David, thank you for your timely reply, as I'm about to go practice it tonight; I do look forward to what Johnathan may insightfully share. May I say with compassion that the social politics of a divisive local dance community make asking such questions in a plain manner difficult, and there is the omnipresent fear of annoying the only 2 excellent International instructors available in the area (same studio), who can be very capricious at times & refuse to work with you arbitrarily, cutting you off from your only source of real expertise. Not the nicest commentary about access to the best training, but I'd rather not dwell on what I can't change, as a student with very high aspirations but limited funds & mobility, totally dependent upon these people's whims. I mention it to underscore that this site is a godsend at such times.
As far as the FT movement goes, after dancing it wrongly for only 2 months, I found it relatively easy to acquire the correct timing in just one group session where it was taught by simply walking it up/down floor in both directions to "collect-2-3-4." Actually, I found the "version #1" to feel more like hobbling down the floor like a lame horse (grin), and the timing you verify to feel far smoother, though I still am unsure if it applies to all the other moves (Bronze, for the sake of simplicity here). It seems fairly obvious to me that in a COD or Nat Turn 4-6, things may be different(?). First step of Nat Weave? I don't know where to find the book you recommend, but would like to get it, as a check against what I'm taught, though I know no one can really learn this dance without real trained coaching in privates with the right people (scarce, inaccessible, overbooked or aloof in my area).
I well know how hard it is to change learned movement once improperly acquired, from the painful experience of having to learn the "swinging" dances all over again from scratch after 2 years of work & other instruction, and still revert to old acquired habits if I don't practice correctly at least twice a week. I believe it is FAR cheaper to learn correct movement at the outset from experts, regardless of the price, and seek to avoid any further pitfalls in this regard. As a dancer I agree with Johnathan's statement elsewhere, that real technique is the same for I or Am, soc or comp, and that it is only their real-world social application that differs situationally. For example, I can use the very same waltz techniques, but far less aggressively, with a 75-yr-old lady on a social floor, and she just slides less on her side of the dance than I do & loves it. She doesn't know if it's Am or Int'l, and doesn't care either, as long as she is well-lead within her ability & having fun. And many ladies can be well-lead through many moves socially they would think they cannot do, if they are just kept in proper dance position without force & are relaxed. Often, the fewer lessons & less patternwork they have had, the better they can dance & follow trained movement(!). I've seen this over & over again as a single social dancer, and it's almost scary.
Many locally characterize I-FT as useless socially. I feel that when the lady can do heel turns comfortably, and enough moves are known for reasonable floorcraft, it is one of the most beautiful things a man & woman can do on the social floor when it's shaped well by the leader, and I feel it's very leadable - but what do I know? Even just a pattern of 3-steps & Nat weaves down the whole long side of the floor can look & feel very sweet.
I'm in a makeshift situation of learning from 2 studios - one who imparts patternwork very well & efficiently, and the other who is all technique, but may take months to impart enough basic moves to be able to go dance & practice in real life. This is both the best & worst of both worlds, and requires constant vigilance on my part to make sure I'm properly on track as I go along. If I stayed only with studio A, I'd be doing a lot of dancing that I'd have to painfully relearn later. If I stayed only with studio B, it would take me 5 years to get to I-Gold in standard, if they stay in business this long(arrggh) or even permit us "unwashed strugglers", who scrimp to have the best & want to work hard at accomplished movement for the love of it, any access to privates with their best trainers(double arrgghh). I wish I could move to where there is this kind of top excellence without the attitudes (dream). There are times when thick social politics & arbitrary pecking order in available studios make some of us highly-motivated people think of quitting highly-accomplished ballroom as a masochistic undertaking that we are lucky to be granted any opportunity to submit ourselves to.
Thx the read & thx your kind post.
