On Thu, 1 Aug 2024 08:06:03 -0400, Rick Mohr via Contra Callers wrote:
Give & Take can have more connection than most
dancers put in. In the walkthrough I say for example (from Joseph
Pimentel) (and, I think, as its creator Larry Jennings envisioned it) — "Walk
forward, take your partner's free
hand. Take a step back to make some tension in those arms; robins, release that tension
by zipping across the set
into a partner swing."
I seem to have learnt Give & Take differently from most people. I asked Sue Rosen,
who said:
You are correct that Larry's intention was that
the move follow a swing which opens up facing across the set in what
Larry told me was "half shoulder-waist position": staying connected from the
swing. Couples advance to the opposite
couple and extend free hands to the person across for the tug and resist element,
followed by a swing on the
designated side.
But in the book "Give-and-Take it doesn't mention the half shoulder-waist
position or the resisting, and therefore
people aren't doing it. They go forward in lines, or just with inside hands joined,
and the men draw the women back to
their side of the set with no resistance, just like part of a poussette.
Colin Hume