Partnership 3-turns

 
For brevity, I'll write Lady when I mean the forwards-skating-person who is about to do a 3-turn, 
and I'll write Man when I mean the backwards-skating-person who is about to step to forwards.

In the drawings below:

  • The arrow-head black dotted line represents the direction of travel (on a reverse/clockwise lobe).
  • The lady (pink) is travelling forwards 
  • The man (blue) is travelling backwards
  • In the left drawing they are tracking each other, their shoulders parallel, in Waltz position.
  • In the middle drawing, the lady is doing the three turn (and only 1 beat of music to do it).
  • In the right drawing, the man is tracking the lady.
  • The bold black dashed line represents the tracing of the lady's 3-turn.
  • The fine red lines represent the distance apart of the couple's shoulders.

Alternative Techniques

Comparison of distance travelled during the 3-turn

Technique 1. 
 Partners maintain same distance apart throughout turn - the Man remains on circle, so the Lady is forced to travel out and around man, sometimes causing her to be "whipped" around. This is even more pronounced if the man stays square to the tracing for the whole 3 beats, until he steps to forward on beat 1.

 
Distance travelled by the Lady is very long because  she is forced off the circle.
 

Technique 2.  
 Partners torsos and feet come much closer just prior to turn (see fine red lines) - If the Man cusps slightly deeper into the circle (middle drawing) as the Lady  is about to turn, providing room for her to pass (through where he was standing) and she can do her 3-turn at Man’s instep. He then steps forward onto the circle tracing her once again.

Dance Hold - As the Man cusps back, he draws the Lady toward him slightly with his right hand so their torso's are almost touching before/at the turn. Also. the Lady needs to relax her left arm/elbow slightly so they can get closer.

Shoulders: Partners shoulders stay roughly parallel to each other throughout, but they come closer before and during the turn, then they resume normal distance when the man steps forward.

Torso Rotation: The Man has a 3 beat edge before stepping to forward, but the lady has to turn on the 3rd beat so actually both partners are momentarily backward after beat 3, therefore the Man must open his left shoulder and hips ( or rotate from the waist up) to 
(a) keep his shoulders roughly parallel with hers and (b) let her through.

Knees: Down up down. Down to push for the start of the step, rising for the 3-turn, then down for the next step, giving the rise and fall appearance of a ballroom waltz.

  
The distance travelled by 
the Lady is much shorter than Technique 1 or 3.

Technique 3. 
The Compromise Technique - Maintain same distance apart throughout turn but the Man cusps back into circle reducing distance Lady has to travel. This allows the Lady to travel less distance but she will not be able to do the three turn at the instep of the Man's skating foot because they are never close enough. Arms stay firm throughout.

Distance travelled by the Lady is shorter than No1 but longer than No2 example.

 
I hope this helps.
What do you think?  All comments welcome.
 
Cheers, 
Gerri

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