Hello
Can anyone tell when I should straight and when I should bend my legs in 'hand to hand' in International Rumba? I live in a country where Ballroom and Latin dances haven't become popular yet. I had to move to another area and therefore had to change dance studios. My new instructor is telling me different things from the old one and I do not know who to believe.
Please forgive my english.
Thank you in advance.

Well, usually when it seems like two teachers are telling you different things they're really saying the same thing, but in different terms. It's probably just their different methods of explaining things that make it appear different. I tend to just do the figures without thinking too much about exactly when to straighten and bend my legs, so I'm not sure I can help a whole lot here. Generally though you need to bend your legs in order to take a step and once you take the step and place your weight over the foot you straighten the leg. The legs that isn't stepping should stay straight as long as possible, bending just before it takes a step. The quick straightening after taking weight on a step is how you get the appearance of two straight legs in latin. For the Hand to Hand it should work the same way. I tend to study standard technique in more detail than latin technique though, so I'm not sure I could give you a lot of details here. Maybe someone else can.

P.S. -- Your English is fine, don't worry about it. From that post I don't think anyone would have guessed that it's not your native language.

--
James Marshall
marshall@astro.umd.edu
http://www.astro.umd.edu/~marshall

Each teacher will have his/her own style and interpretation of the book technique. You will also develop your own style which suits you. It should be "correct" but not a carbon copy of any particular teacher.
You don't say how long you have been dancing but as the hand to hand is a beginner figure I shall assume not too long. You will find that even one teacher will tell you different things on different days depending on which aspect of your dancing he/she may be concentrating on. Straightening or bending of the knees will appear trivial when you start playing around with the timing and speed of turns etc.

My personal preference is for the legs to be straight (not stiff) except when moving into position. In particular when stepping back in hand to hand, the front heel will lift but the leg should remain straight. Some people bend this leg quite sharply which I think makes them look as though they are riding a bicycle. Just my opinion.

Finally, since your current teacher will be working with you to develop your dancing, I would go along with him and not worry about what your old teacher may have said last year. If you really feel he's wrong you could tactfully mention you were taught differently and let him argue his case. It will show that you are thinking about your dancing and it's sometimes useful for a teacher to re-evaluate what they are saying.