Salsa
Cross-Hand Hold
Hands crossed, doors opened. The frame that unlocks the sombrero family — establish it cleanly and a whole cluster becomes available.
This move builds: Frame & Lead-Follow Clarity …on the always-on five — Connection, Frame, Comfort, Posture, Consent.
A video walkthrough for this move is on the way.
- Entry
- open, L-to-R, facing
- Exit
- open, cross-hand (two-hand), facing
- Tempo
- any
- Musical use
- filler
- Connector
- Yes — connects open, L-to-R, facing → open, cross-hand (two-hand), facing vocabulary
- Level
- Beginner
- Cluster
- Connectors
- Style
- Both
What This Move Is
The cross-hand hold is exactly what it sounds like: both hands joined with the arms crossed (right-to-right and left-to-left, one over the other). It's a hold rather than a figure, but learning to enter and dance in it is what makes the whole Sombrero/Balsero family reachable, because those moves all begin from crossed hands. Documents the hub the cluster hangs off.
Key Points
- Lead: Lead the cross by passing one hand under or over to meet the other — make the swap smooth and keep the joined hands at a comfortable, untangled height. Settle into the basic so she can read the new frame.
- Follow: Receive the crossed hands without gripping; keep light tone so you can feel which arm will unwind first when the figure comes.
- Timing: Establish over any 8-count; dance the basic inside the hold until the lead opens a figure.
- Common mistake: Crossing the hands too low or too tight so they bind, leaving no room to unwind into a sombrero. Keep them roomy.
Style Notes
This is the beginner entry the cross-hand cluster assumes — Sombrero (SL038), Balsero (SL044), and Montaña (SL045) all start here. Teaching the hold on its own means those figures don't have to re-explain their own setup.
Chains into
After this, you can flow into…