These movements are identical with walking, and except the particular care which must be bestowed upon the placing of the foot on the first count of the measure, they require no special degree of attention.
On the second count the free leg swings forward until the knee has become entirely straightened, and is held, suspended, during the third count of the measure. This should be practiced, first with the weight resting upon the entire sole of the supporting foot, and then, when this has been perfectly accomplished, the same exercise may be supplemented by raising the heel (of the supporting foot) on the second count and lowering it on the third count. Great care must be taken not to divide the weight.
For the purpose of instruction, it is well to practice these steps to Mazurka music, because of the clearness of the count.
When the foregoing exercises have been so fully mastered as to become, in a sense, muscular habits, we may, with safety, add the next feature. This consists in touching the floor with the point of the free foot, at a point as far forward or backward as can be done without dividing the weight, on the second count of the measure. Thus, we have accomplished, as it were, an interrupted, or, at least, an arrested step, and this is the true essence of the Boston.
Too great care cannot be expended upon this phase of the step, and it must be practiced over and over again, both forward and backward, until the movement has become second nature. All this must precede any attempt to turn.
The turning of the Boston is simplicity itself, but it is, nevertheless, the one point in the instruction which is most bothersome to learners. The turn is executed upon the ball of the supporting foot, and consists in twisting half round without lifting either foot from the ground. In this, the weight is held altogether upon the supporting foot, and there is no crossing.
In carrying the foot forward for the second movement, the knees must pass close to one another, and care must be taken that the entire half turn comes upon the last count of the measure.
To sum up:—
Starting with the weight upon the left foot, step forward, placing the entire weight upon the right foot, as in the illustration facing page [14] (count 1); swing left leg quickly forward, straightening the left knee and raising the right heel, and touch the floor with the extended left foot as in the illustration facing page [16], but without placing any weight upon that foot (count 2); execute a half-turn to the left, backward, upon the ball of the supporting (right) foot, at the same time lowering the right heel, and finish as in the illustration opposite page [18] (count 3). One measure.