Pretzel Considered Harmful by Collin Topolski When learning east coast swing, new students are often taught the inside turn, the outside turn, closed and open position, but without formal instruction, somehow they all are exposed to the pretzel. If you are not familiar with it, the pretzel is sequence of nine inside and outside turns while maintaining contact with both hands of the follow. The following article is here to make a case why the pretzel should be eradicated from the swing dancing social dance floor. The Virus Any respectable swing dance instructor will not teach the pretzel. If this is the case, how is the pretzel transmitted? To answer this question, one needs look no further than new dancers that Learned Swing in High School. This is the primary breeding ground for the pretzel. Someone who knows swing will teach someone else who will then Know swing and so on. The seed is planted, and when old enough, they begin to infect social dancers in larger lessons and dances. Without a partner, the pretzel dancer will undoubtedly try to do the pretzel with a follow. As leads often do, they will flex their ego and declare that is the pretzel, I can teach it to you because I know how to swing dance. Like a moth to the flame, new dancers see this instruction and think That looks fun. In all honesty, it is fun, but so is trying to kick your friends in the shin. The virus is spread by the willingness of new dancers to show off combined with a lack of understanding of the move itself. The Rubiks Cube of Dance Moves Puzzles can be fun, especially if they can be solved fairly simply. The Pretzel is such a puzzle. I put my hand behind my back and the follow grabs it, then... uh... I do a bunch of turns. Just like a Rubiks cube, the pretzel is a sequenc of known patterns, RF-->TCW-->RB-->TCCW and so on. Is it She-Turns She-Turns He-Turns, or She-Turns He-Turns He-Turns She-Turns. If only you could figure out the pattern, you would know how to do it. Meanwhile, the follow is effectively the puzzle that the lead manipulates them to their liking. The process of trying to remember usually attracts the attention of all the other people that Know the Pretzel, thus creating a pretzel convention. The next 5 minutes is spent arguing about which turn comes next and usually ends unresolved when a song comes on that someone likes, thus propagating the lack of understanding of how to actually complete the move. Footwork When teaching dance, it is a good idea to walk through a move and discus body position, hand position, leading and following techniques, and rhythm. For beginners, somehow everything but what do I do with my hands is lost. Broken down to its most basic component, an inside turn is Lift left arm up and spin follow counter clockwise. Doing this action is fairly simple by itself, but when adding footwork, the complexity is greatly increased. It is no surprise that a lead that is struggling to remember and execute a pretzel will complete ignore their footwork, and in most cases, ignore the music. It might surprise some pretzelers to know that you can do the pretzel why also doing the east coast basic. It is also commonly danced in country swing while moving about the floor. Rhythm As mentioned previously, the pretzel is a puzzle, and much like the Rubiks cube, dancers will attempt to solve it as fast as they can. Unfortunately, if you are dancing to the music, everyone will complete the move at the same time. SOLUTION? Ignore the music. That poor follow Wont someone please think of the follow. Most Dancing is designed to allow the lead to accentuate the beauty and gracefulness of the follow. The pretzel just shows off the ability of a follow to survive a blender. If you want to see a follow being ignored and treated as a tool of the lead, look no further than the pretzel. Yes it is possible to make a follow look good in the pretzel, but it is a skill honed by NOT doing the pretzel. Why is it bad (A bulletted list) * It breaks dancing rules. The common method of starting the pretzel involves the lead putting their arm behind their back and encouraging the follow to grab it. Follows should not grab at hands. * Not typically * danced to the music * danced correctly * Taught Correctly * It does not look good. Its fast and exciting to new dancers, but it doesnt usually flow or match the music style. * Promotes learning complicated sequences instead of working on leading a following. A good dancer can easily do the pretzel, but a pretzeler does not necessarily dance well. * You should be practicing your other moves. * Advanced dancers will look down at you. They themselves probably used to do the pretzel and they are embarrassed by it. They wished someone would have intervened when they were just starting out. * Being a showoff may bring you a mild amount of notoriety at first, but unless your skills advance, you will be left in the dust. Trapped in the hell of teaching new dancers the pretzel for all of eternity. In Conclusion Dont do the Pretzel
Posted on: Thu, 28 Nov 2013 22:28:59 +0000
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