"Any step going backwards was the question ."

As the answer is a bit different in each case, you are going to have to specifcy WHAT POINT in WHAT STEP before I can give you an answer.

"Now to the pauses which we can call balance points."

Why are you equating pauses and balance points?

"To you a pause obviously means both feet as well as the body coming to a stand still. But do you realise that at the extent of the stride going backwards or forwards the foot will come to a stand still and will remain untill the other foot then becomes the standing foot."

To me a pause would most importantly mean a pause in the progress of the body - something GENERALLY IMPERMISSABLE in a lowered position, checking actions excepted.

Obviously there are many times when one or both feet will be stationry (or at least, some part of the foot will be) while the body moves. I would not call those pauses.

"But back to the question once again. In the Foxtrot Feather or Three Step. At the full extention of the ladies stride ."

WHICH STEP OF THE FEATHER? OR DO YOU WANT A STEP FROM THE THREE STEP?

You have to learn that it's different in each case!

Also - what is the full extent of the stride - the point when the moving foot is furthest from the body, or the point when the feet are furthest apart?

You can't ask technically detailed questions without putting a lot of though into the precise question. Otherwise any answer is GARBAGE!

Take your pick . The introduction or any of the Feather step including the first step into the Reverse. Or the mans third step or the fourth or any step going backwards by the man or the lady. You have a pause on your machine. I can see the man's body weight behind the front in particular the third step of the Feather The tape is from Russia and the couple I am looking at are Feriggio and Kohler. At no time can I pick that the mans weight is visibly in front of the front foot..
But back to the question. Where is the ladies weight at the full extent of her stride and what part of the foot is in contact with the floor at that time. You might like to comment on the angle of the thigh to the knee on both couples on every step not including the third step. I don't think anybody could write any clearer than that.
On the same tape there is a good look at the feet of Soale where the camera stays for a while on the feet only. Well worth studying.

"Take your pick ."

Your question, you pick, and be SPECIFIC. Or don't expect an answer.

"The introduction or any of the Feather step including the first step into the Reverse. Or the mans third step or the fourth or any step going backwards by the man or the lady."

You aren't being specific. Your problem is that you remain in GROSS IGNORANCE of the CRITICAL DIFFERENCES between each of these actions - so ignorant in fact that you basically deny that there is a difference... quick comically really. So please, keep us entertained.

"You have a pause on your machine. I can see the man's body weight behind the front in particular the third step of the Feather"

Look at the start of the third step, as the feet pass, and you will see that it's slightly in front of both feet. Obiously it would be the start of the step, not the end, where this is true.

"But back to the question. Where is the ladies weight at the full extent of her stride and what part of the foot is in contact with the floor at that time."

In WHICH SPECIFIC STEP?

And what do you mean by the extent of stride - when her feet are furthest apart, or when her moving foot is furthest from her body?

You still haven't learned to ask a question that merits an answer. In short, your remain IGNORANT OF THE MAGNITUDE OF YOUR IGNORANCE!

Answere the question. When the man or the lady has the rear foot as far away from the front foot as is practical, this is North to South simular to a splitz. Which part of the foot is on the floor and where is the body weight.
Your getting a bit like an Angel with one wing flying around in circles aren't you.
To put it in a more simple way.What do you see when the dancer is going straight backwards. What part of the foot is touching the floor. They have swung their right or left leg back from the hips first with the ball of the foot skimming the floor and then the ----- You fill in the answer. What is more important is where is the weight as ------ skims the floor. This is not your weight I already know where that is. This is as seen on a tape, instruction or competition.

"Answere the question. When the man or the lady has the rear foot as far away from the front foot as is practical, this is North to South simular to a splitz. Which part of the foot is on the floor and where is the body weight."

DURING WHAT SPECIFIC STEP?????

"To put it in a more simple way.What do you see when the dancer is going straight backwards. What part of the foot is touching the floor. They have swung their right or left leg back from the hips first with the ball of the foot skimming the floor and then the ----- You fill in the answer."

DURING WHAT SPECIFIC STEP??????

"What is more important is where is the weight as ------ skims the floor. This is not your weight I already know where that is. This is as seen on a tape, instruction or competition."

DURING WHAT SPECIFIC STEP???????


In your GROSS IGNORANCE you pretend they are all the same BUT THEY ARE DIFFERENT!

OK. You are completely stuck. Without changing most of what you have said. you can not say that Feriggio's partner Kohler, her foot isn't as far back behind her onto the tip of the toe, just about as far as it is possible to go. Her weight is forward towards her partner. The thigh of the supporting leg is very low to the floor. This is on every step backwards on the solo part of the competition in the Foxtrot from Russia which are the steps under discusion.
Different subject. You said . You cannot stay over the ball of the foot and also be moving. This is where you need to think a bit harder. You seem to think that we have two stationary feet. Dont you think that the weight shifts , or we dance from one foot to the other. Think of this. We have a table tennis ball on a train travelling at a 100k's. We drop the ball onto the table. it bounces straight up and down hitting the table twice in the same spot one second apart. What is really happening is it is bouncing some forty meters apart.
I will repeat again my original statement and add to it.. That only a complete idiot would try to instruct a beginner to send the body in front of the front moving foot and fall onto the next step. Your exact words on 10 17 06 You should fall past your standing foot. For the lady you wrote that you insist on it when I asked what happens to the lady at this point of imbalance. I take it that means falling past her front leg to her rear. I ask you again . Do you really believe you should be writting like that when people who are comparative learners are maybe reading .

"OK. You are completely stuck. Without changing most of what you have said. you can not say that Feriggio's partner Kohler, her foot isn't as far back behind her onto the tip of the toe, just about as far as it is possible to go."

And there is the issue - how far it is possible to go VARIES DEPENDING ON THE SPECIFIC STEP BEING PERFORMED!

There is no one stock answer for all backwards TH steps. Notice how different the forward's partner's action is throughout a feather! The backwards partner's action will also be as different - though the foot will do TH in each step, is is a very differnet meaning of TH in each case!

"Her weight is forward towards her partner."

Towards her partner, yes. But her weight must be MOVING BACKWARDS - if it is not, then she must be STADNING STILL AND NOT MOVING.

"You said . You cannot stay over the ball of the foot and also be moving. This is where you need to think a bit harder."

No, its where you need to wake up and smell the obvious. You can't move your body without moving your body! And if you move it, it's no longer going to be over your foot.

"You seem to think that we have two stationary feet."

That does not follow at all. But you are forgetting that the STANDING FOOT is forced to be stationary. It can articulate, but it can't move. As a result, a moving body will have to pass beyond it - or stop moving.

"We have a table tennis ball on a train travelling at a 100k's. We drop the ball onto the table. it bounces straight up and down hitting the table twice in the same spot one second apart. What is really happening is it is bouncing some forty meters apart."

Yes, but unlike your foot, the table is moving. If you wish to dance your feaether step while standing on a skateboard you can keep your body over your standing foot. But if you wish to do it while dancing on the floor, you CANNOT.

"That only a complete idiot would try to instruct a beginner to send the body in front of the front moving foot and fall onto the next step."

There's the problem - you are still thinking about dance as a beginner would. Time to grow up and get serious, time to learn the real story.

"I take it that means falling past her front leg to her rear."

At the appropriate time in the action, yes. Only the aim must take her not only onto the foot, but smoothly through it.

"I ask you again . Do you really believe you should be writting like that when people who are comparative learners are maybe reading ."

I am writing about the truth. If you are not ready to handle it, that is your problem. One should probably not be trying to teach foxtrot to a beginner anyway, as they will not have the physical strength yet to learn to dance it in a way that will build good habits. If they were to attempt it at all, they would either be off time, or have lots of pauses in the movement. In fact, that sounds very familiar - your problems is that you've been taught bad habits as might enable a beginner to fake foxtrot - but you've never actually learned to do the dance right!

You must SUSTAIN THE MOVEMENT. And for that you will need much stronger feet.

Just paragraph three. At the same time that the lady is to the tip of her toe with her rear foot so is the man. The step on the introduction is no different in style to the very next step which is the first of the Feather Step. If there is a difference it is because the lady in her set up is, the word commonly used is, Offset. Which means out of line. We are very rarely dead square with each other if ever. I have checked the same backward step for both the man and the lady in the Foxtrot , Waltz and the V. Waltz. There is no appreciable difference, in fact if paused and played frame by frame in both the Waltz or Foxtrot on that particular step you wouldn't know which was which.
The pin pong ball No matter hard it tries it will not get ahead of its first bounce . Surely our feet are our table in this illistration.
And to finish like the ping pong ball I cannot see on any frame where the person going forward their weight is in front of their foot. And most definitely not the lady. So I would suggest that like myself. Do not comment unless you have checked. Try on this site,

"Just paragraph three. At the same time that the lady is to the tip of her toe with her rear foot so is the man."

ABSOLUTELY WRONG!

The lady's maximum extension to her toe will actually be quite early in her stride, when her extension is mostly from below the knee and her foot is more or less perpendicular to the floor. This will mean it is the end, or even top of her toe that contact the floor.
As she extends more into her step, her point of contact will move down onto the ball of the moving foot.

As she's doing this, the man's foot is fairly flat, with the ball of the foot closest to or one the floor. At the extreme of his stride, his toe will come up exposing the heel. Nowhere in the step is his toe in contact with the floor.

"The step on the introduction is no different in style to the very next step which is the first of the Feather Step."

Gross ignorance. I'd expect better from the newest beginner! Remember, there is RISE and UPWSING, even for the lady - she has no foot rise, but that means no rise in the feet, it does not mean no rise or swing - she must definitely HAVE BOTH. Only an idiot could try to claim that there is no difference between the prep step and step one... really, get a CLUE.

"There is no appreciable difference, in fact if paused and played frame by frame in both the Waltz or Foxtrot on that particular step you wouldn't know which was which."

WRONG. Loook at the articulation of the feet. Look at the straightness of the legs. Look at the angle of the body. Look at the size of the step. There are numerous clues as to the class of action being performed. Now, maybe you can't tell a telemark in waltz from one in foxtrot, but you should definintely be able to tell in a picture midway through step one if the figure is going to be a heel turn, a waltz closure turn, an open turn, etc. If not, either the dancers are bad or you have not yet learned to pay attention to the critical nuances that make these all so different.

"And to finish like the ping pong ball I cannot see on any frame where the person going forward their weight is in front of their foot."

Well you just have to learn to look more carefully then. Try the beginning of step three for Jonathan's feather step video, or almost anybody preparing to step out in promenade from an open telemark.

Look again. The mans rear foot goes right to the toe from the ball of the foot. The ladies toe is first a ball and then right to the tip of the toe at the extent of the stride. This would be beyond most of us and is probably acquired through an indeterminate amount of training. But we can but try. Who said anything about telemarks. I thought you wanted a specific step.I have given you two. You can add the first of the Heel Turn to the list. You don't expect the third step of the Reverse for the man to have the same stride as the following forth step step, but it is still a very pointed toe and lower coming from a toe on the right foot.
Why not look at the introduction and the first and second of the Feather or the first into the Reverse. Then tell me the man' s body is in front of his foot. You chose a bad example with an open Telemark as we all know there is sway on two that brings the weight to the side don't you agree