Hi all, I’m going to add a controversial note. I also loathe the many poor allemandes I get, unweighted, awkward handed, arm pulled in like a chicken wing, what have you. As a MWSD, I have come to love the forearm allemande for arm turns. Callerlab made the switch some years ago, and at first I was like, wut??? But it’s a position which save everyone’s hands and wrists, and even shoulders, is intrinsically very stable, and makes the chicken wing almost impossible. I started using it for dances with revolving doors, as a dancer, because those turns are so brief and necessarily tight and need a quick strong connection. I was so pleased I began using them elsewhere. People generally go along with it. I have been wishing Contra could just switch to this for all allemandes. I know it would be an uphill struggle to get everyone on board. But I had to put it out there.
Currently I still teach an old fashioned allemande. I demonstrate and emphasize meaty parts of the thumb together, fingers curled around the base of the opposite’s thumb, flat wrist. And I always add that the thumb itself is an injurious device which lands at a tender spot if depressed, so leave it loose. Then I demonstrate how to produce enough connection to make a 2 person unit that turns on a post. I’m sure everyone on this list has similar teaches. If teaching this allemande was ever going to work, it would have by now. I suspect it’s failure as a hold is why callerlab opted for the forearm hold instead. My 2c, Andrea N Arlington VA Sent from my iPhone > On May 17, 2019, at 6:01 PM, Erik Hoffman via Callers > <[email protected]> wrote: > > John Sweeny below hoped we callers would teach more about hand turns and the > like. > > I’ve been thinking on this for quite a while. Years ago I had a discussion > with Brad Foster. We both lamented the loss of the allemande with mildly > interlocking thumbs to the modern overprotective thumb against the side of > the palm allemande. At that time I think I was still in Santa Barbara, thus > it must have been pre 1994. I wrote an article for our dance rag called, “If > Allemande Left, Where’d Allemande Go?” > > I talked about what I do when someone grips my hand—and I think all of us > should remove that word, “grip” from our caller’s vocabulary… > > But the most important thing I discussed is: > Our Wrist is Strongest When It’s Straight > Our Fingers are Strongest When Curved > Thus, however one does an allemande, it should be a hook, with curved fingers > and a straight wrist. > > Lately I’ve seen teachers promote the straight fingers, bent wrist, and flat > palm method. The almost always makes one person’s wrist uncomfortable. Not as > bad as when someone draws the others hand into that > almost-Aikido-put-them-on-the-ground position, but usually quite > uncomfortable. > > Thus I hope most of us learn the curved fingers, straight wrist, no grip, > and, no thumb clamping allemande, ECD hand turn, two hand turn type hand > connections. > > ~Erik Hoffman, > Oakland, CA > > From: Callers <[email protected]> On Behalf Of John > Sweeney via Callers > Sent: Friday, May 17, 2019 2:09 PM > To: 'Caller's discussion list' <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [Callers] Name that Dance > > Hi Rich, > I would just call it a “Big Set Mixer”. It is a slight > variation of the one in the Community Dances Manual. Callers just make up a > 32 bar sequence that works for their dancers. > > While it is a good example of all ages having fun together, I > really wish callers would teach the dancers just a tiny bit about how to do > better hand/arm turns and swings :-) > > Happy dancing, > John > > John Sweeney, Dancer, England [email protected] 01233 625 362 & 07802 940 > 574 > http://contrafusion.co.uk/KentCeilidhs.html for Live Music Ceilidhs > > http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent > > http://www.modernjive.com for Modern Jive DVDs > > _______________________________________________ > List Name: Callers mailing list > List Address: [email protected] > Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
_______________________________________________ List Name: Callers mailing list List Address: [email protected] Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
