I've noticed some tall dancers bend their knees and stoop a bit to make them closer to the height of the person they are swinging with. A very nice gesture.
> Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2014 09:23:35 -0500 > From: George Mercer <[email protected]> > To: "Caller's discussion list" <[email protected]> > Subject: [Callers] Height diffferential > Message-ID: > <CACRi76uc=H2hPBCN0DKrX_e9UDBkZjEDYbPYJq=qfq9dbfm...@mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > A number of years ago I danced a number of times with a woman who was much > shorter than me. I am about 5'6" or so on a good day. She was probably > 4'8" give or take an inch. When we'd go into a swing, as my arm went around > her to her back, she'd lock her left arm down so that I could hardly get my > right hand past her side. At first I thought it was bad form on her part, > but let it be. Then as I watched her dance with others, I realized that > when her co-swinger managed to get his arm around her to the "normal" place > it had the result of lifting her left side up to what appeared to me to be > a discomfort level. The taller the man, the further her left side was > forced to go. I had to learn a new approach to entering a swing, even to > lean toward bad form when the height of the other dancer led me to an > adjusted approach. I'm not suggesting we should teach this, but thinking > about how your technique (good or bad) can cause another discomfort is > worth thinking about. Over the year I've danced enough with men that I've > also experienced discomfort with this height differential. Just thinking > out loud. Thanks. >
