The trouble is, Franck's got a point - once you bring a lady into your side, it is natural to pivot her out, and then the easiest thing it to bring her back.
So if you drop 3-4, you end up with:
- an "out-then-in"
- An unnatural turn
- A return and step-back
Which is 7 beats, so still doesn't fit into the 8-beat ideal.
And Franck's also right in that Amir's version is a bit tricky at first, at least for beginners.
However, I think he's wrong by saying that "The First Move has more variations than any other moves, which I believe is a testament to its usefulness".
More variations just reflects the fact that more people are familiar with it and more people develop variations based on it, simply because it is the first move. That doesn't mean it's particularly good as its job, just means that it is its job.
As an exercise, it'd be nice to come up with an "ideal" First Move, which reflected the fundamentals of MJ more accurately. Of course, first we'd have to work out what the fundamentals of MJ are... At the moment, the only definition I respect is DavidB's "Lead-and-follow dance, emphasis on the downbeat" one, which doesn't help much in this context.
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