Korey and Mila
Originally uploaded by mariongreenwood
What I call the 'waiter with a tray', with the palm anything less than vertical in the "Y" axis, although usually more horizontal than Korey's hand in this photo, is a Nuevo-esque anomaly/influence, in my opinion...
I hate to continue the whole traditional v. nuevo debate...but hey, what can I say? I am an admitted purist.
I'll even throw a little gas on the fire. If your hand is less than vertical, okay, I'll give you a few degrees.... if you are holding your left hand more than 15 degrees off of vertical (in the "Y" axis), then you are dancing NUEVO, which makes you a Nuevo Dancer!!!
(grin)
Have at it my nuevo friends...
6 comments:
Make I make a small distinction? I feel a difference between leaders who do the "waiter with a tray" thing (i.e. a bend backward in the wrist) and leaders who keep their wrist straight but straighten their elbow a bit to bring their hand down/out and more horizontal (illustration: top right photo in the collage I just posted on my blog).
I would have to think more to decide whether I agree with you about the "waiter with a tray" - nuevo connection (couldn't it just be that both are newer developments, but unrelated?), but I am fairly certain that, in my experience, the other variation I mentioned is used from time to time while dancing in a very traditional style...
Straighten or even bring the elbow in a bit. If I keep my wrist straight (in the same plane with my forearm), as I bring my elbow in, or push it out, obviously my palm rotates in space, become more, or less vertical in the "Y" axis.
Gavito's elbow is out, upper arm almost horizontal, his hand almost has to be overturned.
For clarification...for me the X axis is horiontal, the direction my eyes look...Y axis is vertical...Z axis is perpendicular to my shoulders...
My upper arm tends to ride high, almost horizontal (unless with a shorter follower)...I think this is why my hand/forearm/wrist tends to be vertical in the Y axis...
I was teasing about the nuevo thing (sort of)...I like to push people's buttons ya know...?
I was always taught that the palm of the leaders left hand should face towards the followers face. That means it may be slightly off vertical if the follower is significantly taller or shorter than the leader.
In practice, I place the left hand into a position where I sense that the follower feels most relaxed which is usually comfortable for me and hopefully for the follower too...
I can live with all sorts of hand positions as long as the leader doesn't insist on either holding my hand above my head, or turning his palm forcibly towards my face so that my palm is twisted outwards. Professional dancers who don't have a day job can probably do that without too much damage, but for me it creates an ache in the forearm and huge tension in the shoulder (try it). As long as he allows me to face my palm forward if I want to, so I can relax the arm, it's OK. That means his palm is facing forward too.
If he won't let me straighten my wrist then I have to find *some* way of not holding his hand properly. Otherwise it's going to hurt.
On second thoughts, another option I'd have in that situation is to hinge outwards into a v-embrace, so perhaps it is sometimes taught as a means of achieving that.
The problem I have with the "waiter with a tray" position is lack of pressure, it's been my observation when I watch nuevos using this position that the leader will tend to bounce his holding hand up and down. I prefer the vertical position for then the leader can give me pressure when required such as when I do quick pivots or giros to his left (thus turning him on his axis as I walk and apply pressure to his palm simultaneously - it works as long as he keeps his frame).
The only time I appreciate the tray position is when the man offers his hand by way of asking for a dance.
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