Untill a short time ago the lady in a Ballroom hold ( not Tango ) was encouraged to have a clean straight line through the forearm and wrist into the man's hand. This can create a gap between the palms of the hands. That is no longer with us. The palms are now together and the lady has a broken hand wrist line. So if you find a gap between your palm and your partners palm .now is the time to readjust. Just to be clear, if the man was to put his right palm straight forward, the left and right palms will be facing each other and not twisted anti- clock.That is of course the man's left hand.

The lady's wrist is slightly broken compared to the man's, but it is not all that broken unless the man mispositions his hand. If he keeps his hand high and back where it belongs (put your thumb in your ear is the old joke) then his forearm is fairly vertical. Her shape causes her elbow to hang slightly inward, so her forearm is not at all that different an angle from his in that plane. The palm to palm connection actually helps connect her upper back shape to the man's hand. If his hand is in the right place the effect of unified bodies is wonderful, on the other hand if his hand drops too far forward and down, the can really bend her backwards.

Also, with proper offset the hands will meet at an angle - his hand is closer to his elbow, perhaps even a little bit inside, while hers is somewhat outside her elbow. However her elbow should never actually be straight - while this would extend the lever arm of the connecting point in a direction in which it is already long, it drastically reduces the already small lever arm of the difference in relative heights of her two hands, decreasing the information that can be communicated.

Anonymous. An excellent answere. I will point out though that one of the top couples in a fairly recent IDSF Championship, The ladies right arm was completely straight as pointed out by comentator Michael Barr and showed and discussed in the Solo section of the competition. Which goes to show that it is well within the rules and they must be judged on their overall performance, of which they were well marked. Actually I didn't notice the straight arm untill it was pointed out by Michael.I thought this was worth mentioning and might be of some interest to a lady who might find it neccesary for some reason to have a straightish arm.

This postings are quite difficult to follow, and i'm reminded of a well-known proverb - "A picture is worth a thousand words".
Any chance of some photos of "Dos" and "Don'ts" on this important topic?
A straight ladies right arm is very common - sometimes it looks as if the lady is pushing herself out (to her left) using her right arm. And the hold depends on the relative heights of the two partners. Isn't it a good guideline that the man's left hand should be at the height of the eyes of the shorter partner (usually the lady)? Couldn't this leave the man's left forearm almost horizontal?

Phil. It had better not be unless you are in a Tango hold. Try keeping your palms facing each other untill the right bends into position. You are correct in saying that the lady is to the extreme left of her partner. Heres something to toy about with.One of you stand with the arms stretched out to the front. The other hold on and push the hips back into a plough position. Go as far as you can go. Feel that the naval is being pushed back into the spine. Come up but hold that postion that you aquired with your navel. Now stay like that and dance, both man or lady.

No. If the man depresses his arm forearm near to the horizontal, the lady would have to break her wrist at an extreme angle in order to maintain palm to palm contact with him. For the forearms to intersect at an angle small enough to comfortable permit palm to palm contact, they either must be substantially vertical, or the elbows must be fairly straight. But straightening the elbows provides a less informative connection and actually makes the couple look smaller, since their heads will appear closer together in comparison.

So are you saying that the idea that the man's left hand be level with the eye line of the shorter partner is not a good one? If i have my fore-arm at 45 degrees to the horizontal, my palm is about level with the top of my head. I don't think i'm physiologically abnormal, but i do like long words!

You can choose whatever hand height you like, provided that it is not physically uncomfortable for the lady to reach, and does not distort her lines.

If you place the hand high, her right elbow may be higher than her right shoulder. But that is likely to happen with enough height difference that her left elbow will also be higher than her left shoulder. If she has the flexibility for this, it creates a very nice look.

If you want to place the hand lower, you may have to drop your own elbows some to create that without depressing the angle of the forearm. Until recently, slightly descending elbows for the man - and often for both - was perfectly normal. But in the "dancesport" era elbows out of your ears has become the look everyone wants to copy... consequences for the hold being an afterthought.