The move Rompe El Brazo litterally translates to “break the arm”. It is sometimes seen under the name “Rompe Brazo” or “Rómpele El Brazo” although the accent on the “o” which is the correct Spanish spelling in the latter form is sometimes missed out. Particularly in the form “Rómpele El Brazo” meaning “break his arm” it is clear that we are talking about the leader’s arm instead of the follower’s arm which corresponds to the move where it is predominantly the leader’s arms that are twisted. There are in fact certain parts of the move where new students will initially think they cannot keep hold of both hands without breaking something and it can indeed feel very uncomfortable if the move is not executed perfectly in terms of timing and signals which is where the name of the move comes from.
While there are certainly more complicated moves which would deserve this title more, “Rompe El Brazo” is often an introduction into these type of moves for new students so it can feel like a big challenge to twist the arms in such a way that the move works smoothly without anyone getting hurt without losing the rhythm of the song.
The move itself is often confused with the move Parte El Brazo meaning “part of the arm” and in some Rueda groups the moves are used interchangeably, however, these are completely independent moves that have very little in common other than the names being similar which may be the source of confusion particularly for non-native Spanish speakers.
There are some nice elements in this move that are not commonly seen in other moves such as the leader’s left turn at the end of the initial Pimienta to be able to lead the follower into another Vacilala based turn straight away instead of a Dile Que No or the leader’s right turn underneath both hands towards the end while bringing their right hand over the follower’s head which is unusual and not easy to execute but a nice variation on some of the more common elements.
The hand sign for Rompe El Brazo consists of the sign for “Rompe” which is the caller’s free hand forming a fist and quickly pivoting it around itself in a swift motion like the movement a hand would make when trying to break a branch into two parts. This is followed by the sign for “Brazo” which is signalled by the caller grabbing their upper arm with their free hand.
To see a video of the move Rompe El Brazo as well as the hand sign, please click on: https://youtu.be/o0b6SETh37c
