How to Hold Your Partner in Balboa Swing Dance

Video Transcript

"On behalf of Expert Village, I'm Nathan Bugh and with me is my talented student Shannon Sheroni. We're here at Dance Manhattan Studios in New York City to teach you Balboa and other swing era dances. In Balboa we have a particular way of holding our partner. Leaders place their right hand on their partners back. Just around the area of the shoulder blade. Followers relax your arm, then bend it at the elbow. Where ever your hand ends up, that's a good place for it. See if you have a really tall partner it might be here. If you have a really short partner, it might be here. Just as long as your hand isn't on his back, or on his face, you'll be just fine. With the other hands there are a few different options. The most authentic for Balboa when you begin is to have your palms pressed against each other like a ball room hold. You can hold them to the side, or up a little bit, but that'll touch their face, so we're going to hold them to the side. Then we can do our Balboa step."