The duration of the Slow does not determine its travel distance
A Slow gets two beats in the usual count, while a Quick gets one. But that does not mean there is a fixed formula for the distance: a Slow does not have to be twice as long as each Quick. Step length also depends on your range of motion, the figure, and the space you share. More time is not an invitation to place your foot as far away as possible.
With an exaggerated step, your front foot lands so far ahead of you that you have to work hard just to get there. A leg stretched too far behind you can slow you down in a similar way. The two Quicks then suddenly feel rushed, even though you have not changed the count. So for this exercise, what matters is not how long the first step looks, but how easily you can cover the space across the whole group of three steps.
Keep the familiar paths of the figures. In the Feather Step, you do not make the finish easier by reaching farther out to the side; in the Three-Step, you do not need an artificially extended lead-in. The instructions on connecting the Feather Step and the Three-Step show you how to link them. You can also find a related warning sign in taking steps that are too large in Waltz: the next movement calls for a rescue action instead of a step you can reach normally.



