"Not if your moving foot passes your standing foot and only then when the heel of the moving foot is level with the toe of standing foot will your heel of that standing foot begin to leave the floor. Try that with your body in front of the feet."

Doing exactly what you have just described, the body will indeed be a few cm in front of the feet when they pass.

OR at least it would be unless you PURPOSEFULLY HOLD YOUR BODY BACK.

If you fail to use any standing leg action, which is to say fail to PROJECT YOUR BODY, then it might not be. But in that case, you'd look rather silly anyway, reaching your foot out while your body goes nowhere.

What do your think it means to DRIVE FROM THE STANDING LEG, anyway??

Answer: it means that your standing leg DRIVES THE BODY AWAY FROM IT. If it's driving the body away from it, then rather obviously the body will no longer be over the standing leg. The weight will still be ON the standing leg, but the body will be PAST the standing leg.

"Something more to think about.When this former Blackpool Champion told you to get your weight in front of the foot. Are you sure you know which foot he was talking about."

Yes - because he was talking about BOTH of them. And then he demonstrated, projecting his body AHEAD OF BOTH FEET.

If your teacher actually got to a position forward of the body he must have had a straight leg. What has happened to the compression. The only other way is not to have had a stright leg at the end of the stride in the first place. You've been very quiet about the straight leg at the extent of the sride just lately. Have you found out it is a neccesary part of the correct technique.
If you find you are falling forward over a straight leg, then that is where your problem lies. This does not comply with the correct technique as laid down in the technique books. If you have any writtings that say any different, then feel at liberty to write and tell me. If you can't I would suggest you shut up. Change your technique and consiquently become a better dancer. This includes keeping in contact with the floor, keeping the feet straight, turning or rising at the end of the step only. Stay on the supporting step longer. Use all of the foot front to back. And listen to the music, it is your master. In degrees of importance music is right at the top.
To go back to the beginning. If you are on a straight uncompressed supporting knee as your moving foot arrives then you are wrong. The knee should not be straight. If you are a Social dancer don't worry this is not for you.
What we are discussing is the correct technique as laid down in the books which you should know if you wish to do well in competitions. Question after a Progressive Chasse what is the correct alignment for the Lock Step in the Quickstep..I ask this because this is one of the most miligned steps, and its only an absolute beginners step.

"If your teacher actually got to a position forward of the body he must have had a straight leg. "

Who said anything about a position "FORWARD OF THE BODY" ?

What does that mean anyway?

The teacher in question demonstrated how you should move through a point where the BODY IS AHEAD OF THE FEET. As he did this, his KNEES WERE BENT.

You've said it again. He projected his body ahead of his feet.
You have written that the teacher in question demonstrated how you should move through a point WHERE THE BODY IS AHEAD OF THE FEET. As he did this his knees were bent. Are you sure he wasn't over his knees standing verticle in a balanced position. His knees being the most forward of himself. That is where we will all ultimately arrive. We have to as we progress forward. We will move through every inch between one step and the other which includes midpoint. I think all your teacher was trying to show you was that your foot will not move with out your body. And you got it all wrong the next day by moving the body without the feet.

"You have written that the teacher in question demonstrated how you should move through a point WHERE THE BODY IS AHEAD OF THE FEET. As he did this his knees were bent. Are you sure he wasn't over his knees standing verticle in a balanced position."

He was vertical over his knees, but

THE KNEES (and thus the body) WERE ENTIRELY FORWARD OF BOTH FEET.

It was not a balanced position. In fact, he asked me to hold him up so that he could stay in a position which you can ordinarily only move through - because it is in fact unbalanced.

"His knees being the most forward of himself. That is where we will all ultimately arrive. We have to as we progress forward."

Progressing forwards means progressing the BODY. The knees will move to enable that, but sticking your knee out while keeping your body balanced over your foot IS NOT PROGRESSION. It's just bad dancing!

"And you got it all wrong the next day by moving the body without the feet."

