[Tango-L] following the follower

[Alexis Cousein]

TimmyTango at aol.com wrote:
> When learning and when I teach the ocho, I teach-
> Give the women direction
> Let her go.
> follow her.

That is exactly the mode of thinking that Chris (quite rightly)
objected to (even though it's sometimes useful to think of things
this way, it's *very* dangerous to impress that idiom onto
unsuspecting strangers, especially beginners).

If done properly, it's not a discrete sequence of events.
You give the woman direction by moving yourself (not necessarily
your feet, mind you - it can start with a change of balance, or
rotation or movement of the chest), and the connection
*continually* feeds back information about whether you are staying
connected, which both partners use to move together.

I'd *never*, *ever* use the phrase "you let her go", because
that somehow suggests you break the connection and that while
you're both stepping, she's *autonomously* moving and actually
has the lead.

She hasn't, and a good follower will refuse to close a step
when the closure of the step isn't led, illustrating very well
that the *entire* step is led from start to end (even though
the leader also "follows" in the sense that both he and the
followers listen to the connection and adapt their movement to
keep that connection alive the way they want it to be).

-- 
Alexis Cousein                                al at sgi.com
Solutions Architect/Senior Systems Engineer   SGI
--
Bad grammar makes me [sic].