Question: When you do multiple spins during social dancing, you don’t seem to pedal at all on the 2 and 4. Why is that?

Answer: When I started dancing I used to pedal to keep the rhythm and give myself the push I needed to do another spin. Once you develop control over your body you’ll have a better understanding of what kind of momentum your preparation can generate and how many spins you can do with a single preparation or pedal. That number improves as your balance and control improve. The floor, your environment, and your lead also impact how and when you pedal; sticky floor means more pedaling, perfect lead and floor means less pedaling.  I always teach pedaling because it’s a fundamental technique that we can all use at some point in our dancing and it is good tool to have in your pocket just in case you need it.