Quite correct.. there are NO heel leads in Bolero( intentionally danced ! ).

If there are, then Ive been Examining, dancing and teaching it for 0ver 50 yrs incorrectly !!

While the latin and rhythm dances primarily step forward onto the ball of foot, in standard and smooth most initial forward steps (and a few second ones) are onto the heel, as in normal walking.

There are three major ways in which this can fail.

Most obviously, the dancer can step onto the ball of foot and skip the heel.

Another possibility is that they present the heel too early in the step, usually be swinging the leg by itself without moving the body. Just as in normal walking where the body and leg are both in motion, in a well done heel lead, most of the travel of the leg occurs with the ball of foot closest to the floor, and the heel is only presented just before the foot reaches its final position.

Finally there's the fault of stepping onto a heel, but clunking down too heavily onto it. This can be the hardest to overcome (at modern competitive step sizes) as arriving "quietly" requires perfect coordination and the strength to continue to generate upwards and forwards support from the departing foot even when the body has moved far beyond it and is about to arrive onto the moving foot.

I find most beginner men are paranoid about treading on their partner's feet. They try to avoid this by sliding their feet along with the toe in contact with the floor, and stopping if they touch anything. Alternatively, they dance like John Wayne, keeping their feet outside their partner's on both sides.
I tell them that it is the lady's responsibility to keep her feet out of the way.

I then explain that if the lady stretches back with her toe, then there is no way the man can tread on it.

It still takes a while before they believe me though.

Length of stride also makes a difference. It's quite difficult to take a long stride forward using anything other than a heel lead.

For many dancers the converse is true also.

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

"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 . . .