Very French. More upright engarde stance. French rear knee pointing slightly forward. Hand finishing high. Cut-throughs all over the place - going forward and back. Very staccato footwork. Magnifique!
Its a training to have better precision and to be more free, she stops to control herself to not attack and be less predictible by the oponnent. (sry for my english "-_- )
No, look at the coach. Defender is not interested in either giving ground or parrying as you suggested. Instead defender wants beat/ counter attack. Suppose she goes ahead making feints that gives defender a blade to beat, stepping in gives target to counter attack. She is practicing to deal with active defenders by using big distance while patiently maintaining her combativity hence priority in the phrase as well as using absence of blade - all to bait the defender to over extend into a greater disadvantage before she capitalizes. Strategically she mitigates the risk of defender scoring as well of her being put back on defense: which makes best use of the priority opportunity. Finally, having the speed low and distance as such, this particular exercise is doing double duty because she may apply it when she slows down on the march (obviously) but also, less obviously when the opponent has just been pulled short: the situation is identical she has no speed yet and opponent may be pressuring with reprise/ remise, distance trap etc and she has to convert to something safe in a dangerous moment
