You're welcome to repost my comments if you wish.
The 'Thank you' convention is rather silly, not in the sense that there shouldn't be a recognised way to end a dance if you feel uncomfortable continuing, but to choose to 'thank' your partner does seem a strange choice of words.
As for the embrace, the convention is that the follower chooses how close she wants to be to the leader. The most traditional embrace, which really is rather more of a hug than it is a 'hold' is very close, with body contact at the upper chest and with the arms rather loosely around each other and with the elbows close to the body and down. Not every follower is comfortable with this degree of physical contact, and sometimes a more open embrace (very like that adopted for Latin American dancing) is chosen instead. The convention is that the leader invites to follower take an embrace, and she determines how close it will be. Not respecting her freedom in this regard is one of the most common reasons to say 'thank you' and leave.