Rise and Fall

A good dance teacher always mentions it, but why is the rise and fall so important?  Isn't it just so we look nice when we dance it?  Well, this is true to an extent, but there are other reasons as to why proper rise and fall are needed.

The man can use the rise and fall to help lead the lady.  It is substantially easier to follow the man when he is doing proper rise and fall.  This is mainly because it is easier to tell where in the measure or music the man is.  Consider it this way.  If the man rises and falls at the proper time in Waltz, the lady will always know what timing the man is on.  If he lowers and remains down on a step, the lady knows the man is dancing 1.  If the man rises and remains up on a step, the lady knows the man is dancing 2.  And finally, if the man lowers on the end of a step, the lady knows he is dancing a 3.  So the lady can gauge where the man is in the measure just by feeling the rise and fall!  Who would have thought!

If used properly, the rise and fall can also help with stride length.  As you may know, in International Standard or American Smooth, bigger steps are almost always better!  when you rise you will lose a little stride length, but when you lower, you will gain insane amounts of speed if it is executed properly.  Why is this?  Think of it like this.  Say you have a folded over newspaper like so:

 Se how it barely spans the width of the table?  Now push it closer to the table like so:

Now the newspaper spans much more of the table although the sides of the newspaper are still the same length!  Now imagine your legs are the sides of the newspaper, and the table is the floor.  The lower you go, the farther you can step across the floor!  Make sure you use the fall to your advantage!  Otherwise it is wasted motion.

Rise and fall is useful indeed!

-Aaron Mullen