Footwork: toe or heel?

Dragging toe/ball of foot vs. dragging heel - when moving back: (example below is for Lady)

• If a previous step's footwork is TH (say, in Quickstep, after the 1st step in Forward Lock, which is TH on LF), that LF is already lowered to heel, after stepping RF back on 2nd step, you will drag the heel of LF on the floor before crossing LF in front of RF.
• If a previous step's footwork is T (say, in Quickstep, after 3rd step in Progressive Chasse which is T on LF, the chasse part), LF is on toe when stepping RF back/slightly side on 4th step, when settling on 4th step, you will drag the toe/ball of LF back to collect (not heel of LF).

Footwork when moving forward:

• If previous step is on toe, next step's footwork will be toe lead.
• If previous step has lowered to heel, next step's footwork is most likely a heel lead when it's a driving step. (There are exceptions.)

Standard Ballroom Technique: Foot Alignment

Step relative to where you are now, not where you will be. For example, in the Waltz Natural Spin Turn the man's first step is forward, and then after placing his right foot he turns 1/4 to his right. 


Some might be tempted to turn the body and hips before the step, so that it goes DW against LOD, or the foot is placed turned out. This would take the gentleman right into his partner, rather than stepping past her.

Waltz Closed Impetus and Reverse Pivot

When first learning the Closed Impetus, the way it is typically executed is that the man will rise up on 2, as opposed to the end of 2. A smoother way to execute this figure has the man delaying any rise until 3. In other words, on 3, the man pushes off the ball of his right foot to go up on the toe of his left foot.

When followed by the reverse pivot, blend it into the preceding step. Be sure that the man's right foot tracks under the body, and that the weight is fully committed to the right foot before the next step.

Beginning Cha Cha Technique Note

It is common mistake when doing basics or cha chas in place to do a press walk, and then actually commit weight. The problem with this is it becomes too easy to forget to fully change weight, and you may easily end up on the wrong foot relative to your partner. On each step, do a full weight change, and avoid this confusion.

Leading Heel Turns

Man leading heel turn:

• It is very common for the lady to feel like the man is knocking her over. This is because he is turning his body too soon.
• If he is pulling her down on the third step, it is because he did not brush his feet and collect his weight before taking his next step.
• The man has to step around the lady, who has finite radius, before he turns her.
• Early rise: some coaches say Man leads heel turn by rising early - though the ISTD Ballroom Technique has no mention of early rise. It is still "rise e/o 1".
• More consistent with ISTD Ballroom technique, and recommended by other coaches, the man leads the heel turn by leading the lady to put her weight on her heels.

When dancing, think about actions, rather than figures, such as Natural Spin Turn action, or Feather action, as the figures are composed of actions, and the actions should feel similar across the different figures that use them.

More about Standard Technique.

Difference Kinds of Salsa, On1, On2, etc.

This is addressed to salsa beginners. You will hear about Salsa On 1, Salsa On 2, Mambo, LA Style Salsa, NY Style, Miami Style. This is intended not to be an extensive treatise on the differences, but just an introduction to give you the minimum information necessary to avoid confusion when you hear these terms.

The basic step, for most of these variations, is as follows for the leader:

1. Step forward with the left foot, keeping RF in place. (forward break)
2. Change weight back to right foot, keeping LF in place
3. Bring left foot back next to right foot to a neutral position
4. Step back with RF, keeping LF in place (back break)
5. Change weight back to LF, keeping RF in place.
6. Bring RF next to LF. (neutral position)

The other piece we need for this discussion is music and timing. Salsa music has four beats to the measure, and a phrase lasts two measures. The single most important rhythm in Salsa is the clave rhythm. If we consider an 8 beat phrase, the clave hits on 2, 3, 5, 6 1/2, and 8. The clave as an instrument is a pair of wooden sticks hitting each other. You can hear the clave and other important salsa rhythms broken down in this video. There is often no explicit clave being played in the music, but clave is the rhythmic anchor of salsa, and the other rhythms will build around that. It's a good idea to get some salsa music and practice counting out the beats on different songs.

So, now that we've introduced the basic steps, and a little about the music, we can talk about these different kinds of Salsa. When we hear Mambo mentioned in the US, we usually refer to the partner dance forms. If we combine steps with beats, in Mambo the first step happens on beat 2, and we step on beats 2 3 4 6 7 8. We hold, kick, or tap on beats 1 and 5. This is the Mambo basic.

Mambo and Salsa have stylistic differences, they are somewhat different dances, but the basic step looks the same. Salsa On 1 uses this same basic, but now we step on beats 1 2 3 5 6 7, and hold, kick, or tap on beats 4 and 8. Salsa On 2 uses the same timing for the basic as Mambo does.

Some of the different styles of Salsa in the US include Los Angeles style, Miami style, and New York style. LA and Miami style are danced on 1, and as far as we know are the prevalent dance styles in the US.

NY style is a bit different than mambo, on 1, and on 2. In NY salsa, rather than the hold coming in the neutral position, it becomes an 'air' step. In the above steps, we do step (iii) on beat 1, and proceed to step on beats 1 2 3 5 6 7, with the foot 'in transit' on beats 4 and 8. So, while the steps still happen on 123567, the breaks are on 2 and 6, making NY salsa an On2 salsa.

There is also the notion of dancing 'on clave' or 'en clave' if you want to be strict about it. This means that you break on the clave beat. (It can also mean doing five steps per phrase, but that is pretty advanced stuff.) Typically, this will mean breaking on 2, but can mean breaking on 2 1/2 (6 1/2), adding a further syncopation to the dance.

Foxtrot Natural Turn, Natural Weave, and Hover Cross

The Foxtrot Natural Turn, Natural Weave, and Hover Cross have the same steps for the first two steps, and it is after that they differentiate. For the leader,

• Step 1: RF forward, with CBM
• Step 2: LF forward, and then when transferring weight, turn hips
• Brush RF to LF before taking next step on RF.

Then

• On Natural Turn, after turning feet and hips to face may partner on step 2, hips and shoulders stay flat, as  lady steps between leader's feet.
• On Natural Weave, on third step turn shoulders and ribs right, to lead lady outside partner
• On Hover Cross, on third step turn both shoulders and hips to allow lady to pass.