Southern Style

A year or two back a well-known caller wanted Australian dancers to change their allemandes from the "chicken wing" turns that we use now to the forearm turns which are in vogue in the rest of the world. He claimed this would help us to keep in time with the music more easily.

Well, I don't know about that but there's certainly something we can do to improve our dancing and that is to reverse the direction of our swing.

You don't believe it? Well try this: go into your kitchen, fill the sink with water, pull out the plug and watch.

Did you see what happened? When the water swirled out of the sink it turned to the right. Had somebody in the northern hemisphere done the same thing they would have found the water draining in the opposite direction. It's called the Coriolis Effect. It's caused by the Earth's rotation and in the northern hemisphere the Coriolis Effect has a left-hand thread.

You only had to look at what happened to our javelin throwers in Athens. U.S. and European athletes were quite at home and although our own spear-chuckers acquitted themselves mightily they would have done even better if they'd thrown a little to the right to compensate for the Coriolis Effect.

As it was, more than one official had to run for his life when there was an Australian or a Kiwi at the plate.

Now let's adapt what we've learned to square dancing.

Since square dancing as we know it originated in the United States it naturally evolved in a way that is comfortable for northern dancers. Australians followed blindly after their American counterparts and the result was a style that may not be best suited to the land of the Southern Cross.

It would be more natural if we held our partner on the left rather than the right with the man's left hand on the lady's waist while he clasps her left hand with his right.

It will take a little time to get used to it but I think the effort is worthwhile. It's going to put a lot of life back into our swinging.

So let's strike a blow for democracy in dancing. Don't slavishly follow the American allemande – rather, introduce the Southern Swing. It will revolutionise the way we dance.

Callers please note: the technique may not be covered by your present insurance policy.