On Mon, Jul 01, 2013, Martha Wild wrote: > > I agree fully with Erik Hoffman. I can't fathom the no thumb > allemande. How the heck do you get any connection with it? Two flat > surfaces and only friction - you might as well just walk around the > other person, it's worse than a noodle arm. The way most people do get > connection is to bend the wrist to provide some contact for shared > weight - and that hurts my wrist horribly. So if someone gives me > a no thumb allemande, I comply, desperately trying not to have my > wrist bent, and if it is someone who doesn't bend the wrist, then > there is no connection, no "shared weight" and no chance if it's a > 1 1/2 allemande to get around in time. Erik has always taught the > allemande hold as being a "hook", with the curled fingers providing > the connection, and I have stolen that description from him and use > it myself. The thumb is along for the ride but should not do any > squeezing or gripping, in fact, it can even lie flat next to the > curled fingers and not intersect the other thumb, as he mentions in > describing the star hold. Connection without thumb pain. Thanks, Erik.
It sounds like people are using "no thumbs allemande" to describe two different holds. When I use the term, I'm referring to what you're calling a hook, not the wrist grip. But all too often, people try to pry my thumb up for an interleaved thumb grip, and that's what I'm decrying when I call for "no thumbs". (It makes no sense to me to refer to the wrist grip as "no thumbs" because there's no thumb anywhere near to use.) The thumb grip is particularly pernicious because standard contra practice is to use the same hold for allemande and wave (unlike MWSD, which uses a forearm grip for allemande), and a trapped thumb in a wave is IMO extremely dangerous when you're doing the common spin flourish for sashay (for that matter, I often do a spin flourish from allemande, spinning to my partner for a swing, but that runs less risk of jammed thumbs). Side note: that last bit suggest a good reason for men mostly doing left allemande (at least before a swing), because that makes it easier to scoop the right hand behind your partner's back (although it does mean changing turn direction -- I still think it's a net win). -- Hugs and backrubs -- I break Rule 6 http://rule6.info/ <*> <*> <*> Help a hearing-impaired person: http://rule6.info/hearing.html
