Spare Arm Syndrome

[Gareth]

Excuse this thread if its been tackled before. If it has, please feel free to point me in the correct direction

How do you suggest both Guys and Girls deal with this issue.
Personally coming into Jive with a Ballroom/ Latin background its not an issue because it was ground into me at a very early age. But recently I was asked what the accepted view on this was. I would be interested on your perspectives please.

[Bill]

Depends what move you're doing ......the spare arm is the one not attached to your partner at the time - so sometimes there are two spare arms.


Always seems to be easier for the woman to do something stylish with the arm. I still have a problem with mine and it tends to hang about waiting for something to do. I try and watch some of the good dancers for tips.

[Franck]

Originally posted by Gareth
How do you suggest both Guys and Girls deal with this issue.

Assuming you mean the 'dead' arm on the side, then it really is a problem. Typically men are far too busy concentrating on moves, feet, their partner and their 'active' (ie leading) hand, to focus on their spare arm.
The best thing to do is to think of your general posture, rather than just your spare arm, adopt a better posture, strengthening your shoulders, keeping them forward and down. This will give a slightly 'funkier' look to your dancing, and will bring your spare arm forward and upwards.
You could also encourage the guys to click their fingers with the beat (though that can become another bad habit too )
Any general exercise encouraging men (and women) to focus on their spare arm would be useful, like asking the guys to dance a full record with their arm bent behind their back or out to the side(not in freestyle, but during a workshop).

[Gadget]

Watching a few people, there are a couple of solutions that seem to be popular:
- Tramp folds his over his belly with hand spread.
- Bill tends to use it to (almost) mirror the lady, especially on some of the sweeps and fluid movements.
- Franck brings it forward and "clicks" or 'places' his hand
- I think that Roy either has it behind his back or in a sort of "ready" position most of the time
- I have found myself leaving it where I last had contact with the lady or trying to follow her movements.

I think that the off-hand lends a lot of what we perceive as "style" to the dancer. As to which is right, which looks best, or which works best; it's up to the individual.

[Chicklet]

at least one of our well ken't faces uses it to er point to his er trousers! (but denies it)

[Bill]

Originally posted by Gadget
- Bill tends to use it to (almost) mirror the lady, especially on some of the sweeps and fluid movements.

Do I .............must watch myself to see what I do with it as I'm never really sure. But many men do seem to keep it 'tucked' away across their stomach or behind their back. Must make more of an effort to watch some videosof good male dancers.

[Gadget]

Originally posted by Bill
Do I

...only the times that it's not carressing your partner or reaching for her {} You also tend to use it in poses to emphisise the lines very well - if your back leg is straight with a free back arm, then it's straight too & at a roughly parallel angle.

I sometimes feel I would learn more if I sat out a few more dances... naaaa - it's more fun boogieing

{BTW Two minuites ago I looked out the window: glorious sunshine and clear skys. Now it's snowing horizontally and I can't see the otherside of the river!!... and now I see blue skys through the snow! }

[Chris]

What's your opinion, Gareth?

I was chatting to Lily about it at Bognor - at one point she quickly illustrated the conversation with 'standard' arm/hand shapes for various types of ballroom/latin/other dance, then we said, well what's the 'correct' way for modern jive? (At which point I suggested 'damp lettuce leaf' and we fell about laughing.)

Franck's suggestion sounds as if it might be imported from Rock and Roll, a strong influence on original 'hardcore' ceroc, but in reality don't we import lots of styles for hand/arm position?

My own thought, if any, (and this is a personal attitude rather than a recommendation) is keep it above waist level most of the time for starters, then get some ideas from ballet or contemporary (I use this, or kinetic imagery, or just nick stuff).

[Gareth]

Personally I use my right arm to re-emphasis the move or body position I`m performing. Sometimes I point in the direction I`m going or using it as an attention seeking device.

More importantly is the use of the arm to balance when spinning and to help give the appearance of co-ordination. Where possible I like my right arm to mirror the other one AKA latin Stance.

If you watch Latin Americain dancers they try to mirror the arm movement of their partners. This gives the impression of partner co-ordination.

There appears to be few classes in Jive that address these details.

[Bill]

Originally posted by Gadget
[B{BTW Two minuites ago I looked out the window: glorious sunshine and clear skys. Now it's snowing horizontally and I can't see the otherside of the river!!... and now I see blue skys through the snow! } [/b]

Well folks .........we have a blizzard here in Aberdeen !!!!!!!!
.............. Bet all you of down south will be sorry they're not here !!

My spare arm will be keeping my coat collar up

[spindr]

My spare arm styling is definitely influenced by Michael Flatley

SpinDr.

[Stuart M]

Surely what you do with the spare arm is determined by the musical style?

For instance, with Latiny things I try to tuck mine in front or behind. With more clubby stuff it flies about (still working on this), whereas with bluesy stuff, increasingly, it's not "spare" at all .

I've also started to become more aware of my spare hand shape (e.g. spread fingers, closed, etc.). I'm miles away from getting all these things right, but at least I'm aware of them now.

[DavidB]

Given how crowded some venues have been lately, my main concern is not hitting anyone!

Other than that I try not to make my arm too stylised. It might not look as showy as Latin-style arms, but it feels a lot more comfortable to me. I also lead a lot of 2 handed moves, or moves that alternate from one hand to the other. Then I've nothing to worry about.

David

[Lynn]

In beginners class last week we were doing that side to side thing with the women crossing over the front of the men with their back to them. I was trying (!) to add some style – so busy concentrating on that that I didn’t notice that I had my hand out to the side ready for the man to take it as I passed across the front – which put it at just the right height to brush something on the way past… oops! Needless to say I was concentrating on my arm positions more after that!!

On a more serious note, never thought about this before - girls have 'spare' arms too so will see what I do with mine this week.

[Tiggerbabe]

Originally posted by Lynn
just the right height to brush something on the way past… oops! Needless to say I was concentrating on my arm positions more after that!!

Really Lynne? Did you manage to do it better the second time?

[Lynn]

Originally posted by Sheena
Really Lynne? Did you manage to do it better the second time?

Almost did it again later Must practice that move....

[Bill]

Originally posted by Lynn
Almost did it again later Must practice that move....

Well you can practice it when you come back over to Scotland to dance. We'll offer lots of feedback.

[Lynn]

Originally posted by Bill
Well you can practice it when you come back over to Scotland to dance. We'll offer lots of feedback.

Meanwhile...(in an attempt to get back on thread ) do women get 'spare arm syndrome'? Haven't noticed what I do - probably hold it up and out a bit, for balance etc. Any other suggestions?

[Bill]

Originally posted by Lynn


Meanwhile...(in an attempt to get back on thread ) do women get 'spare arm syndrome'? Haven't noticed what I do - probably hold it up and out a bit, for balance etc. Any other suggestions?

Lily was discussing this as a style point for women at the weekend workshop. It seems to be much easier for a woman to have style or grace when moving and she showed the difference it can make just having the fingers in a particular position.

I've seen some women who have clearly 'adopted' a style but it can look very artificial - maybe it just takes time - but whatever it is should go with the dancer's own style. Just watch a dance video and watch some of the great female dancers and see what they do. You'll notice not many of them grope their partners ( well not unless they know them very well )

[Gary]

Originally posted by DavidB
Given how crowded some venues have been lately, my main concern is not hitting anyone!

Good point. For comp/performance I've heard it's good to take up a lot more room than is safe at a normal freestyle. I wonder if freestyling at normal venues gives you bad performance habits? Not that I'm going to dance at normal classes any less...