[Callers] Re Swinging

Hi Jeff, No, I don't do slow swings (unless my partner wants to go slowly, or I have to go into self-defense mode!). Impressive maths - but I think the calculations are a little more complex. :-) Sharing the (small) load might be worthwhile. But there are still these challenges: - Some ladies can't comfortably reach the man's shoulder-blade - Any other hand position is likely to generate gripping if she is trying to share the load - Her hand behind the shoulder-blade makes clockwise exits more difficult - Most ladies who reach around to my shoulder-blade tend to push in with their hand (maybe because they are having trouble reaching it) which is uncomfortable I find swinging with a partner who relaxes their left hand onto the front of my arm FAR more pleasurable. Because the ballroom hold is asymmetrical there can't be a 50-50 share in the connection. Of course if you do a Northumberland swing, a ceilidh swing, a Galway swing, a sweetheart swing, a hornpipe swing, etc. then you do have symmetry and then you can share the load. But I have never noticed much difference in the load when I do those swings as compared to a ballroom hold, so I guess the load must be small! :-) I get people to spin fast with a buzz-step by themselves first - they never fall over even though no-one else is holding them up. If they do the same thing when joined with a partner then the pressure is low. Let's try it on the dance-floor some time. Happy dancing, John John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362 & 07802 940 574 http://www.modernjive.com for Modern Jive Events, Instructional DVDs and Interactive Maps http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent