i have a friend in atlanta who had to have rotator cuff surgery after being
twirled against her will at a dance.
both people were experienced dancers who knew each other, and normally she
twirled. but that night she was tired or something, and didn't want to, he
missed the signal to stop, and she was injured. both these dancers are people
who i consider to be very good dancers, and who are considerate of their
partners and often dance with new people. and STILL - she was injured.
for awhile, i talked about this at dances. usually, about the second dance i
would include a figure with a courtesy turn, and talk about the courtesy turn
during the walk-thru, saying something like "a courtesy turn should be just
that - COURTEOUS! gents, if the lady wants to twirl, it's only polite to help
her out. if she doesn't want to or doesn't know how, though, it would be
discourteous to force her! be sure to *communicate* with the person you're
dancing with."
and then i'd mention my friend in atlanta and say something like "she resisted,
he insisted".
i got VERY STRONG comments on this - both positive and negative - from dancers.
a surprising number of men thanked me for mentioning it. a surprising number
of women thought i was out of line.
same thing when i talk about swinging. when i teach ballroom position to new
dancers, i have the gents stand with hands at side and ladies put their left
hand over the gents shoulder and GENTLY lean back - the lady should not fall
down! i call swinging an "equal opportunity activity" and also note that "it's
NOT the gents' job to carry ladies through the swings all night - their arms
will fall off at the end of the evening and we don't want that!"
you wouldn't believe how many women have commented "well, that's not the way we
do it here", as their partners groan in pain.
barb
> Date: Mon, 12 May 2008 06:45:43 -0700> From: [email protected]> To:
> [email protected]> Subject: Re: [Callers] Style/safety/etiquette tips
> from the microphone> > > --- JD Erskine <[email protected]> wrote:> >
> or "how to > > guarantee a man will let you go". (women: clamp your> > left
> upper arm on > > his or the lead's right wrist/forearm, turn away,> > lean
> way back).> > > This sounds like it could cause shoulder injury to the> lead!
> I have a friend whose shoulder was injured> dancing contra, and after 6
> months of pain, he had to> have surgery. The woman had leaned too far out to
> the> side while swinging.> > Melody Ball> Dallas>
> _______________________________________________> Callers mailing list>
> [email protected]> http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
_________________________________________________________________
With Windows Live for mobile, your contacts travel with you.
http://www.windowslive.com/mobile/overview.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_Refresh_mobile_052008
