[Tango-L] women leading

[Martin Waxman]

For the Argentine Spanish speakers on the list:
What are the Argentine Spanish words/translations for what we English 
speakers call "lead" and "follow"?
As far as I can determine, the words don't exist -- they seem to use 
"Man" and "Woman".
Help!

Marty Waxman

At 07:22 PM 5/25/2006, