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Two Left Feet Podcast


Oct 5, 2022

How much should my hands/arms move when leading?

How much arm and hand movement is too much?
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If an arm movement supports the body movement, then it can be fine or even recommended. But body movement should come first. You do not want washing machine arms, wax-on wax-off hands. This is a No-No. Arm movement originates from your body movement,

As long as you're not 'leading' anything, you can keep relaxed arms, elbows next to your body, just in front of your ribcage, with the forearms horizontally. Your body/shoulders are moving with the music, your arms follow this movement, they shouldn't move too much independently. When you ARE leading something, you might have to stiffen up the frame a bit. Even then, it will largely depend on what you're trying to lead.

You should not dance with your arms. It's almost always confusing and It doesn't help. Your Arms are for leading, In a handhold position - if you move them you are asking the follow to do something. If you are moving them around too much it’s confusing for the follow. Give the follow some tension in your arms but don’t be rigid, have some flexibility. There is a middle ground that you must find. If you can imagine this, your arms are never in one state, they are always in this transitory state between fluid and tense. They are never 100% loose (think noodle arms) or 100% strict and tense.

It is best when motion in your upper body is natural, not deliberately added in. The problem with some leads is that they start to perform, to other leads, and forget what they should be doing – Dancing WITH their partner. Or they forget to dance at their dance partner's level.

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