"On a crowded floor, or where for any reason, only a small step is practical, many dancers find it difficult articulate the ankle properly, and present the heel at all."

If the standing heel is on the floor as it should be when commencing a heel lead, then its a simple matter for the moving heel to end up there at any small step distance down to zero.

The likely problem is that the dancer is over-running their heel on the preceding step. They may be failing to lower or to do so soon enough, or they may be bringing the chest and shoulders forward generating a hunched, unstable posture. To fix this, they need to learn to lower without over running the standing heel, and to do so with the standing knee, thigh, and hip being the focus of forward energy rather than the upper body or moving leg.

And it should be understood that a small step is not (except in an emergency) a large step cut short. Instead it is a smaller action throught its development, with everything including the amount of preceding ankle/knee lowering proportionate to the intended distance, so that both partners are naturally in an arrival phase as the step arrives.

These are excellent posts and give me plenty of information to use to explain and advise. I encounter much of what SocialDancer cites in that post, and the explanations are very good.
My own instructor has pointed out to me that I fall into the trap of "bouncing" a little too much, especially in doing Fox Trots to Sinatra or Bobby Darin, etc., that tend to be "bouncy" in their sound. I worked to eliminate that because it really does look terrible. And now, after looking over these posts, I am thinking I was really just on the balls of my feet more than I should be... somewhat prancing at times, like jofj points out.

The operative word is " Skim "when using heel leads,and to make sure that when the weight is taken onto the supporting leg, it stabilises at the centre, and then continues to "roll fwd.




Get a prof to demonstrate the theoretical side of motion .

Terence, would a longer step or stride, change the thought on stabilizing at the center? What you say makes a lot of sense, but was wondering if the way you describe it changes at all, depending on length of step?

"was wondering if the way you describe it changes at all, depending on length of step?"

Now we can start to discuss the "power of the push" off the supporting leg, to control the length of step.

"Now we can start to discuss the "power of the push" off the supporting leg, to control the length of step"

I'm listening . . .

Of course not.. one has to be careful to not " overdance " a movement causing instability and lack of control.

Learning to " swing " the body at required speeds, and all the other technical aspects ( CBM, R and F, Turn etc. ) may take yrs to develop.

Make sure you have a teacher who can break down steps to their components . ANd, be PATIENT !

Always remember the Constant "3"

Muscular Control

Timing Control

Balance Control... Lose one, and you lose all 3 .






Muscular control

Timing control

Balance control

LOSE one, and you lose all 3..

The " Push " as you word it, is created thru compression from the Ball of the foot.. the release of that " energy ", should be in concert with its required need for the ensuing movement. "Power " needs control and is often "overpowering " !

Hi Terence2
I'm from an engineering background, which can be a bit of a curse when it comes to dancing which is an art form.
I think i know what you mean by uncontrolled power - i'm guilty of it myself . Power is the rate at which energy is generated. So if you increase the energy used in say, slow waltz, since the tempo is fixed, this must be accompanied by an increase in power (there's the engineering talking again).
One useful hint which my physio has told me: it's absolutely essential to engage the abdominal muscles properly when dancing. I'm doing this much more diligently since recently, and it improves balance and posture greatly. How to do this? well, this cost me money ! but here goes: stand tall. Take a very deep breath, making sure to keep shoulders relaxed. (this puts diaphragm and rib cage in correct position). Now pull in lower abs strongly (belly button to ribs etc). Now breath normally while dancing but HOLD abs.
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Keeping the abs tone is only half of the job; you also need to "tighten" your rear end (assuming that you weren't born that way ).

jj