🚶‍♀️ Forward Travel

What is 'Travel'

We measure position in a 3-dimensional space (that's you on a dance floor) with a simple term: xyz

Where:

  • x is side to side

  • z is forward and back

  • y is up and down

So if you are standing in xyz and 'travel' you have moved to a different xyz

Example; you are standing at 0,5,0 and travel to 3,5,3 (that's diagonal travel!)

0,5,0 to 3,5,0 would be travel to the side

Moving forward in Ballroom Dance sounds simple — just step, right? But doing it well means coordinating posture, balance, energy, and foot placement.

Let’s break it down:

What Is Forward Travel?

It can simply be described as moving from your standing location to another location that you can see. That might be in a straight line or a diagonal. I might be in a curve, but if you can see where you are going your brain thinks it's 'forward'.

Sounds easy! It's slightly more complicated than you might think.

Forward Travel Ballroom Dancing

There are almost as many ways of moving forwards as there are dancers. However there is one way that is proven to work better than the others.

There are three main components to Forward Travel

  • Positioning the COG at the back of the heel of the COS
  • Lowering (but not for Tango)
  • Moving the COG along the COS
  • Launching with a push from the big toe.

and each of these must be in relation to the Poise Zones in this simplified simplified diagram.

For forward travel we start with our COG over the heel of the standing foot termed "back poise".

As we bend the knees to lower the hip we start to progressively move our COG from the Heel to the Toe of the standing foot. The extending leg has the heel in contact with the floor with no weight. The 'launch' forward occurs when the COG has reached the big toe (which generates the push).

In doing this your COG will travel through the three poise zones, Back, Middle and Front. Here's a stick dancers legs extending forward

We can also see it in this diagram

This is just how we start to travel during the first beat of music.

For everything except Tango you should read about Rise and Fall as it's probably not what you have been taught or encountered.

Why do this?

For that gliding, controlled feeling that your Partner will love you really should consider it irrespective of what dance 'level' you think (or have been told) you are.

Why It Matters

  • ⚖️ Balance management: Prevents pitching forward or falling backward.
  • 🦶 Footwork precision: Enables clean floor connection and body flight (except in Tango where there is no body flight)

Components

  • Weight Transfer: From the back foot to the front.

  • Leg Extension: Standing leg pushes the body; free leg reaches out.

  • Body Flight: The sensation of the body continuing to move through the COS and ending on the new standing leg. That's the one that was projected forward :)

  • Posture Maintenance: Spine, hips, and head alignment critical to aesthetic and biomechanical control.

🚨 Common Pitfalls

  • Reaching with the foot but leaving the COG behind.
  • Overcommitting weight too early.
  • Dropping the frame as the body moves.

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