10 Apr
2013
10 Apr
'13
8:10 p.m.
What I've tried once is, instead of "you figure it out," ask dancers to put
a hand, any hand, on the other person's shoulder blade. This might require
a short demonstration, but the idea is this: once you've got the connection
with two dancers, each with one hand on the other's shoulder blade, they've
got the most important elements to a swing and can figure out what to do
with the other hand later.
When I tried demonstrating this (again, only once, and it worked OK but not
sure if it's replicable), I simply showed the three possible results: one
person with right hand on left shoulder blade, other person with left on
right shoulder blade leads to a standard ballroom-position swing; both
people with right hands on left shoulder blades leads to the swing I
described above (or a swing with the left hands grasped at waist level,
which some people seem to like); and both people with left hands on right
shoulder blades, which is weird and atypical but works fine. As long as
they have that connection started, they can figure out what to do with the
other hands while in the process of swinging.
On Wed, Apr 10, 2013 at 6:49 PM, Ryan Smith <thesmithra(a)gmail.com> wrote:
"What works well is if the more experienced
dancer takes the less
familiar position. Just position your hands to indicate that you're
ok taking the less customary role, and if the other person is faster
to do so, go with that instead."
Jeff
I'd like to look at this issue as a caller, rather than a dancer:
When calling such a dance we, as callers, should not assume that for every
pairing at least one of the two has danced the other role. "The more
experienced of you should take the less customary role" is not useful
advice to 2 people who just started today.
I dislike the idea of telling the dancers "you figure it out." We should
probably teach a symmetric swing so there can be a default amongst those
dancers who don't yet have a collection of alternate swings and experience
dancing both roles. Dancers with a certain level and type of experience
will, of course, make something up regardless of what we tell them.
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David Casserly
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