""If you were to put your weight directly from 4 to the 5 side you have not got your flat foot of the floor at the end of step four."

If you think that the man's foot should be flat on the floor at any point in step 4 of a reverse turn, you need serious help!"

I should revise that - the key point is that the foot will not be flat at the point when weight transfer occurs - weight will already be in the standing toe. Regardless if you move properly, which is to say with no duration of divided weight, or if you move improperly, smearing this out in indecision, the standing foot must not be flat when it happens.

Anonymous. I wrote that you have NOT got your flat foot OFF the floor. You've had this belief that the body is never midway between the two feet for months. So will you explain again exactly what you believe happens on a Reverse Turn in the Foxtrot steps 4 5 to 6. Do you disagree with the technique book which says the body on step five should be facing wall. 6th step CBMP Diagnal to wall. I think it is how a person wishes at any given moment to to interpret that particular step depending what comes next. If I wished to do a Reverse Wave the step might alter from if it was to be a Three Step or a Curving Three Step. Having written all of that I still believe that the second hand on a clock starting on 12 will pass 6 before it reaches twelve again. You seem to have trouble believing that the body at some time will be dead centre with split weight..

I never recommended putting the foot flat in this figure! You invented that assumption all by yourself, but I'm glad we agree that the foot should not stay flat.

"You seem to have trouble believing that the body at some time will be dead centre with split weight.. "

Dead center at some time, yes, but not split weight at any point.

And even if you do chose to do split weight for a period brief enough not to interrupt the flow, it would almost certainly not coincide with the time when the body passes through dead center.

Anonymous. Well at last you have admitted that there is a mid- point between two steps. All we have to do now is find out if you put your foot to the floor on a step to the side, which just for the record is on two toes and not one foot flat. If you step to the side with one foot clear off the floor. There is no mid - point. We need both feet on the floor otherwise there is no way of knowing where the centre is. This I believe is where you have got it wrong. Didn't you write that the weight is never equally distributed between two feet.

"Anonymous. Well at last you have admitted that there is a mid- point between two steps."

Of course there is a midpoint. The dispute has always been about what happens there. Some things commonly claimed should not. Other things should happen, but not at the same time. So it's not really one midpoint - but several, one for each of the non-coincident actions.

"All we have to do now is find out if you put your foot to the floor on a step to the side, which just for the record is on two toes and not one foot flat."

I don't know why you keep obsessing over the issue of flat feet - no one has recommended having the foot flat here, so why do you make such an issue of correcting a mistaken claim that no one has made?

"We need both feet on the floor otherwise there is no way of knowing where the centre is. This I believe is where you have got it wrong. Didn't you write that the weight is never equally distributed between two feet."

I see I must yet again point out that you are still ignoring the differnce between having a foot on the floor and having weight on it...

Go back and look - I didn't say the foot should be off the floor, I said that only one foot should have weight at a time. If you can't keep track of the difference between position and pressure, you have no business discussing the subject.

Anonymous. Why don't you simply say that if I stand with my feet apart balanced. I can't move either foot off the floor untill I move my weight from the centre to one side or the other. Is that right.

"Why don't you simply say that if I stand with my feet apart balanced. I can't move either foot off the floor untill I move my weight from the centre to one side or the other. Is that right. "

While true, I wouldn't say that because it is of next to zero relevance to any dance action other than certain lines like a contra check.

First, why would you want to move a foot "off" the floor anyway, exception a high ronde action?

Second, if you 'balance' yourself by putting your weight between two points, then you are dancing beginner latin, and not dancing standard at all. Standard does not use that kind of stability - it uses balance and imbalance relative to a single supporting point. Which means that to control your movement, you must learn to aim it properly ahead of time - you can't just put your weight between your feet and then push from one or the other to correct your mistaken aim, you must send it right from the first time. Because you only have a tiny area of support - a fraction of the print of one foot, you can only apply quite small forces to counteract any error in aim, so your aim must be nearly perfect in the standard dances.

Or you can cheat and put your weight on both feet, and look heavy.

Your choice.

Anonymous. When I wrote about having the feet apart and the weight being passed from one side to the other I had in mind 4 5 6 of a Reverse Turn Foxtrot. And being balanced on 5 before I place 6.

"Anonymous. When I wrote about having the feet apart and the weight being passed from one side to the other I had in mind 4 5 6 of a Reverse Turn Foxtrot. And being balanced on 5 before I place 6. "

That would be a serious mistake!

You do not "place 6". You body moves through five, from being unbalanced short of it, right through being balanced over it, and on into being unbalanced beyond it. During that time, the free foot swings across the body a small distance, but also moves a quite large distance, as it is being carried along with the body.

If you just look at a plain feather on a good English-type champion, you will see that the 2nd quick is about 2/3 the size of the first. On a student who did not sustain body movement and merely swung the foot across the body, it would of course have to be much, much, much smaller. But on a champion who moves the body a lot during this step, plus the foot across the body, the end result is a lot of travel. And only for the briefest instant at the peak of rise with the body over the left foot is it in balance - the rest of the time it is not. Watch video of someone like Hawkins frame by frame and you will see.

Anonymous. I will have a look at that sixth step on video. At the moment I beleive the RF on step six has already travelled a fair distance fom its position at the end of four to its final resting place on six,. Must remember we are still facing the wall as that foot is placed across the body in CBMP on six. In the book. The sixth step should be placed slightly across the body. What exactly does that mean to you. It has to be of a predetermined length depending on step five. I was always told that to go for any kind of length on step six will kill the CBMP and will not allow me to drive on the next heel lead. Thus losing light and shade.