On Feb 15, 2014, at 2:59 PM, Erik Hoffman wrote, re teaching about
allemande holds:
I say, "Wrists are strongest when straight. Fingers are strongest,
when curved -- their natural state." ...
I totally agree. Straight wrists and curved fingers are the
most natural state for the hand when pulling on almost anything,
at least if the shape of whatever you're holding permits the
fingers to curve around it. For some examples, look at the
hands in these images:
http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/woman-carrying-shopping-bag-advertising-sale-18189476.jpg
http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/business-woman-carrying-briefcase-8692358.jpg
http://static7.depositphotos.com/1192060/760/i/950/depositphotos_7608804-Woman-carrying-briefcase-with-colleague.jpg
http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/cms/uploads/1/chinup_1.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RenoufHelpingHand.jpeg
[rowers]
http://www.freestockphotos.biz/pictures/14/14027/rowboat.jpg
http://thumb1.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/1026019/112272908/stock-photo-gold-metallic-style-plate-for-pull-to-open-the-door-sign-isolated-on-white-background-112272908.jpg
http://thumb1.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/1571630/142589590/stock-photo-close-up-of-a-hand-pulling-open-an-office-door-142589590.jpg
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/05/03/nyregion/03subway.span.600.jpg
http://etischer.com/europe/Pentax1_10_Hand_holding_pole_on_subway.jpg
http://www.skye4birds.com/toons.htm [parachute ripcord]
http://d3thflcq1yqzn0.cloudfront.net/025912724_iconv.jpeg
[drawer]
http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/hand-opening-cabinet-door-26630046.jpg
http://img2-2.timeinc.net/toh/i/a/yard/lawn-mowers-2-00.jpg
http://images.colourbox.com/thumb_COLOURBOX4846423.jpg [curtain]
http://www.thewhirlingwind.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/voting-lever1.jpg
http://www.corbisimages.com/stock-photo/rights-managed/HU021966/female-brakeman-pulling-lever
http://coffeegeek.com/images/1828/pavoni_lever.jpg
http://www.corbisimages.com/images/Corbis-42-15677132.jpg?size=67&uid=94ed6d3c-2df5-428a-a855-d70783d4d3a0
[child's wagon]
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-51015478/stock-vector-vector-illustration-of-a-hand-pulling-a-switch-in-a-pop-art-comic-style.html
http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/110296/110296,1255861628,1/stock-photo-multicolored-kite-high-in-clear-blue-sky-string-holding-in-male-hand-focused-on-kite-39079510.jpg
http://www.hellomagazine.com/imagenes//celebrities/201107055706/geri-halliwell-water-skiing-sardinia-holiday-henry-beckwith/0-21-296/geri-halliwell4--z.jpg
[Some mail software may split long URLs, and you might need to take
some care to reassemble them correctly.]
Note the variety of situations depicted in the images. The hands
are pulling in various directions: upward, downward, horizontally,
diagonally. The forces involved can be small (carrying a small
briefcase or opening a cabinet door) or large (doing chin-ups).
The object may simply be held from moving or may actually be
moved, or the person may move toward the object (chin-up bar).
The elbows may be straight or bent. Of course none of the things
people are holding in the pictures will actually grab someone's
hand and unexpectedly twist it into an uncomfortable position,
but there are certainly cases in which the object's resistance to
the person's pull is somewhat unpredictable (kite string spool,
oars in rough water, poles and bars in moving transit vehicle,
water ski bar). Still, all these images show curved fingers and
straight (or nearly straight) wrists.
Now imagine someone doing any or all of the activities shown in
the pictures listed above, but keeping their wrists sharply flexed
and their fingers straight as shown in the these pictures:
http://nervesurgery.wustl.edu/NerveImages/MISC%20-%20EM%20(Images%20Require%20Captions)/FCR---IMG_3574.jpg
http://cloud.golfloopy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Wrist-Flexion2.jpg
http://www.sonomaorthopedics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Wrist-flexion-for-study.jpg
It would seem bizarre, wouldn't it?
And yet I've seen many, many dancers offer their hands for
allemandes with wrists bent and fingers straight. I just don't
get it.
*** Important disclaimer: Nothing I say is meant to imply that
it's okay to disrespect the needs of dancers with frail or injured
wrists, elbows, shoulders, thumbs, etc. As just one of many
examples, if someone's physical condition is such that the want
to replace "Men allemande left once and a half" with "Men pass
by left shoulder", other dancers should cheerfully let them do so.
--Jim
