At 12:48 PM -0700 10/3/13, Alan Winston wrote:
Not to hijack this completely, but dancing a man's role in a
men-allemande star promenade is also often really unsatisfying.
Something like 20% of the men I run into line (in the SF Bay Area)
just let go of me as soon as they've picked up their partner; 70%
hold on but stop giving weight either immediately or before the
promenade part is omplete, and it's no more than 10% who give me a
satisfying connection all through the promenade and a positive push
off at the right time.
(And in star promenades with the neighbor lady, I find that about
half of them step ahead. Good star promenade, according to me, is
like this
}
{
and what happens half the time is more like this
Z
I find them pretty frustrating to do most of the time, and wonderful
when they work.)
-- Alan
Two important points I was taught long ago (~1982) by Sandy Bradley:
- star promenade is an ARC, not "straight across". The outside person
MUST walk the outside of a circle, and not just head straight across.
- the outside person needs to match timing and velocity exactly as the
allemander comes to pick them up. The image was docking with the Space
Station. Don't be early, and don't be late. Be moving exactly at the
right speed exactly as the rotating station comes around so you can
dock.
And then walk in an arc!
I sometimes say that if the outside person starts out early so that the
allemander is empty-armed, it's like taking a shower with your socks on.
You might accomplish your goal OK, but it's completely unsatisfying.
-Eric
