[Callers] Giving Weight

[Andrea Nettleton via Callers]

I use a buzz step plus elbow swing to give the sense that people rotating quickly around a point of connection will naturally fall away from one another, that this is desirable, and to note that they have to use their own strength to hold themselves up with their own bent arm.  Then in ballroom hold, I invite them to note that when they bend their knees as if beginning to sit, their weight automatically becomes counterweight.
Andrea

Sent from my iOnlypretendtomultitask

> On Jun 24, 2015, at 1:22 PM, Rich Sbardella via Callers <callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> 
> My main concern is how to acquire that tension/counterweight in a swing, if you do not lean back.
> Rich
> 
>> On Wed, Jun 24, 2015 at 3:33 PM, Kalia Kliban via Callers <callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>>> On 6/24/2015 11:29 AM, Rich Sbardella via Callers wrote:
>>> 
>>> How do you descibe giving weight, and how do you teach it for circles,
>>> allemandes, and, swings?
>>> Rich
>>> Stafford, CT
>> 
>> In my beginner sessions, I have them form a ring and then circle left and right a couple of times.  Then I ask them to bend their elbows and feel "that springy tension between you and the dancers next to you.  If you can keep that elasticity while you're connected to other dancers, then you're all supporting each other as you circle and turn, and it makes everything easier."  And then we circle again, with the extra bit of sproing, and then do the same with allemandes.  Just for fun, sometimes I'll have them go back to the floppy arms, just to feel the difference.  I also let them know that with a little bit of tension in the connection, it's easier for the person they're dancing with to give them physical cues.
>> 
>> And I know there's a better word than tension, and I'm pretty sure I've used it in the past, but right now I can't think of it.
>> 
>> Kalia
>> Sebastopol, CA
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