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strathspey@strathspey.org:45499

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John Chambers

John Chambers

Re: Regarding Dance Technique and Etiquette

June 9, 2006, 11:57 p.m. (Message 45499, in reply to message 45485)

Martin wrote:
|
| The same grip is commonly used among French traditional dancers, and
| although I
| insist on handshake hold on country dancing, I still like the
| palm-to-palm style in celidh dancing, as it is firm for a
| good fast turn than tha handshake hold.
| If this were not true, why do (some) SCDers turn their orthodox
| handshake into a kind of knot, twisting their wrists in order to get a
| firm grip in 2-bar turns?
| That is something I am not at all keen on.

An explanation I've heard from some SCD teachers, usually along  with
a  demo,  is that the "handshake" hold is the most versatile.  If you
have fingers in contact, and your arms straight, you can  do  a  very
slow,  wide  turn  that takes several bars.  Or, by moving closer and
wrapping your wrists around the others', you can do  a  fast,  flying
turn.  And you can adjust to any speed in between without a change of
grip, just changing how much your arms twine around each other.

Maybe this is why the grip developed.  Or maybe the explanation  came
after  the fact, as people discovered this versatility of a grip that
was originally done for some other reason (or no reason at all).

OTOH, there's something to be said for  adopting  whatever  grip  the
rest of the dancers are using.


--
   _,
   O   John Chambers
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   +   <xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx>
  /#\  in Waltham, Massachusetts, USA, Earth
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