Broken Sway

[DanceMentor]

It seems in my lessons lately, the topic of broken sway has come up quite often lately, and I wanted to know how you are using it in your dancing. For me I am using in the Natural Hesitation. After 1-3 of the Natural Turn, I step back on the left foot, and then take a pretty large side step (for being on the inside of the turn) on the right foot. As I take the side step, I am careful not to sway. Then near the end, I bring my left knee inward, creating the broken sway. As I do this, my wife turns her head to the right briefly, and then we move into the Double Reverse Spin.

So a couple of questions:
1) How would you best explain how broken sway is produced?
2) How to you apply it? (what figures?)

 

[ThreeStep]

Broken sway....in your leg?

 

[Laura]

It is odd to me how it pops up, because I thought broken sway was a mistake, not a desired goal. Like, you can deepen or eggagerate the sway, but you shouldn't break the line of your sides or spine at the waist or wherever.

Is this some kind of new stylistic thing?

 

[Chris Stratton]

I think there are two different meanings of 'broken sway'.

One is a common result of misunderstanding how sway works on normal figures.

The other is a legitimate alternative in some situations. The phrase appears in popular variations if I recall correctly. This is not open dancer's license to make the common mistake and call it artistry, it's something different.

DM's comment about creating it from the knee might be a clue. One possibility I'm contmplating is that broken sway is a sway properly distributed through an aligned body, but one that is not the result of a swing but rather of something done deliberately just to for the look, or possibly that and to set up a subsequent swing. Not sure about that though.