Dear George,
I am so glad that you brought up this issue. I have noticed it, too,
and also see that the whacking has become a prelude to a balance
(yikes!) for some dancers. It will be interesting to hear from callers
how we might approach this challenge. For me, although I have no
particular arm or shoulder problems, I simply don't like the gesture.
Usually I do say something like "a gentle connection works better for
me", or a related sharing. But I have also used the "ouch!" with
success.
I wonder if it comes from "high five"??
Linda
On Feb 18, 2014, at 9:12 AM, George Mercer wrote:
I guess this is tangential to the hands/allemande discussion, but it
has
been a source of personal pain for me for some time. Over the past
decade
or so more and more people, many of them pretty good long-time dancers
(both men and women), have approached me for an allemande with a
percussive
force akin to a punch or slap. Wham! I have a variety of hand/arm
issues
and the percussive impact of the initial allemande contact sends a
jolt all
the way up to the shoulder. I have been forced to hold my hand/arm
back
until the last second (when the force has dissipated) or even set it
up so
the other dancer whiffs past my hand altogether. When did whacking
someone's hand for an allemande become acceptable or appropriate?
This may
not be a problem for others, but for me it has the same result as
the death
grip, bent wrist, thumb wrench, and other allemande problems -- pain.
Thanks.
On Tue, Feb 18, 2014 at 7:45 AM, Lindsay Morris
<lind...@tsmworks.com>wrote:
Don's photo illustrates the "OSHA-approved" grip I mentioned. It's
not the
intuitive thing to do, so callers would do well (IMHO) to promote it.
Jonathan, the "thumbs-up" position is different, and puts one at
risk of
injury or just awkwardness (like, when a new dancer grabs my thumb
with
their whole hand- ick).
"Hand manners" in general would be a good topic - and how callers can
promote good ones.
--------------------
Lindsay Morris
CEO, TSMworks
Tel. 1-859-539-9900
lind...@tsmworks.com
On Mon, Feb 17, 2014 at 10:03 PM, Don Veino <sharedweight_...@veino.com
wrote:
[Lots of other posts trimmed...]
Similar to a previous comment, and knowing one size does not fit
all, I
try
to preface any "style points" with a fellow dancer with "it would
help me
if..." and then describe or show my desired interaction behavior.
Puts
the
issue totally on me and makes it sound like I'm asking a favor of
them to
adjust to my needs, not correcting them -- if it leads to further
good
form
from them generally thereafter, so much the better. I've not had a
negative
reaction to this since I started doing it.
BTW, for allemandes I use a connection that I picked up somewhere
in my
contra travels (which sounds a lot like some of he best practices
described
to this point). I find this to be fairly common where I dance. As a
picture
is worth a thousand words, here it is (note I'm torqued slightly
in these
due to holding the camera with the other hand for the photo -- the
normal
connection is neutral and unstressed but results in good weight):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3My2DFMxZpOb3g1MVJWSS1lOGc/edit?usp=sharing
-Don
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