Ethan

“Don't just lift your arms — use your whole body big and breathe into it.”

Stressing that lifting the ribcage out of a down uses the whole body, not just the arms

“If you turn her with your hands, you end up using too much force and the circle gets small.”

Explaining what goes wrong when you lead a turn with your hands

“You don't just stop and stand up — you lift your chest and go in like you're taking a breath.”

Explaining how to connect the chest lift and the breath while coming up, with no pause

“It's not your hand that goes first, it's your body.”

Pointing out that the movement starts from the body (core), not the hand

“Don't turn her first — push the weight transfer first and carry her center onto the left foot.”

Explaining a turn inside the pattern, stressing that weight transfer comes before the rotation

“Keep your head up — when you exit, your head can't drop.”

Highlighting how important head position is when you exit out of a turn

“Your feet aren't parallel — you push out a little more to the right, press down, then push to the left and rise all the way up.”

Walking through the foot shape and weight transfer in the footwork

“The reason you lift up is because you're going down next — you compress the energy, then bring the leader with you as you come up.”

Explaining the up-down between counts 4 and 7, and how energy compresses and releases