you have done an about turn on this. Why don't you just write I can see the error of my ways. Caused through floors not fit for dancing on. Most likely."

Quickstep, you silly fool, I haven't changed my position one bit! The problem is that you've been reading through a George Bush style "with me or against me" attitude. I didn't advocate habitually picking up the feet - I merely pointed out that doing so would not really have any severe consequences if you are dancing with proper movement technique. It would merely be inefficient - so abset a situation where it is necessary, there is no reason to do it.

Someone who could not stop doing it in a situation where it was unecessary clearly has problems in their dance action. Likewise, someone whose dance action would not work with the moving foot slightly raised also has FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS in their movement.

Now the foot is slightly raised. What is slightly raised. Is it the toe of the moving foot that is slightly raised leaving the heel in contact.
Even if you mistakenly lifted the ball from the floor the heel will most certainly make contact way before the full length of the stride is completed. But it would still be a mistake to let the ball leave the floor.
When you wrote that when we dropped out of the trees a million or so years ago. I think my lot came down before yours and are further forward on the evolutionary ladder. Mine learnt the the foot goes in front of the body. Yours kept falling off that cliff face on a dark night. Even when in a room that is dark and we know there are a few shoes laying about. How do we all walk. You are always very quick to say the natural way. Get the message. What is more natural. It is built in to our muscle memory.

"Now the foot is slightly raised. What is slightly raised."

No, you still are imagining things that have not been said!

I did not argue for raising the feet; I merely pointed out that raising the fee t (if there were a reason to do it) should not interfere with your movement technique.

"Mine learnt the the foot goes in front of the body."

No, you are failing to accurately describe the situations. The body goes ahead first; the foot passes it later.

Not when I walk across the room.

"Not when I walk across the room."

Probably even when YOU walk across the room.

Your body will certainly be projecting ahead of your standing foot into imbalance; you would have a small, or more likely very stop-and-go, silly looking walk if it wasn't.

And it is also likely that at the beginning of the projection your body is momentarily ahead of both feet, though that would be even more likely, and would occur to a much more obvious degree, if you softened your knees to the degree seen in dancing. At a high-in-the-legs altitude, these things are substantially less obvious.

The softening of the knees is dancing. We go from a straight knee, never rigid, which becomes a soft knee and flexes as our body arrives over that now standing foot which remains flexed so that we can use that stored up energy to drive the next step.
I think this is all reletive to the above.
When you wrote. Compression cannot be achieved whilst standing over the supporting foot and remain in a closed position, contact hold. The standing knee gets in the way.
This would appear to be the crux of your problem. If the lady is in the correct place which is to the man' s right side. And not square in front of him you will not be knee capping each other. If you are not able to bend your knees without knocking, something in the positioning of the lady is radically wrong and needs to be rectified. This applies to everybody and anybody. If you were to dance with a skilled professional or ametuer lady it would feel that they have no legs at all. A Ghost in a Dress are the words used and should be every ladies aim.
Also if you have a teacher who tries to make a couple have this strong conection at the hips level. Tell them they are wrong. The conection is much higher leaving the lower part clear. There is an example given which is You could swing a brick across down there and not touch a thing. To quote once again . The fifth conection point is.
The right area of the chest of each partner touches the other.
Today there is no mention of contact at the hips.
Next time you see a tape of a top competition. Look to see for yourself where the conection between the couples is. Look at it as you should all steps with an open mind, and not with some preconceived idea which may have been given to you. Where is the left hand. How far to the man' s right is the lady. Is the right arm more straight than bent. Are some straighter than others. Does this affect where the left hand is placed. Are the ladies eyes level with the horizon. No. How do we get that slant where the right eye is higher than the left and yet the head isn' t leaning over sideways. Is there a break at the hip line, No. Then how is it done. This should have gone under the heading of What my mother never told me.

"When you wrote. Compression cannot be achieved whilst standing over the supporting foot and remain in a closed position, contact hold. The standing knee gets in the way.
This would appear to be the crux of your problem. If the lady is in the correct place which is to the man' s right side. And not square in front of him you will not be knee capping each other."

The problem is not kneecap to kneecap, it is thigh to crotch.

To avoid putting your thigh into your partner's crotch, you are going to have to move the bodies nearly as far as the knees move.

If you watch any dancer of moderate skill or above, the body stays over the knee as the knee bends forward - the body DOES NOT STAY OVER THE FOOT, it projects beyond the foot.

the rest of your post was off topic garbage, based on the flawed premise of the opening

Your losing it pal. You said that compression cannot be achieved whilst standing over the supporting foot,and remain in a closed position, the knee gets in the way.
Contact is. The right area of the chest of each partner touches the other. Do that and your thighs will never meet or clash.
Here you go again. The body projects beyond the foot. So your head is ahead of your feet. I think that you are forgetting that your feet are a part of your body. So it is not possible to get the body ahead of the body. But it is possible to get the foot ahead of the rest of you. Could teacher have read into the book something that was never there in the first place. Have a good time figuring that one out.

"Do that and your thighs will never meet or clash."

Try learning to actually read what you are replying to before you make an idiot of yourself by arguing against something that was not said.

I did not say that the thighs would clash with each other, I said that the thigh would clash with the partner's crotch. That is specificially BECAUSE THERE IS AN OFFSET.

"Here you go again. The body projects beyond the foot. So your head is ahead of your feet. I think that you are forgetting that your feet are a part of your body."

Not in the dance meaning of the word "body" they are not.

Quit being intentinoally stupid - you do it enough without meaning to already.

You had better read as suggested pages 20 to 25. Regarding collision down below. Stand correctly and the lady wont even stroke your sporran