Notes

1. Follower's right in lead's left, clockwise turn

Demonstration
Lead: standing too close, or leaning in toward your partner increases the danger of your being struck across the face with your partner's arm.

Lead and Follower: the free arm can be used defensively in crowded conditions - followers use it to ward off others bumping into you, and leaders can use it to prevent others from straying into the turning area.
 

Description

(1) Lead and Follower: the raising of the hand is a signal that a turn is imminent, but the raising alone does not indicate who is to turn. In the absence of a lead force that would cause either of you to rotate, remain on the spot and just mark time.

(1) Follower: although the lead is responsible for raising the hand-hold, resist the temptation to just hang your arm off your partner's.

(1) Follower: curling your fingers facilitates contact. You can do away with it once you learn to maintain contact pressure without it.

(1) Follower: make sure your grip is light enough for the lead to be able to rotate his/her wrist.

(2) Lead: feel free to experiment with halos of different diameters. Find a size that provides you with the most leverage whilst being the most comfortable for your partner.

(3) Follower: the contact pressure must be just enough for you to sense a drop in pressure at any point during the turn, which is a signal to slow down or stop. The lack of such pressure at the onset would make you sensitive to increases in speed only (not decreases).

(4) Lead and Follower: it can take more than one bar of music to trace a halo.

(4) Lead: as a general rule, your fingers should point outwards of the halo while you're leading the turn.

(4) Lead and Follower: you can also practice the halo stopping part-way through a turn, and then turning in the opposite direction. It helps you develop a stronger sense of lead equilibrium.

(4) Follow: the pressure is only a signal to turn. The power to turn must be provided by you and not your partner.
 

Learning Tips

You can think of the halo turn as coming from the teaching point:
High—Around—LOwer.

Forming a gun
Lead: as you raise your hands to lead the turn, extend only your first and second fingers - as if you were forming a gun with your hand. Keep the "barrel" pointed outward or downward through most of the turn. This tip helps you focus on the quality of the contact, and has the added benefit of preventing you from crushing your partners' fingers when you get excited.

Fingers as pencils
Lead: imagine that your first two fingers are pencils, drawing a perfect circle on a sheet of paper stretched flat over the top of your partner's head.
Follower: make a small pencil holder with your hand to hold your partner's fingers.

Common Faults
Eccentric Halo
View the demonstration:

merengue_halo_error_offcentrehalo.avi (3.2 Mb)

Notice that Nathan and Shirin enjoy getting things wrong. The Halo is not circular, nor is it parallel with the floor. It is not executed with Shirin's turning axis at its centre, nor at a consistent speed.

To correct it (in order of implementation), make sure:

1. the halo is level;
2. your partner is at its centre;
3. it describes a circular path; and
4. is led at an even speed.

The High Halo
View the demonstration:

merengue_halo_error_toohigh.avi (4.6 Mb)

Having a halo that's too high means only a small halo can be drawn, and the arms are far away from the body. Both factors combine to give poor leverage, resulting in a weak lead signal, and decreased receptiveness on the follower's part.

For the following explanation, let's use the follower's right in lead's left handhold as an example. Under extreme circumstances, the follower's hand is raised so high that the elbow straightens and the right shoulder is pulled higher than the left. The shoulder slant is transmitted down the spine causing the hips to tilt. Weight then rolls to the outside edge of the right foot. The net effect is that the follower is made to turn with her/his axis at an angle to the floor.

While advanced dancers are capable of resolving the forces dynamically to maintain balance, less proficient dancers are not, so this method of turning should be avoided.

Leading Oneself
View the demonstration:

merengue_halo_error_anticipating.avi (3.4 Mb)

Notice that Shirin moves before any form of halo is traced around her head - a clear sign that she is leading herself. In more severe cases, followers “duck” under the lead's hand because it is in the way, as can be seen in the demonstration.

Moving before the lead is given (a.k.a. leading oneself) is probably the most common fault of followers. Developing a lead is a challenging process, and followers who fail to appreciate this tend to get impatient and go about doing things on their own.

The best way to avoid this fault is for the follower to mark time when no lead signal is received. It makes it obvious to the lead when a strong signal should be provided, and does little to rob them of opportunities to develop.