Waltz and Foxtrot Sway

I took a lesson today, and it turns out I was doing TOO much of something.  I find it funny that I am talented enough to do too much of a good thing now.

Okay, so what I was doing incorrectly was the sway in International Foxtrot.  It turns out I was swaying too much, and I was leaning backwards a bit, thus decreasing my forward momentum.  I was basically trying to do Waltz sway in Foxtrot.

See, the reason we do so much sway in Waltz is to counterbalance our sideways movement during a "side close".  If we take a giant step to the side, then close our feet without sway, we will end up moving past our closed feet and falling over.  We are just moving so fast we cannot stop, so we need the sway to keep ourselves from going too far and falling over!  Sway makes the dance look graceful, but it has utility as well!  Interesting isn't it?

So International Foxtrot doesn't require as much sway as International Waltz because we are almost always passing our feet.  A very nice fact to know.

-Aaron Mullen