On Sun, Feb 16, 2014, Erik Hoffman wrote: > On 2/15/2014 10:32 PM, Aahz Maruch wrote: >>On Sat, Feb 15, 2014, Michael Fuerst wrote: >>> >>>I should have said thumbs an wrapped around the other's hand. >>>Interlocked was the wrong. >> >><whew> I do know people who believe that interlocked thumbs are >>correct, and I've been on a campaign to discourage the practice. ;-) > > So, Aahz, why do you want to eliminate it? I'm talking about the > thumbs up as guideposts, fingers hooked around the others hand, a > hook, not a grip, wrists straight, fingers curved. Is it just the > safety issue? I play music. I teach music. I worry a lot about my > hands! I have things I do to protect myself, and I don't let people > grab and grip, or bend my wrist in some painful way.
Oddly enough, as has been pointed out here, you are a somewhat large-ish man -- that means your personal safety requirements are not necessarily what's appropriate for the general dancer population. So yeah, it's pretty much all about safety from my POV. Any kind of spinning move out of allemande or wave risks yanking the thumb. And actually, my concern is more about waves than allemandes: the grip is mostly the same for both and the spinning half-sashy is pretty much standard these days. I have no idea what you mean by "guideposts", though; from my POV either the thumbs are interlocked or they're not. (If each person's thumb can touch the other person's webbing between thumb and forefinger they're interlocked.) -- Hugs and backrubs -- I break Rule 6 http://rule6.info/ <*> <*> <*> Help a hearing-impaired person: http://rule6.info/hearing.html
