Re: [Callers] Swing Hand Placement

Hi Jeff, Thanks for your detailed replies. I did say that not everyone would agree about placing the lady's arm on the man's forearm rather than his back during a swing :-) Just because lots of people do it one way doesn't make it the best or only way. Countless aspects of the dance have changed over the decades; nothing is written in stone. Improvisation and innovation are good! I gave all the reasons I could think of as to why I prefer the lady's arm on my forearm rather than my back, to try to get people to at least think about it. If the lady is a good dancer, keeps her own balance, can move her arm instantly to handle any flourish, can actually reach my shoulder blade, and doesn't press in, then I am absolutely fine with her placing her hand on my shoulder blade. But not all ladies are like that. I dance a lot, in a lot of places, and I meet lots of wonderful ladies who swing beautifully. Sadly I also meet ladies who grip my arm, clamp my arm, strangle me, hang off me, lean away from me, press their hand into my back - even to the extent of turning their hand and pressing the bony edge into my back (I think they think it is stylish!) - etc. So I strongly prefer to teach that the lady just rests her hand on my arm. One minor point: you say you prefer the lady's hand on your back so that they can support their weight. I would hope that the lady will be supporting her weight with her feet. All the hand on the back is for is to resist centrifugal force and in 50 years of swinging I have never found it a problem to be the one resisting it. My arms get sore as well (tends to be my shoulders rather than my wrists), but it is not from resisting centrifugal force. It is from supporting ladies who lean back or push back. When you have a perfect counterbalance with both partners relaxed then you can have a high speed swing with very little effort. But we are all different! There are countless different ways to swing. Please just think next time you teach a swing that maybe it is OK to show a couple of hand positions and tell the ladies that it is OK to choose the one that is most comfortable. And that wherever they place it they don't need to press. By the way, when I swing as a lady I find just as many challenges with the way some men swing :-) Yes, it would be much better to continue this discussion on the dance-floor. I was talking to my wife only yesterday about trying to get to New England for one of our vacations again. I'll let you know if we ever make it. Otherwise I look forward to seeing you in London or Kent, or Phoenix on New Year's Eve or the January Frolic; we are also hoping to get to the Contra Carnivale in January (New England in January isn't warm enough for a vacation for us :-) ). Happy dancing, John John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362 http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent