Les Burns, a private investigator in Waxhaw, N.C., who enjoys country-western dancing, has patented an electronic device that will alert him when his Texas two-step goes awry.
Good form in country-western dancing generally requires that the dancer extend his or her arms out, palms down, as if he or she were embracing a giant beachball. Burns has invented a device about the size of a transistor radio that, when strapped onto a dancer's arms, will beep when it moves out of a horizontal plane."This allows you to focus on your poise and posture," Burns said. "It tells you whether your spins and pivots are vertical or whether you done blew it and you're leaning hopelessly to one side or another."
Sometimes dancers intentionally move their arms out of position, in which case the device can also be instructive, Burns said. "If you don't expect it to beep and it does, then you've made a mistake, and vice versa," he said.
Burns, who hopes to begin manufacturing the device soon, received patent 5,344,323.
Patents are available by number for $3 from the Patent and Trademark Office, Washington, DC 20231.