Penrod - Swing Thru

Tom Fromm wrote:
37. SWING THRU FAMILY: Starting formation -ocean wave or alamo.

(a) SWING THRU: Those who can, turn by the right one half (180°), then those who can, turn by the left one half (180°). If "right" is not specified preceding the command to swing thru, it is a right swing thru.

(b) ALAMO SWING THRU: Everyone turns half by the right, then everyone turns half by the left. When left swing thru is directed from an alamo formation, everyone turns half by the left, then everyone turns half by the right.

(c) LEFT SWING THRU: Those who can, turn by the left one half (180°), then those who can, turn by the right one half (180°). If left swing thru is required, it must be specifically directed "left swing thru".

STYLING: All hands are joined in hands-up position, elbows in close. Exert slight pressure to assist opposite dancer in turning. Arcing turns should be utilized rather than pull by type of movements and should flow effortlessly from one turn to the other so that you are in a sense, "weaving" along the line.

TIMING: 6 steps from point of contact.

I will teach Swing Thru first. I will have them in a right hand wave, and give them the definition of swing thru. I will walk them through a few times. Then I will get them into a left hand wave, and tell them that it will still start with the right hand. I will walk them through a few times like this. I will say "turn 1/2 right, turn 1/2 left" a lot when I first teach this move. I will suggest that they say it to them self as they do the move.

The next lesson after teaching Swing Thru, I will teach Alamo Swing Thru. I will get them into an alamo ring, and tell them that we can do a Swing Thru from here. I'll tell them that the same rule applies as with plain Swing Thru. I will walk them through a few times, again I will say "turn 1/2 right, turn 1/2 left" a lot when I first teach this move. Once again I will suggest that they say it to them self as they do the move.

I will wait a while before I teach Left Swing Thru. I like to have the right hand stuff down before introducing the left hand versions. I will teach it in the manner that I did Swing Thru.