Waving (dance) - Moves

Moves

The armwave is started by holding both arms out to the sides of the dancer's body, parallel to the ground. The dancer lifts then lowers adjoining sections of his arm while keeping the rest of his body at apparent rest starting with the fingertips in one arm and ending at the fingertips of the other arm. It is very important that the rest of the body appear to be motionless. One movement in the armwave that typically gives beginners trouble is lifting the elbow. When lifting the elbow and otherwise remaining stiff, the dancer also lifts the hand. Lifting multiple points of the arm is undesirable and so the dancer must actively "lower" his hand to maintain the illusion that it remains still. When the wave reaches the chest, the wave can travel either in front of the chest or along the back where the dancer can add accents such as turning his head in the direction of wave movement or inhaling as the wave reaches the chest and exhaling as it passes. With practice, the dancer can appear to have multiple waves travelling along his arms, start and end a wave at any point on his arms, and transition the wave through his body as a bodywave. There are seven and eleven point waves. The eleven point wave runs as finger knuckes-knuckles-wrist-elbow-shoulder-chest-shoulder-elbow-wrist-knuckles-finger knuckles. The seven point wave begins at the wrists.

The bodywave similarly gives an appearance that a wave is traveling up or down the body. It involves flexing muscles along the wave's path and bending knees and ankles.