Hands and holds
Square dancing is danced holding on. Which hands you take, and how, is not decoration: several calls are defined in terms of a particular handhold, and taking the wrong one makes the call impossible.
The holds in the Mainstream program
| Hold | What it is |
|---|---|
| Couple handhold | the ordinary side-by-side hold: your right hand joined with their right, or left with left, depending on the side you are on |
| Normal couple handhold | the couple handhold with palms matched — Boys' palms up, Girls' palms down in the classic styling |
| Ocean Wave hold | adjacent dancers joined by right hands (or left hands), arms relaxed, hands up |
| Hands up | both hands joined with adjacent dancers, palms up, elbows relaxed — the standard wave styling |
| Forearm hold | forearm-to-forearm, used for arm turns |
| Palm star | all hands into the middle, right hands stacked palm to palm (or left) |
| Arches | one pair's joined hands raised, as in Star Thru and California Twirl |
| Promenade hold | the crossed-hand couple hold used in promenade — see Promenade |
A few rules about hands
One partner per hand. You never hold two dancers by the same hand.
Hands are joined only where the call says so. Between calls in a squared set, the customary state is hands joined in a ring; in a line or wave, the hands the formation implies.
Release deliberately. Several calls — Pass Thru is the clearest — require you to release as you pass. Holding on turns a clean pass into a traffic accident.
Take hands from the formation, not from habit. A wave wants hands up; a couple wants a couple handhold; an Alamo Ring wants everyone's hands in. Look at the shape and hold what it needs.
Styling
The manual's styling sections are worth reading on each call page, because they describe what the call should look like when it is danced well. Three general points from the manual's styling chapter:
- Posture — stand up, weight on the balls of the feet, ready to move.
- Hands and arms — arms in a natural dance position when not joined; elbows comfortably bent, hands above the elbow in circles and waves.
- Inactive dancers and counter-dancing — dancers who are not named in a call must still move out of the way of those who are, and then take the next call. This is real dancing, not standing about, and it is expected of you.
The one that catches everyone
The arms in natural dance position instruction is not a suggestion to drop your arms and relax. It means arms relaxed but ready — the manual says so explicitly in several calls, because the next call is usually already coming.
Next
- the holds a formation implies → Formations
- a call that lives or dies on its handhold → Star Thru