Good question
After receiving the following comment on one of my previous posts, I felt it deserved a post of its own:
Hi Antony. One question after Saturday. Why did Len criticise Chris Hollins’ hand movement for the New York in the rumba?
He said that for men, spreading the fingers and pointing the middle one down is “not a good look” and that they should keep the outer 3 digits bandaged together.
But that is how you teach and obviously Ola as well, since she took the blame for this on the show, so I’d be interested in your reaction …
Thanks, Maggie
Personally I learnt the middle finger down, I teach guys to hold the middle two down – I don’t like the look of the three fingers together.
The Walter Laird technique book shows the middle finger down in the pictures, but there is no guidance other than that.
I would say that Chris’ hands were really good myself, and like with most judging it really does come down to personal preference once you get past technique.
However if you watch any of the male professionals from Saturday night they all have one or two fingers down (not at right angles but say around 20 degrees) so I think Len is wrong to criticise this – especially as it’s effectively criticising Ola as Chris’ teacher.
