[Squaredancing] Subject: When in Rome

[ljknews]

At 12:57 AM -0400 8/16/05, M0220sr at aol.com wrote:

> However, there is just one tiny aggravating thing they do....they want to
>force you to use their style of grip instead of adapting to the hands-up
>position like we do.  They come to you to do an arm turn or a Swing Thru
>and will bring your hand down into a forearm grip as much as saying,
>"You're doing it wrong and I am more than glad to wrench your arm into the
>proper position for us to get through the Swing Thru....and DON'T DO IT
>AGAIN!"
>
> Why is that? 

I have been square dancing in the Boston area for 4 years now,
and to me "hands up" Swing Thru is just a rumor.  Some clubs
and dancers in this area do a "hands up" Touch A Quarter and
some (those who dance Mainstream and Plus with Advanced and
Challenge dancers) do a normal (to me) Touch a Quarter.  When
the two types meet, somebody adapts.  But conceptually doing
a "hands up" Swing Thru seems quite hard to me.

Of course wrenching someone else's arm is always wrong.

> I was also taught that you never force a lady to twirl (like some
>aggressive people do) and that if she has her arm down when approaching
>you don't twirl and if she has her arm up, that is your signal that she
>doesn't mind twirling on a Right and Left Grand.  And if you do twirl you
>don't release her in such a manner that she loses her balance and/or goes
>into orbit or into another square.

My training with the "Tug and Twirl" is that there is a little tug
between dancers on the right hand (partner and opposite) for that
flourish.  I have never seen an "arm up" position on a Right and
Left Grand.
-- 
Larry Kilgallen