During an allemande, dancers should think of their arn as a spring--neither the elbow nor is rigid. Without instruction, most beginners will keep one or both rigid
On Wed, Jan 17, 2024 at 7:39 PM Read Weaver via Contra Callers < [email protected]> wrote: > I quite like Alan’s tetherball pole, something I’ll keep in mind. > > I’ve so rarely found anyone giving too much weight that I’ve thought the > objections to the term were theoretical rather than practical, but perhaps > I’ve been lucky (or give too much weight myself). It has occurred to me > that “taking weight” is perhaps a better term, since that better suggests > something you’re offering rather than demanding. > > When I teach beginners, the very first thing I do is teach giving weight, > both because I think it’s so important, and because I then point out > moments where you can do it in all* the other figures. For example, in a > chain across, I describe the connection that the people crossing have as > they take hands and pull past as giving weight, awa a very different giving > weight in a well-done courtesy turn. I think calling all of that “giving > weight” is a way of getting across that it’s not just one thing, and that > it’s really central to the difference between dancing near others and > dancing with others. And I’ll tell beginners that if they’re good at giving > weight, they can make lots of mistakes and people will think it’s their own > fault ‘cause they’ll assume from the good giving weight that they’re > dancing with a skilled dancer. > *Except wrist-grip star—possible to do it, and if you do you’ll hurt the > person whose wrist you’re gripping. > > The trick I start with for learning it is to have folks in allemande > position, and then have them go around really fast while paying close > attention to what that feels like in their hand and arm. I’ll then have > them do it again, starting out fast and then slowing down (maybe slower > than you’d actually dance it) while keeping that same feeling in their hand > and arm. > > But the original question was about _improving_ skills—the specific thing > for that would be giving weight in a circle, something that so rarely > happens. In my beginners’ classes, I point out that a circle four is a > really boring figure, _unless_ everyone is giving weight; then it’s > actually a pretty worthwhile figure. (It’s why grapevine step has inveigled > it’s way from club squares—it adds something at least a little interesting > to a (weightless, poorly done) circle four. I strongly discourage it, since > it’s so much harder (albeit not impossible) to give steady weight while > grapevining.) > > Read Weaver > Jamaica Plain, MA > http://lcfd.org > > _______________________________________________ > Contra Callers mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >
_______________________________________________ Contra Callers mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected]
