Thus the perils of all language. Because of my personal ways of thinking (somewhat twisted in physics labs and engineering classes, alas), the words “weight” and “pressure” have precise mechanical meanings. As they have been used in some of these examples, they have helped me and others improve their dancing, as empirically demonstrated on the dance floor. None of my dance partners would

accuse me of shoving them about, nor would anyone look at the typical dancer coming out of a George Marshall dance lesson and think they had been ill taught.

Even so, others of us have had unwelcome results using these same words on different days with different dancers in different places, because language is fluid and variable across time and culture.

To me, pressure and weight are things measured in pounds or newtons. If there is meaningful connection between two objects, such as between the hands of two dancers, then there *will* be measurable pressure and weight between them. To understand what I’m getting at, try an allemande with so little pressure between the hands that a piece of paper would slip out between them. It would be no different from allemanding a weightless ghost.

To some, “give weight”, is heard as “maintain the sort of connection through your arms such that your partner can feel that your body is responding as a whole rather than just your arm.” Successful communication. To others, “give weight” is heard as “lean or pull on the other person so they are taking on some of your weight.” Failed communication; time to clarify your words or try different ones altogether.

When I said push up or push down, I didn’t mean shove or haul with an intent to move something substantial. I meant, “When you are holding hands there will be some amount of pressure in the physics sense; if there isn’t then you aren’t in physical contact at all. Don’t pull towards yourself like you’re doing curls in the gym, nor push away, nor let them hang loose. Don’t squeeze either. If you maintain solid but gentle palm to palm pressure with your elbows bent, it can put the rest of your upper body, from hand to shoulder to shoulder to hand, in a good amount of gentle physical tension to keep your whole body involved in the dance.”

It has worked for me. If sometimes I see that’s not what my dancers are hearing, I’ll try different words.

-jeh

On Wed, Jan 17, 2024 at 2:28 AM John Sweeney via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

I am sorry, but I disagree with anything that says to put pressure into connection. Why would you need to push up or down when holding hands in a circle? Why would you need to pull in an Allemande?

Hold your hand in space in the correct position for the move and support it there with your own muscles. Then connect with the other people. That’s all. You don’t need to pull or push in any direction to feel their hand and work together.

When you start moving all you need to do is use your muscles to keep the connection the same. For an Allemande what you are fighting is centrifugal force, not your partner. As you speed up (by using your feet) then you apply just enough muscle to keep the W shape of your arms. If your hand moves towards your body you are leaning away or pulling too hard (which, sadly, at least 80% of contra dancers do!). If your hand moves away from your body you need to use your muscles to bring it back centrally. Unfortunately, as I mentioned, it is probably the other dancer pulling too hard so that you have no chance of keeping the nice W shape unless you pull even harder and it ends up as arm-wrestling instead of dancing. :-(

All rotations should be a gentle counter-balance.

Exercise: See how fast you can turn in an Allemande while keeping a perfect W shape with your arms. Always start with no resistance and only increase it by the minimum amount to keep the hands central against centrifugal force. Your key objective should be to get around once and a half in eight steps since Allemande 1.5 is a common move (too common in my opinion!)

Alan’s example of using a static post instead of a partner works the same way. See how fast you can go and only use your muscles to keep your arm shape unchanged. See how fast you can go with as little muscle as possible.

The same principle applies in a circle. Just use your muscles to keep the circle perfect.

People talk about needing tension. They very rarely tell you how much tension! The average dancer assumes that they mean a lot of tension. In fact you should always go for the minimum tension needed to make the move work. When I run Swing Variations Workshops I always start by getting people to take a Ballroom-Hold; then I ask each dancer to tell their partner about any points of pressure that they are feeling and I ask them to relax. I often get comments on how useful that is; they didn’t realise that they were pressing/pulling/hanging/etc.

You may find this article useful: Tension Is Your Enemy!
http://modernjive.com/history/tension.html

Although it is about a different dance genre, the basic principles still apply. It is especially relevant if you want to improve your flourishes, such as the twirls in a Ladies’ Chain.

Remember, as one great teacher taught me, “it’s not my job to drag your ass across the floor”. Everyone is responsible for executing the move themselves – connection just helps.

An early Circle Mixer in an evening is a great way of letting all the new people experience doing lots of moves with lots of different dancers so that they can feel what is good and what is not.

Anyway, that’s what I think! I hope some of it helps.

            Happy dancing,
                   John

John Sweeney, Dancer, England   john@modernjive.com 01233 625 362 & 07802 940 574
http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent
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