Well, yeah, it's OK to dance the quicks on 1 and 2, but it should feel a little funny. It's not technically wrong, but it doesn't really match the music as well as taking the quicks on 3 and 4. Our teachers called a few figures "off phrase figures" because they put your following figure on 3-12, away from the usual 1-34. They said the same thing, it's not *really* wrong, but it should feel a little odd. So you correct by doing another off phrase figure ASAP after the first. Or if you're doing open, you just mess with the figures (e.g., a Change of Direction can easily be held for an extra S to stay on phrase if you're not doing syllabus). If you're starting off phrase, I'd suggest taking your prep step as I was taught -- use a LF fwd step, quick, on 4. You can make it a slow starting on 3 if you like instead; I prefer a Q prep step in foxtrot though. That starts the feather step on the 1 and puts your initial two quicks on 3 and 4.

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James Marshall
marshall@astro.umd.edu
http://www.astro.umd.edu/~marshall