Looking from the ceiling down onto a couple in their ballroom setup. Which side has the widest distance between the man and lady shoulder to shoulder .

If the shoulders are the same width, the distances are the same.

If the lady's shoulders are narrower, the distance from man's left to lady's right will be slightly larger.

Regardless, the shoulders are parallel.

To Anonymous 2. I don't agree there. The very fact that the man's right arm from elbow to wrist is straight out and the left is not means that the biggest side must be the mans right. I have got a overhead look on video of the current British Champion. I'll have a look see.

I'm pretty sure that the shoulders are meant to be parallel in closed hold

To contiue on this one which is the widest side, or are they both equal. Remember we have ladies right side to men's right side in our stetup.

"To Anonymous 2. I don't agree there. The very fact that the man's right arm from elbow to wrist is straight out"

You must have a very, very odd hold.

Anonymous. I don't think you get the picture. Place your right palm on your chest ,elbow same height level with the should.Open the forearm to an angle of 45 degrees in relation to the body.Would you say the arm from elbow to finger tips is straight foreward. The lady does the same with the left arm. Then places her armpit on the man's wrist and the left hand find a place on the man's upper arm.. Man turns palm onto the lady, it is only a decoration. Slight adjustments depending if there is any great differences in height. The elbow should be slightly lower than the shoulder. The hand slightly lower than the elbow. The elbow is no further back than the front of the ribgage. The lady with todays dancer is more to her left, man's right, and shaping to the left and slightly back NOT to put her weight over her heel. The contact point between the bodies is right side to right side. All of this is different to in the olden days when the lady stood in front of the man. One word on the left side, right for lady, is the ladies right arm is much straighter, and in some very straight'ish no longer does it have much bend in the elbow. This is because of the lady being more to the man's right her right arm must straighten, again depending on the height of the partnership plus the length of the arms.The lady should have a curve to the left and slightly back, 'two curves, one without the other is no good. Having said all of this the begginner lady will feel more secure more to the middle than out to the left. Which sometimes makes the lady mistakenly open the right side, now we have a big man's left side and a small right.All this and we haven't gone to the man's left side .

"Place your right palm on your chest ,elbow same height level with the should.Open the forearm to an angle of 45 degrees in relation to the body.Would you say the arm from elbow to finger tips is straight foreward."

No, not at all. Forward needs a direction of reference, which is going to be either the body or better the feet. The forearm matches neither.

"All of this is different to in the olden days when the lady stood in front of the man."

Realize that none of the advice being given here or in any studio is outdated for this reason - it all dates from after the change to the offset hold, which was quite a while ago!

"the ladies right arm is much straighter, and in some very straight'ish no longer does it have much bend in the elbow"

This is mostly due to the man having his left hand too far to the left in the mistaken idea that this creates a bigger look. A big look is created by the man moving his head to the left, and keeping his hand close to his head (elbow at an acute angle) so the lady can maintain a gracefull bend in her elbow. The lady having her righ arm straight is a sign of imablance in the hold.

Anonymous. With my feet under my body both pointing in the same direction. With my spine straight, not twisted. Ahead is the way my feet are pointing.
Its obviouse you haven't been looking at any recent World Championships concerning the ladies right arm or maybe you have been blinded by the skill of todays dancer. The picture might have gone over your head. I can assure you that none of the men have an extended left arm, too far left. It also goes to a right angle, raised to about eye level and midway between the partnership with the palm flat facing across the body. The ladies right palm is flat onto the man's left palm, absolutely no gap which means gone has the straight wrist for the lady. As i have suggested look and you will see. You will also see that the thumb is slightly up , the lady also. This gives more control.

"Ahead is the way my feet are pointing."

It's going to be a very funny hold that as a default has your forearm to finger tips pointing in the same direction as your feet! If you are going to open your right elbow that much, you will need to bend your right wrist so that your hand can contact the lady's back.

As for the man's left arm being too far out/forward, I'm glad if some of the top couples are not showing this. But look just a few places down and it is endemic, perhaps more in the IDSF than the professional.