I am told that a common mistake among the not so good is. Not going to the end of the step. Which results in a shorter step than it should be. Also turning into a step and again not turning at the end of. Has anybody else been told about this mistake.

"I am told that a common mistake among the not so good is. Not going to the end of the step. Which results in a shorter step than it should be. Also turning into a step and again not turning at the end of. Has anybody else been told about this mistake."

Yes. But to really understand it, you have to speak specifically about what is supposed to go straight, and what is supposed to turn.

We have to answer the question for each part of the body, and there are actually two questions: in what direction should it move, and in what direction should it be oriented? The answers won't even be quite the same for forward and backwards movements, nor ultimately for right-turning and left-turning movements.

So let's gown down to details.

When your teacher tells you to move straight forward and not turn until the end of the step (actually, in many cases not until late in the SECOND step), they should be speaking literally about the DIRECTION OF MOVEMENT. Whatever direction you start the figure moving in is whatever you keep, usually for two entire steps.

But many turning figures use Contra Body Movement (CBM), which is to say rotation of the body, during the first step. What this means is that even as the body moves in a straight, unchanged path, it also rotates during the course of the movement, while not letting this rotation change the direction in which it is travelling.

And then we speak of the direction of the feet. In forwards actions, it is customery for the feet to point essentially in the direction of movement. So you would take two forwards steps with the feet pointed in that direction, and then late in the second step you would rotate both feet to account for the change in the body orientation.

In backwards actions though it is usually different. Customarily, even as the foot swings straight backwards, it will rotate some so that it lands in a position consistent with straight movement, but toed in a bit. This greatly eases the next part of the turn. The second step of a backward turning action usually points the foot in the new direction - what we call a pointing alignment.

As you can see, there are a bunch of details to learn. But the important questions on the subject of turn are

1) Are we talking about direction of movement, or direction of orientation?

2) Which body parts specifically are we talking about?

The step under the magnifying glass was after a Spin Spin Which is 456 of a Reverse in the Waltz. There is a tendancy to take that 4th step across the body which is a mistake. And listen to this. Done that way makes that step in CBMP which we all know is wrong.

"The step under the magnifying glass was after a Spin Spin Which is 456 of a Reverse in the Waltz. There is a tendancy to take that 4th step across the body which is a mistake. And listen to this. Done that way makes that step in CBMP which we all know is wrong."

Well if it' ain't Don/Quickstep/Pimpernel, recycling an old and discredited argument under YET ANOTHER ALIAS.

No, stepping across the body does not by itself make CBMP. Many figures will be best ended with the body substantially underturned relative to the feet - that doesn't make their last step in CBMP by any stretch of the imagination!

As a suggestion for demistyifing this, look only at the footprints on the floor, and ask if the step has gone into CBMP. You will find it hasn't.

Don't let the proper carriage of an underturn in the body confuse you.

This tendency to 'anticipate' the next step and not complete the present one is very common. I used to do it a lot, and probablky still do. I do it a lot in tennis too (shotsa, not steps, of course).
My worst offence was telemark opening into promenade (as a man) forward left on 1, second step on rigth foot, turning, 3rd step with left foot in promenade. Except i never completed the 2nd step properly- always wanted to go straight into promenade position from step 1. Took a lot of skill!!. Don't do it any more of course

Proper timing on turns has been something we have worked on a lot, also proper technique on the steps. Both are needed to do effective turns, spins, pivots, swivels etc.. We also work on the timing for the turns that are a response to a lead. Man has to to time them correctly and lady has to moving with good technique to do them well.

Dennis. This I have been told i. The foot that is most seen is the foot that is behind you. If the first step is not taken to the end, the rear foot which is creating a line will be cut short. Which confirms. Stay on the supporting leg longer and use all of the music.

What is CBMP. A term when the body is not turned and the leg is placed across the back or the front of the body . Which is exactly what happens to the first step if it is allowed to go across the body whilst the shoulder is in place. It would be nice if you could give good clean answers like this and keep your ego tripping to yourself. Your lack of knowledge astounds me and your iability to put it into words in easy to read short sentances is deplorable for someone with so much to say.
As far as the charts in the book are concerned. You know as well as i do that they deal with the foot alignment only. So my teacher says. What does yours say.

"What is CBMP. A term when the body is not turned and the leg is placed across the back or the front of the body . "

Not quite. To be CBMP, the moving foot must land on or across the track of the standing foot. It's not enough for it to merely be across the body, it has to be on or across the line of the other foot. Other wise we'd be having CBMP in all sorts of positions where we are merely supposed to be keeping the body underturned - for example, step three of the foxtrot natural or reverse turn is across the (yet-underturned) body, yet it sure isn't in CBMP.

"As far as the charts in the book are concerned. You know as well as i do that they deal with the foot alignment only."

Good, so then I expect you'll stop letting the customary body alignment confuse you into thinking something is CBMP, when in terms of the actual definition (referencing the feet) it isn't.

Looking Learning.What you have said is a 100% correct. From the book. CBMP. A term used when the body IS NOT TURNED but the leg is placed across the front or the back of the body, It goes on to say. It gives an appearance of CBM. When you analize that statement. After the CBMP is completed is does appear to be CBM . The way it gets there makes it CBMP. Good luck with your argument. I would expect someone to say to you. Go and find another teacher. Or you don't understand what you are hearing or reading, or other words to that effect.
Anonymous. To save starting another bit of writting. Foxtrot step three has no CBM. The third step if the Natural is coming after a half a turn over steps 1-3 cannot be compared to the Reverse Turn. If you are following the book the Natural Turn starts facing the LOD.Hence a half turn over the first three steps. The third step is still straight. I am looking at the chart now. The step is as straight as a bullet in both cases