Teach Your Pen to Dance

“The dance of the pen” is a quote often used to refer to handwriting that flows. The essence of most dance is flowing, rhythmic movement. Of course there are dances that emphasize fitful, angular movements for special effects, but for legible handwriting that is easy to write and easy to read rhythm is essential.
The light blue patterns will put rhythm in your writing. The patterns are shown with corresponding, BFH italic lowercase letters, but the patterns work just as well for any method of writing, including conventional cursive. Focus on lowercase letters. Capitals are used less often and therefore are not much of a problem.
Scribble the patterns frequently to teach your pen to dance. Improve your handwriting without worrying about individual letterforms.

The first rhythm pattern is the simplest. It develops consistent slant, spacing and letter size. Lift your pencil or pen slightly after each pattern so your hand does not drag the patterns off the baseline and distort them.
The second and third patterns improve consistency and add some bounce into your writing.

Do you favor printing, but need to make it easier to write, easier to read?
If you remove the serifs (those little entry and exit strokes) from some of the letters shown above they look almost like the print-script that you may have learned.
A print-script r has no wiggle as in the one above.
A print-script k is made with two strokes.
There are other minor differences. If you usually print, it is not difficult to gain fluency by adapting to the BFH letters above. You need not copy them exactly. Keep your individual self in your writing.

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