hitting guys in the wrong spot!!

[tanya_the_dancer]

i have yet to be kneed in the groin while dancing (been dancing 2 years now).. I guess I'm lucky

oh and waltzguy.. i've heard that the ladies are supposed to arch their backs so that boob contact doesn't happen.. but when it doe's don't fret.. at first it can be embarrassing, but in time you can both learn to ignore it when it doe's happen.

You're kidding, I cannot arch THAT MUCH. And I am not supposed to arch my back at all. So, if I am in a body contact position, I have some boob contact. I don't really care about it.

 

[Coydancer]

There is absolutely no way I could dance (at this point, at my beginner level) without my right boob making some sort of contact.

Yeah, me too. In certain figures it seems almost unavoidable--at least for where I'm at right now--like the closing steps in the scissor in waltz. The combination of buxom and short arms doesn't really help. At any rate, it doesn't bug me in the slightest except for the rare times where I've "gotten in the way" during a figure and, for want of a better phrase, have to smoosh on by. I figure it's all part of dancing, though my instructor has joked that I can be distracting. lol

As for the other question (lower body contact)...eh, it happens. I'm the same height as my partner or taller, depending on shoes. Of course, my partner is my husband, so I don't mind anyway, but with others I really don't give it a second thought. I'm too focused at my beginner's stage with trying to maintain frame and follow smoothly and things like that. As for injuring someone, I'm more likely to graze their ankles with a slightly errant foot, or bump knees a bit, when "stepping through." I did clock my husband a good one once when I lost balance a bit through a waltz right turn when we first learned it, though. :shock:

To sum up, I figure that any contact of that sort that really "shouldn't" be there will be corrected eventually by overall technical improvement. If I focused right now on "space" issues I think I would stiffen up and my posture, etc. would actually suffer for a while. I guess it hadn't occurred to me that anyone I dance with would be irritated by it...

 

[Peaches]

One of my teacher is relatively short, and if we dance in contact, I'm making contact with the family jewels. Not much I can do about it. I figure, if there's something really going wrong, then I'll be told about it.

The most consistent, and most aggravating contact I make with my teacher is the back of his right foot/ankle. I've got a knack for kicking it/catching it with the heel of my shoe. Poor guy.

 

[fascination]

I have never once contrachecked or lunged....without said issue

 

[callen]

Back to the original question... I have been a victim of this myself, though I blame myself more than my partner. I find it is usually the result of an early lowering. If you do too much lowering before the leg you've left starts swinging, then that leg gets stuck. I would check where the legs (for both partners) are as your bodies arrive over a new standing leg.

The worst I got was in Argentine tango: a little confusion between swinging her leg up around my waist while I was only trying to get her to kick between my feet. I ended up with the alignment I wanted; she got the height with the leg that she wanted. Then I was on the floor.

Christopher

 

[Indiana_Jay]

Here ya go! http://dance-forums.com/showthread.php?t=9436 That's the second time in a few months that thread's been dredged up. (You're welcome, fascination )

How in the world did you find it?

 

[Indiana_Jay]

yea and have you noticed yet how it kinda freaks people out in a social setting?...I tend to forget...and I have caused not a few men some consternation (uh, and their wives as well )

Pretty much all the dancing my LW and I do is in a fairly open hold. That's how we were taught as beginners and we've made no attempt to specifically learn anything about International style. In almost every case, every dance I've had with another follower has been the same (in social settings like studio dances and USA Dance chapter dances).

I was surprised but not at all "freaked out" (to use Fascination's term) the first time I found myself in a closed position with a follower. It was in a foxtrot with a fairly well-endowed young woman who works as a relatively new instructor at one of the other local studios. I was conscious of the boob contact, not bothered by it, nor did it cause any undue "excitement." Overall, I found the dance pleasant and enjoyed learning how the lead-and-follow feels different in close contact.

Since then, I've had the same experience with one other follower, an International Standard enthusiast who formerly frequented this forum. My reaction was the same. A pleasant dance.

Of course, I'm so much taller than my LW, both of the other followers mentioned above and almost every other follower with whom I dance, that all contact points are different than with couples of less height disparity. For the same reason, (getting back to the OP) I've never experienced any follower's leg approach my crotch. I suspect, however, that the opposite is possible -- that my leg could rub against the follower's -- but I've never been aware of this.

 

[Indiana_Jay]

and IJ, YOU are also being held responsible

My point remains valid. A year from now, some other new follower is going to be concerned about the same issue you were (and iluvballroom is). If she's conscientious, she'll search the forum for the answer first. But chances are she'll never run across this thread or your original one, in large part because we put things so delicately!

 

[Indiana_Jay]

Back to the original question... I have been a victim of this myself, though I blame myself more than my partner. I find it is usually the result of an early lowering. If you do too much lowering before the leg you've left starts swinging, then that leg gets stuck. I would check where the legs (for both partners) are as your bodies arrive over a new standing leg.

This is a very good point and one that iluvballroom should take to her partner and their coach.

 

[Terpsichorean Clod]

traitor...now on the list...harumph

 

[Terpsichorean Clod]

How in the world did you find it?

I'd resurrected that thread a few months back after a year in dormancy, so I searched my own posts. "Cup" is apparently too common a word so I ended up browsing post by post.