Ditto all that.I tell dancers (and demonstrate) that only my ring and pinky fingers are wrapped around the base of the other's thumb and the rest of my hand is loose.  I think that helps them understand that this isn't a "power" move (read "arm wrestle"), but more gentle but with a good connection, flat wrist, imagine a pole where our hands are and we're walking around the pole. Let's keep working on this! Donna Hunt -----Original Message----- From: Bree Kalb via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> To: Martha Wild <mawild(a)sbcglobal.net> Cc: Caller's discussion list <callers(a)sharedweight.net> Sent: Sat, May 18, 2019 8:37 am Subject: Re: [Callers] Hand Turns & Safety This is a long term project of mine: to teach and encourage what I call “the physical therapist approved” way to Allemande. I don’t seem to be making much progress so am delighted that others care about it, too.   On Fri, May 17, 2019 at 8:55 PM Martha Wild via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: Hear, hear! My sentiments exactly! How on earth are you supposed to “give weight” (in the proper way, just a tiny bit so you are both part of a unit) and get around each other with a flat, palm to palm contact? The only way that works is that people bend their wrists so that they have some purchase on the other person. Which hurts my now no longer flat wrist! So wrong, painfully wrong. Please, please, please, stop teaching a flat hand allemande. It doesn’t work. Curved fingers, straight wrist, the thumb is just sort of loose and not doing much. Thank you for bringing that up, Erik!Martha On May 17, 2019, at 3:01 PM, Erik Hoffman via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: John Sweeny below hoped we callers would teach more about hand turns and the like. I’ve been thinking on this for quite a while. Years ago I had a discussion with Brad Foster. We both lamented the loss of the allemande with mildly interlocking thumbs to the modern overprotective thumb against the side of the palm allemande. At that time I think I was still in Santa Barbara, thus it must have been pre 1994. I wrote an article for our dance rag called, “If Allemande Left, Where’d Allemande Go?” I talked about what I do when someone grips my hand—and I think all of us should remove that word, “grip” from our caller’s vocabulary… But the most important thing I discussed is: - Our Wrist is Strongest When It’s Straight - Our Fingers are Strongest When Curved - Thus, however one does an allemande, it should be a hook, with curved fingers and a straight wrist.  Lately I’ve seen teachers promote the straight fingers, bent wrist, and flat palm method. The almost always makes one person’s wrist uncomfortable. Not as bad as when someone draws the others hand into that almost-Aikido-put-them-on-the-ground position, but usually quite uncomfortable. Thus I hope most of us learn the curved fingers, straight wrist, no grip, and, no thumb clamping allemande, ECD hand turn, two hand turn type hand connections. ~Erik Hoffman,   Oakland, CA From: Callers <callers-bounces(a)lists.sharedweight.net> On Behalf Of John Sweeney via Callers Sent: Friday, May 17, 2019 2:09 PM To: 'Caller's discussion list' <callers(a)sharedweight.net> Subject: Re: [Callers] Name that Dance Hi Rich,              I would just call it a “Big Set Mixer”.  It is a slight variation of the one in the Community Dances Manual.  Callers just make up a 32 bar sequence that works for their dancers.               While it is a good example of all ages having fun together, I really wish callers would teach the dancers just a tiny bit about how to do better hand/arm turns and swings :-)             Happy dancing,                                            John                                                                     John Sweeney, Dancer, England   john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362 & 07802 940 574                         http://contrafusion.co.uk/KentCeilidhs.html for Live Music Ceilidhs                       http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent                                         http://www.modernjive.com for Modern Jive DVDs _______________________________________________ List Name:  Callers mailing list List Address:  Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net Archives:  https://www.mail-archive.com/callers@lists.sharedweight.net/ _______________________________________________ List Name:  Callers mailing list List Address:  Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net Archives:  https://www.mail-archive.com/callers@lists.sharedweight.net/ _______________________________________________ List Name:  Callers mailing list List Address:  Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net Archives:  https://www.mail-archive.com/callers@lists.sharedweight.net/