Speaking of allemandes - is there ANY way to teach experienced dancers to not bend their wrists when they allemande?  The wrist is supposed to be straight, not bent, as bending can cause pain to the other person's wrist (generally mine).  Nowadays when I find a person allemande with a bent wrist I go ahead and keep mine straight and sacrifice a good allemande with weight for protecting my arm and wrist.  As for thumbs, I protect my thumb in an allemande or a wavy line by keeping it close to my hand, not straight up ready to be grasped.  I found that by "dancing defensively" in this manner I can protect all my digits and limbs and continue on the joy of dancing longer! Perry --- On Tue, 3/13/12, Andrea Nettleton <twirly-girl(a)bellsouth.net> wrote: From: Andrea Nettleton <twirly-girl(a)bellsouth.net> Subject: Re: [Callers] Re Allemande Hold (was Analysis of Stars) To: "Caller's discussion list" <callers(a)sharedweight.net> Date: Tuesday, March 13, 2012, 3:08 PM As a dancer my personal solution to the Rory o more situation has been to have an old fashioned allemande grip for the first balance, as I balance away and have a little momentum to help tear the hands apart, I switch to an ECD hold, kind of like what you do for a balance before a swing, then it is only curved fingers, which actually give plenty of oomph to the spin, but also disengage easily.  I don't spin out of allemandes as much, maybe because few women give enough connection to do so, in fact there is often no time for such a flourish because the connection is too weak to accelerate the allemande.  This has nothing to do with the position of our hands or fingers or thumbs, but more a refusal to engage the whole arm so the presence of their body can be felt.  I love a zesty dance weekend where a high proportion of women connect.  I think by and large, we all wrap our fingers around the base of the other person's thumb, often enough with our thumbs also loosely curled arou nd.  The only time I recently remember being 'gripped' was by a terrified newbie who seemed to want to hold on in hopes we would all help him get where he needed to be.  Although it hurt, I was sorry for his fear and simply slid my thumb straight down.  Like catching a falling pencil, it is pretty hard for someone to hold your thumb if you pull straight down. Cheers, Andrea Sent from my iPhone On Mar 13, 2012, at 2:20 PM, Ron Nelson <callerman(a)hotmail.com> wrote: _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)sharedweight.net http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers

I don't know if seasoned dancers who engage in a bad habit are able to hear that they are in error. In a new dancer workshop, I show and tell that the two dancers in an allemande are like two panes in a revolving door and their joined hands are like the post they turn around. Their arms should be in a flat open W shape along the plane of the glass. They should maintain the same relative position to one another. If they do so, and keep their wrists flat, I say, they are well positioned to help one another around with the firm presence of their bodies flowing into their arms. I demonstrate that when one person tries to speed up by curling their wrist and scooting faster than their complement, they not only break down all possibility of teamwork, but can do damage. Here I make exaggerated contortions with my demo partner. The point is generally well taken. I don't know if one could get away with such a teaching point during the evening, unless you were doing a dance with an allemande 2X round and could justify trying to keep everyone safe while ensuring they had the tools to get all the way round twice? I don't know. I think uncurling the curled fists that people impose on us while dancing might be the best we can do for those with a deeply ingrained habit. Andrea Sent from my iPhone On Mar 13, 2012, at 8:42 PM, Chris Page <chriscpage(a)gmail.com> wrote:

The straight wrist is , of course, not the whole story...it also requires keeping your hand out away from your body. You can keep your wrist perfetly straight. and tweak the crap out of the other dancer by pulling in too far. I believe this is one point where it is important to clarify what "giving weight" is all about. Bob On Tue, Mar 13, 2012 at 10:48 PM, Michael Fuerst <mjerryfuerst(a)yahoo.com>wrote;wrote:

Sometimes the other person will get it if you place a single finger (from your other hand) on the back of their (bent) wrist. On Mar 13, 2012, at 3:17 PM, Perry Shafran wrote: