This issue covers hand movements ranging from broad general statements for the whole hand to detailed descriptions, that necessitate defining use of a particular surface or edge of a specific joint or segment. Specific use of hands and fingers, their placement and degree of flexion, is very important, for example, in sign language and South Asian dance. Examples of these forms of movement, as well as use of hands in choreographies by Leonide Massine, Ruth St. Denis and Paul Taylor, are given in this issue.