[Squaredancing] Subject: Roughness in dancing

[Caller-G]

Primarily because they haven't been "corrected" when it first showed up!

It's one of the key teaching points I focus on with new dancers & often have to 'repeat' (remind) with the more experienced ones. 
For Ocean Waves.. palm to palm "contact", no thumbs, no grips, just small pressure to say "I'm here".   If you don't insist on 'contact only',
then someone can get hurt if a swing thru is started incorrectly & someone is "hanging  on" !
I tell dancers if they encounter a 'thumb grabber', then pull your own thumb across your palm so they can't grab it ! (if it ain't there, they can't grab it).
For arm turns, 'contact' only, again no grips etc....

As a Caller I have to remain ever vigilant for this on the dance floor & correct it as I find it.  I will not 'single out' a particular dancer
in 'public' but will remind "all" about the correct way of doing it.  If the problem persists with the same dancer, then I will have a 
"one-on-one" discussion with that dancer to get the problem corrected.
With the age of our dancers being generally in the over 50 range, dancers can be hurt, either by a shoulder wrench &/or squeezed
hands that suffer from arthritis, and that removes all the enjoyment for them.

For the "twirlers", I tell the ladies 2 things - if you don't want to be twirled, then push the contact hand down.  If that doesn't work,
look him in the eye and tell him "I don't want to be twirled".  And again, if the problem continues, talk to me & I'll deal with it.

And, to keep it "light" with new dancers, when teaching these points the first time around, I tell them that if their hand gets
squeezed, that they have my "expressed permission" to scream & drop to one knee.... they'll usually only have to do that once
to get the point across !    In my 8 years of teaching new dancers, that hasn't happened yet, but I have had to 'talk to' more
than one dancer about being rough.  Goes with the Caller job description I guess?

If you go to my website & click on "Callers Corner", there's an article there that I've written for our local Square Dance Magazine
that all our local dancers get the chance to read.  It never hurts to repeat the message!

Geoff Clarke,
Carleton Place, Ontario,
Canada
Web: http://callerg.squaresandrounds.com
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: M0220sr at aol.com 
  To: squaredancing at rbnsn.com 
  Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 12:27 AM
  Subject: [Squaredancing] Subject: Roughness in dancing



  Why is it that some dancers feel the need to "arm wrestle" when doing a Swing Thru  or other types of   arm turns?

  Our club dances "hands-up" (waves, etc.).  Invariably there will be one man, perhaps two, per night in the hall that insists in trying to arm wrestle with you in the act of completing a Swing Thru and/or similar movements.  He can't just make contact, walk forward and complete the 180-degree turn and release.  He has clamp onto your hand and apply an abundance of pressure on the turn usually pushing your arm back and out of the way.  This makes it much more difficult to complete the simple movement.

  This same type of person will also force a lady to twirl even though she has her arm down and not wishing to do so.

  Does anyone have a similar occurrence and perhaps a solution to this problem?

  Richard M.






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