Moving the body without the feet is PRECISLY WHAT WAS BEING DEMONSTRATED.
Granted, that is only a brief phase of the action - soon the feet will be moving to. But it is an IMPORTANT PHASE and this teacher was taking the time to point out its characteristics.

As it is written. There is nothing wrong with having the feet well ahead of the body so long as they don't move too quickly into position. If you stay approximately half way between your feet, and never allow the foot to move without the body you will be reasonably close to correct. The moving foot gets out ahead of the body observing the rules as above. This will in no way contradict the technique book.

"If you stay approximately half way between your feet, and never allow the foot to move without the body you will be reasonably close to correct."

If you do that, then obviously your body will have traveled beyond your standing foot long before your moving foot has reached its position and become ready to receive any body weight. Which is to say, you will have PROJECTED YOUR BODY PAST YOUR ONLY SUPPORTING FOOT, INTO IMBALANCE.

"The moving foot gets out ahead of the body observing the rules as above. This will in no way contradict the technique book."

The technique book is quite clear that the body starts moving BEFORE THE FOOT DOES. That means that early in the action, the body will be ahead of the foot (and this is precisely what this famous teacher was demonstrating). Only once the action is well underway will the moving foot get ahead of the body.

Try this . With the knee flexed ready to move. Quote.
Begin moving your foot and your body forward. . For every 2- 3 inches the foot is in motion count 1 2 3. See if you can get to all the way to 10 before the foot takes weight and has to stop moving
There is one stipulation though. You cannot count if the foot is moving by its self. Your count must start when the body starts moving forward and must stop when the foot takes weight. The test is how long can you keep your moving foot in motion. Also do this exercise on forward steps, back steps. and from a forward steps from the Toes
TH. And back steps from the Toes. End of Quote.
Phil. You wrote 2/26/2004 that you were going to print this and practise. Did you or is it forgotten.

"Begin moving your foot and your body forward. . For every 2- 3 inches the foot is in motion count 1 2 3. See if you can get to all the way to 10 before the foot takes weight and has to stop moving. There is one stipulation though. You cannot count if the foot is moving by its self. Your count must start when the body starts moving forward and must stop when the foot takes weight. The test is how long can you keep your moving foot in motion."

It you obey the stipulation - which is to say, if you keep your body moving, it will soon be projecting into imbalance because it will soon have travelled quite a bit more than the short length of the standing foot. The degree to which you can keep the step going, and avoid landing on the moving foot sooner than intended, then depends on three things;

1) How much you drive from the standing leg. Drive can keep your body up (or at least upright in a good vertical posture), though only in concert with accelerating your movement, because you are supporting the body in an unbalanced position.

2) How strong your standing toes are. The stronger your toes, the more forward in your foot you can put your point of support, and thus the more you can move your body forwards before you even start to go off balance.

3) How LATE you bring your moving foot through. The moving leg weighs quite a bit. Even with the foot on the floor, having it out in front of your body would cause you to go into imablance sooner. But if it does not pass your body until the movement is well established, you can delay the point when the leg itself causes you to have to put weight on it.

It should be noted that a lot of students first given such an exercise will hold their hips back to retain balance as they "move" their shoulders forward, and claim that this contstitutes moving their body. Given how horrible such hunching forwards makes things for a partner, it's clear that it doesn't. To be moving, you must be moving your hips and center, and that will very soon mean that they are no longer over your standing foot. It's the ability to keep extending a step after it reaches the point of imblance which seperates the large and full travel of champions from more casual dancers.

I will argue that you should not use the word imbalanced . If I am a trained dancer I will not be imbalanced unless my moving foot has no contact with the floor. This is not going to happen therefore i am balanced at all times . This is copied from a previous posting. " If you try to stay halfway between the feet and you never allow the foot to move without the body. You will be reasonably close to correct". To that i will add . Watch a trained athelite a runner. What do you see. You will see a body that apears to have no motion. It is carried by the legs.