Spinning the girl - Start, Stop, Counter

A good lead can spin their follows beyond what they thought they could achieve :) And in the process, actually help their follows improve their spins!

What Xen teach during basic class forms the foundation of spinning. The Halo, the hook. But... unfortunately, simple as they might sound, it's often not executed properly.

Most lead still like to 'stir' with their wrists rather than drawing circular halos. Stirring works for two or perhaps 3 rounds, but it relies on the follow being good at spinning.

Anything beyond 3 rounds will be difficult. Xen's technique make it easy to spin girls for 10, 20, 30, watever. Stunt/Tricks like the coffee Grinder is NOT possible without proper technique.

The lead should also know how fast can the follow spin. Pace the speed of your spin to her comfort level (or perhaps push a bit if you are training her).

Ok, spinning girls is one thing, the other important part which many leads dont realize, is STOPPING the spin.

It's important to know HOW to stop and WHEN to stop.

We need to TIME our stop to coincide with the suitable point of music.
Also, we need PREP the follow to stop. Give her AMPLE TIME to to know that that we are stopping. Thus SIGNAL as early as you can.

For myself, I normally start to TENSE my arm at the LAST ROUND.
She will feel the difference and naturally start to tense up and prepare herself.

Stopping sharply takes skill and practice. Every girl's spinning ability is different and you'll need to understand her strength and weaknesses.

I normally do not go about spinning the girl multiple rounds right off the bat.

Start with 1 round. See how she styles (if she doesn't, probably not a good idea to go more).
Go with 2 rounds. See if she adapts to the increase in pace. Still good?
Go with 3 rounds. Still good, WHAHAHA, time for major spinning session :P

Back to stopping. When you stop the girl, PLEASE HOLD HER STEADY.
The KEY to looking good when spinning, is not just the spin alone! An important part of looking good, is to make the spin look EASY.

So when the spin is completed, she must look like she is VERY STABLE, very relaxed and READY for the next move!

The lead can do a lot to help the follow achieve a good stop when spinning. That is what STEADYING the follow at the end of spin is supposed to achieve.

Ok, besides spinning...... we should always remember, a good lead takes good care of his follow. When you turn the girl one direction for many rounds, PLEASE COUNTER SPIN the girl to help prevent her from getting dizzy!

E.g. After multiple right turns/spins, do a CBLT (which is a left turn) to counter.

Vary your patterns such that you do not keep turning in one direction :)

Ok, that's all on spinning for now :)