Jonathan. I don't wish to put you on the spot answering this. And maybe there is no answere.
Printed from the Dance News Vol. 1750 Jan 10. 2002
Harry Smith -Hampshire asked and never gave the answer.
As a question to ask a candidate being examined for an Adjudicating Licence he asked
"The third step of the man's Feather Step is given as a TH in the technique books. Describe the exact positioning of the moving leg at the moment the Heel of the supporting leg should touch the floor. This type of question would throw light on the candidates understanding of the priciple of controlled lowering ".
As we all know on the first step of the Feather at the extent of the stride the foot lowers to the floor imediately. So if we lower the third step of the Feather imediately.
I can do that. But what would happen to the ladies steps on a Feather Finish on a Reverse Turn or a Weave if I lowered imediately.
Alex Moore apears to have left this high and dry. Unless it is intended that the lowering only occures as the foot is passing and didn't think it needed detailing. Best Wishes.

""The third step of the man's Feather Step is given as a TH in the technique books. Describe the exact positioning of the moving leg at the moment the Heel of the supporting leg should touch the floor. This type of question would throw light on the candidates understanding of the priciple of controlled lowering ". "

The correct answer for the examination is simple: whaveter the examiner is known to want to hear! And this will be known to the candidate, because you can't even schedule an exam without training by a recognized preperation teacher, who of course will know the answers expected by the locally available examiner.

As for the RIGHT answer: The heel will have to lower before the moving foot passes it. If it remained up until the moving foot was passing it, then the lowering would have to be abruptly vertical instead of the nice gradual diagonal, leisurely in both the horizontal and vertical direction, that we actually see on all of the best dancers.

Further, if someone is dancing with modern dynamics and making lots of usage of their knees, then the time at which the standing heel touches down is nowhere near the bottom of the lowering. In fact it isn't even to the halfway point of the lowering yet. The lowest point of the body will not of course be reached until somewhere beyond the position of the third foot placement, but the body would need to be more than halfway down as it passed over that foot. Otherwise you risk failing to ever get the heel down at all.

Some teachers will ask a student to dance for a while by arriving over the foot and only then lowering, but this is an EXERCISE and not the practice in actual dancing. The idea is that doing this will build strength in the foot - strength that would then (if the student reaches the point of being ready) be applied to extending the lowering in space as well as time. If someone tries to create the "real" action from day one, there is a very real risk that they will simply crash down without any control.

As for the lady, the backwards action there has basically the same timing as the forwards.

Incidentally, whatever Jonathan's "words" answer turns out to be, his "facts" answer is readily seen on his feather video. He gets that heel down before the moving foot has really moved much towards closing at all, and as a result generates a very nice lowering, that is controlled, artistic, and a great preperation for whatever would come next.

i also get the heel down too early. That doesn' t make it right.
So now we go to a Feather Finish in a Reverse Turn. Is the lady happy with that early lowering. She has a TH on which she has to turn. She also has turn on step four as well as five which is the TH . If the man lowers early are the ladies feet on the right alignment. Is it correct to do so.

"i also get the heel down too early. That doesn' t make it right."

If it actually were too early, you might have a point. But it's not "too early" rather it is exactly as it needs to be in order to sustain a smooth descent while maintaining travel. Tryin to keep the heel up until you pass over the foot is going to make your descent ugly and uneven - unless perhaps, as in days of old or social dancing today, you aren't going to descend very far anyway.

"So now we go to a Feather Finish in a Reverse Turn. Is the lady happy with that early lowering. She has a TH on which she has to turn."

We are talking about step 6. The lady turns her foot between steps 5 and 6. By the time her heel is lowering, the turn of her foot should be essentially finished.

Not that it's hard to continue the turn as you lower and roll through the heel - the lady will of course be doing that on her step 5. Or it occurs to a much larger degree in the man's action of a traditional slip pivot (which has TH footwork on the standing foot)

The lady turns over her left foot and the RF to complete the turn. The body should be backing the wall on five the foot should continue turning on six to backing diagnal to the wall.
Failure to turn the foot naturaly on four would result in an ugly foot position with both toes turned in. This is not Tango.
The man is on the inside of the turn . With the CBMP on the sixth step he should already be over his LF with an easy lowering as as he moves to his RF and lowers.
A lot of this move depends on the alignment of the bodies on step five. It is supposed to be Facing Wall for the man and Backing for the lady. If the man overturns and is diagnal to the wall on five it doesn't give the lady a chance to do her step correctly. She has the farthest to go.
Where did the Traditional Slip Pivot come from.
Tell me if I am wrong. But about two years ago. There was a directive from the contolling body about how that step four should be done in the Reverse Turn. It was about the time that the other steps in the V .Waltz were introduced. I'm pretty sure they said some kind of swivell had crept in and they wanted it out. This was after the new technique book was printed.