Posture and Hold

Posture

The Gent should stand in a natural upright position with knees slightly flexed, with the body weight forward over the balls of feet and with the feet flat.

The body should be inclined forward from the feet braced at the waist with shoulders relaxed at normal level.

The Gent should also be aware that although the weight is forward over the balls of the feet, he must not lean over the Lady.

Hold

The Gent should stand facing the lady as described above, with the lady very slightly to the man’s right side. He should hold the lady with the right hand just below her left shoulder blade with the fingers together.

The left hand will hold the lady's right hand, making sure that the left wrist doesn't bend.  The left arm bent should be bent, with the forearm slanting upwards from the elbow to the hand. The left hand should be held at the height of the left ear.

For the lady, the left arm will be placed on the man’s right arm, the fingers of the left hand grouped neatly in the centre of the arm just below the right shoulder. The right arm will slope very slightly downwards from the shoulder to the elbow, then upwards from the elbow slanting forward towards man's left hand. The fingers will fold lightly over the man's left hand between his thumb and first finger.

 there should be a straight unbroken line between the elbow and the hand

The upper part of the right arm should slope downwards from the shoulder to the elbow. then downwards from the elbow to the hand in a straight line.

Foxtrot - The Feather Step

I thought I'd share the following with you.  It was a question that I responded to on a Ballroom and Latin dance forum:

I noticed in an old Alex Moore book that used  feet diagrams that the foot alignment on steps 2 and 3 of the feather is turned to the R by approx 1/16 turn compared to step 1. I say approx as I got this from the diagram and I didn't get my protractor out. The change in alignment makes sense in a way because the rotation of the pelvis to generate CBM on 1 will obviously carry the foot foot without weight with it. 

Now the current technique (Guy Howard etc.) has all three steps on the same alignment.

So does that mean the technique has been revised or is it just the the change in alignment is so small as to be considered unaltered. And the big question then becomes: is the feather always curved.

Here was my response:

Let me see if I can explain it as I see it!

I think the Guy Howard book gives a much better explanation of the technique but the diagrams in the Alex Moore book help to visualise the steps.
Using the Guy Howard breakdown:

STEP 1 - RF Fwd (CBM)
   CBM means the left side of the body rotates towards the right foot and the right foot will also start to turn out (to the right).

STEP 2 – LF FWD L shoulder leading preparing to step OP
   The second step is taken forward in a slightly more open position – in other words slightly left.  The left shoulder leading indicates body rotation to the right.

STEP 3 – RF fwd in CBMP OP
   The right foot is placed forward onto the line of the left foot giving the appearance of CBM having been used but without any further turn of the body.

The foot alignments come as a result of primary factors such CBM and left shoulder leading and are therefore secondary. The second paragraph of the Guy Howard book explaining “alignment” states “The given alignment should indicate the direction in which the Fig is to travel” which in this case is Facing DC as the standard alignment.

I feel that the 4th step in the Alex Moore book is misleading.  If you were to take step 4 as the first step of a Reverse Turn (i.e. LF fwd (CBM) ) then the placement of the left foot would be quite different to that indicated in the diagram.

Because of the CBM and left shoulder lead, the Curved Feather (which isn’t included in my copy of the Alex Moore book) is a very comfortable development.  Incidentally, step 3 of the Curved Feather is the only step where you get CBM, CBMP and Sway at the same time.

Alignments

This relates to where the foot (or feet) are facing at the end of a step.  There is also a pointing alignment that happens on the inside of a turn.

They are based around an imaginary "line of dance" that runs anti clockwise around the dance floor.

Understanding the definitions shown below will help as we start to look at specific figures within the Ballroom and Latin dances.

The standard alignments used in Ballroom and Latin Dancing