Re: [Callers] Allemandes

On Feb 15, 2014, at 2:59 PM, Erik Hoffman wrote, re teaching about allemande holds: I totally agree. Straight wrists and curved fingers are the most natural state for the hand when pulling on almost anything, at least if the shape of whatever you're holding permits the fingers to curve around it. For some examples, look at the hands in these images: http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/woman-carrying-shopping-bag-advertising-sale… http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/business-woman-carrying-briefcase-8692358.jpg http://static7.depositphotos.com/1192060/760/i/950/depositphotos_7608804-Wo… http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/cms/uploads/1/chinup_1.jpg http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RenoufHelpingHand.jpeg [rowers] http://www.freestockphotos.biz/pictures/14/14027/rowboat.jpg http://thumb1.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/1026019/112272908/stoc… http://thumb1.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/1571630/142589590/stoc… http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/05/03/nyregion/03subway.span.600.j… http://etischer.com/europe/Pentax1_10_Hand_holding_pole_on_subway.jpg http://www.skye4birds.com/toons.htm [parachute ripcord] http://d3thflcq1yqzn0.cloudfront.net/025912724_iconv.jpeg [drawer] http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/hand-opening-cabinet-door-26630046.jpg http://img2-2.timeinc.net/toh/i/a/yard/lawn-mowers-2-00.jpg http://images.colourbox.com/thumb_COLOURBOX4846423.jpg [curtain] http://www.thewhirlingwind.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/voting-lever1.jpg http://www.corbisimages.com/stock-photo/rights-managed/HU021966/female-brak… http://coffeegeek.com/images/1828/pavoni_lever.jpg http://www.corbisimages.com/images/Corbis-42-15677132.jpg?size=67&uid=9… [child's wagon] http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-51015478/stock-vector-vector-illustration-o… http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/110296/110296,125586162… http://www.hellomagazine.com/imagenes//celebrities/201107055706/geri-halliw… [Some mail software may split long URLs, and you might need to take some care to reassemble them correctly.] Note the variety of situations depicted in the images. The hands are pulling in various directions: upward, downward, horizontally, diagonally. The forces involved can be small (carrying a small briefcase or opening a cabinet door) or large (doing chin-ups). The object may simply be held from moving or may actually be moved, or the person may move toward the object (chin-up bar). The elbows may be straight or bent. Of course none of the things people are holding in the pictures will actually grab someone's hand and unexpectedly twist it into an uncomfortable position, but there are certainly cases in which the object's resistance to the person's pull is somewhat unpredictable (kite string spool, oars in rough water, poles and bars in moving transit vehicle, water ski bar). Still, all these images show curved fingers and straight (or nearly straight) wrists. Now imagine someone doing any or all of the activities shown in the pictures listed above, but keeping their wrists sharply flexed and their fingers straight as shown in the these pictures: http://nervesurgery.wustl.edu/NerveImages/MISC%20-%20EM%20(Images%20Require… http://cloud.golfloopy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Wrist-Flexion2.jpg http://www.sonomaorthopedics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Wrist-flexion-f… It would seem bizarre, wouldn't it? And yet I've seen many, many dancers offer their hands for allemandes with wrists bent and fingers straight. I just don't get it. *** Important disclaimer: Nothing I say is meant to imply that it's okay to disrespect the needs of dancers with frail or injured wrists, elbows, shoulders, thumbs, etc. As just one of many examples, if someone's physical condition is such that the want to replace "Men allemande left once and a half" with "Men pass by left shoulder", other dancers should cheerfully let them do so. --Jim