[Squaredancing] When in Rome.....

[ljknews]

At 7:53 AM -0500 12/21/05, M0220sr at aol.com wrote:

> The last time I looked, Callerlab's styling was that dancers should have
>Hands Up in wave-related formations. Now I know a lot of dancers today are
>taught  a variety of handhold styles - forearm, hands, hands up, hands
>down.  Some dancers, for one reason or another usually don't even try to
>take your hand (or just a glancing blow tap-like touch)  when changing
>formations and that often leads to broken squares and unhappy dancers,
>unfortunately.

Let me preface this by saying I have never even _seen_ a "palm star".

> Everyone has their own style of handholds in their club. If your
>caller/teacher teaches the forearm hold then your club most  likely dances
>with all forearm holds.  Fine.  Another club in the next county, city,
>state, whatever, may be taught hands up or hands only. Fine. 

Here is another.  At Tech Squares the teacher rigorously goes through
the official Callerlab explanation of a Hands Up "Touch A Quarter"
(briefly but rigorously).  But all the angels dance Hands Down, so
3 seconds after the explanation the new dancers have started on a
career of Hands Down dancing.

> Here's the question:  Let's say you go to a special dance hosted by
>another club.  You enter the door and get the door items out of the way
>and enter the hall. You meet friends and chat for a while. The dancing
>starts. You, being from Club A, are now dancing in Club B's hall.  You
>dance forearm hold; Club B dances with "hands up" hold in wave-related
>formations.  Shouldn't you, the "visiting" dancer,  adapt to the way Club

I have actually also never been at a dance where a wave retains "Hands
Up".  It is basically used for Touch A Quarter around Boston.

>B dances when the caller calls "Swing Thru" or any type of movement to
>related to waves?  Or, just because your club swings thru using forearms
>do you insist that Club B dancers adapt to your style of dancing?
>
> The club I'm in dances "hands up".  But when we go to festivals,
>conventions, etc., we always adapt to the style of dancing the host club
>does.  If there is ever a tip where four of our couples dance together
>then we dance hands up as normal. But we don't force our style of dancing
>on other dancers just because that is the way WE do it.
>
> So I would be interested in knowing how you dance when visiting a club
>that dances with handholds different from what you do in your home club.

When I Touch a Quarter, I generally adapt to what the other dancer is
doing, but this is not really uniform by what club they are from.  Right
now I am trying to get straight in my head the different flourishes that
particular clubs use.  The prime difference is between Tech Squares and
Boston Uncommons.  (Boston Uncommons uses the typical gay club flourishes,
colored a bit by hanging out with Tech Squares, and with a few of their
own thrown in by individual dancers.

So my harder question on this subject is -- which flourish should I use
on Weave the Ring when dancing at Border City Squares and encountering
a dancer whom I know to be a member of both Tech Squares and Boston
Uncommons ?   :-)

> I'd actually also like to know what you think of visiting dancers who
>come into your club and "force" your arm into another position to adapt to
>THEIR style of handhold in wave-related formations.

I don't run into that much.  Rigidity is much more likely to be on the
issue of palm-up/palm-down in a line or circle.  I tend to believe in
the "thumbs to the right" approach (otherwise how could same sexed do
"Single Circle to an Ocean Wave"?) but I will take any hand I can get.
When I am commenting to new dancers, I tend to say it is much more
important to be in the right place on the dance floor, facing the right
direction, than to have a particular handhold.  I have seen an Allamande
Thar make it 3/4 around with a few of the centers hands just pointing
vaguely to the center trying to sort out the pack saddle grip.  If they
had only gotten the grip right at the start...the square would be broken
down !
-- 
Larry Kilgallen