Hands Up vs. Hands Down
It seems that there are two ways to hold hands in waves, hands up (plus and below) and hands down (advanced and up). I've heard that the hands up way of dancing started in the 70s and has taken over. Do you know if this is true? What can you tell me about these two hand holds. And if given the choice of teaching hands up or hands down, which would you prefer? Why?
Sounds like a hornet's nest to me.
What you're taught is what most people feel comfortable with.
I prefer hands down.
- It's more comfortable in the long run. Think about it... we don't shake hands
when we meet someone with hands up.
- It makes handholds consistent. Rather than having one style for waves, one style for couples,
one style for turn thru (e.g., scoot back), keeping your hands about waist high at all times avoids
you having to raise and lower hands for calls. At advanced and challenge where there's often a
series of short quick calls, not having to constantly raise and lower your hands makes it easier
to dance a call such as (e.g., from right-hand waves: a right & left thru).
- On one of my first trips to Europe, many years ago, for a C2-level weekend, I was asked by
the organizer to introduce the hands-down styling. The organizer had been to challenge dances
in the states, and these dances are all hands down. In any case, I tried to introduce this styling
to the floor, and was met with incredibly stiff resistance (i.e., this is the way we always dance here;
who are you to tell us how to dance; it's the callerlab approved styling; it's the way I was taught,; etc).
One person, in particular, a caller, absolutely refused to do it (stubborn Germans!). Eventually, a
compromise was reached, and we tried the styling for a few tips. Today, all challenge dances in
Europe are hands down, and the stubborn caller also dances that way.
- Over the years, the hand height used in my local plus club has drifted downward, as the average
age has increased. They now dance primarily hands down.
