After taking side position on the woman’s left, the man takes two walking steps forward, right, left; crossing the right foot in front of the left, he changes to the woman’s right side. Still walking forward, right, left, two steps bring him to the end of the third measure. Finish in first position of the feet.
Note: In the work of both man and woman, the turn in the first two measures, and the half-turn in the third, involve only simple walking steps, plus a pivot to change direction. The interaction of arms suggests itself in practice.
The fourth bar marks the woman’s turn—or pirouette, as it is often and usually mistakenly called. The man’s left hand holding the woman’s right hand, the woman executes a turn—a real pirouette (q. v.) is permissible—under the man’s raised left arm, finishing in closed position of the couple. (See photographs.) The turn under the arm is sometimes called the arch à la pirouette.