I guess this is tangential to the hands/allemande discussion, but it has been a source of personal pain for me for some time. Over the past decade or so more and more people, many of them pretty good long-time dancers (both men and women), have approached me for an allemande with a percussive force akin to a punch or slap. Wham! I have a variety of hand/arm issues and the percussive impact of the initial allemande contact sends a jolt all the way up to the shoulder. I have been forced to hold my hand/arm back until the last second (when the force has dissipated) or even set it up so the other dancer whiffs past my hand altogether. When did whacking someone's hand for an allemande become acceptable or appropriate? This may not be a problem for others, but for me it has the same result as the death grip, bent wrist, thumb wrench, and other allemande problems -- pain. Thanks.
On Tue, Feb 18, 2014 at 7:45 AM, Lindsay Morris <[email protected]>wrote: > Don's photo illustrates the "OSHA-approved" grip I mentioned. It's not the > intuitive thing to do, so callers would do well (IMHO) to promote it. > > Jonathan, the "thumbs-up" position is different, and puts one at risk of > injury or just awkwardness (like, when a new dancer grabs my thumb with > their whole hand- ick). > > "Hand manners" in general would be a good topic - and how callers can > promote good ones. > > -------------------- > Lindsay Morris > CEO, TSMworks > Tel. 1-859-539-9900 > [email protected] > > > On Mon, Feb 17, 2014 at 10:03 PM, Don Veino <[email protected] > >wrote: > > > [Lots of other posts trimmed...] > > > > Similar to a previous comment, and knowing one size does not fit all, I > try > > to preface any "style points" with a fellow dancer with "it would help me > > if..." and then describe or show my desired interaction behavior. Puts > the > > issue totally on me and makes it sound like I'm asking a favor of them to > > adjust to my needs, not correcting them -- if it leads to further good > form > > from them generally thereafter, so much the better. I've not had a > negative > > reaction to this since I started doing it. > > > > BTW, for allemandes I use a connection that I picked up somewhere in my > > contra travels (which sounds a lot like some of he best practices > described > > to this point). I find this to be fairly common where I dance. As a > picture > > is worth a thousand words, here it is (note I'm torqued slightly in these > > due to holding the camera with the other hand for the photo -- the normal > > connection is neutral and unstressed but results in good weight): > > > > > https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3My2DFMxZpOb3g1MVJWSS1lOGc/edit?usp=sharing > > > > -Don > > _______________________________________________ > > Callers mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers > > > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers >
