17 Jan
2024
17 Jan
'24
3:31 p.m.
Winston, Alan P. wrote:
Over in English dance land, Bruce Hamilton used to
describe the amount of pulling force as
[Stuff deleted]
Alan, I particularly like the understandable reference to a tetherball pole. I think
it's easy for anyone to comprehend what might happen if one used the same forces on
another dancer that one might use to navigate around the pole.
I heartily agree, also, with your observation that a negotiation takes place every time
one makes (intentional... and choreographed!) contact with another dancer. That period of
negotiation might last only for a second. Even less, maybe. And, I think, it will
determine the quality of the interaction.
Ken Panton
Ottawa
"
More recently he's been taking that the position
that the hand *knows* the right
amount of pull/connection; you can find out by putting your cupped hand around a
tetherball post (or some other round pole) and turning around it with an amount of
weight
you find satisfactory. The static post essentially gives you back as much firmness /
connection as you put into it - and it does it without squeezing your hand or trapping
your thumb.
It may also be worth pointing out that every allemande is, and every swing is, a
negotiation, where you find a mutually comfortable amount of tension and of speed; you
never know whether the person you've come to has a wrist / shoulder / back/ hip
problem or a dizziness/vertigo problem or is just too tired to go around that fast right
now. You're obliged to pay attention to what the other person is giving you and not
pull them off balance or fling them around, and you should offer only a degree of
tension/connection you can tolerate.
-- Alan
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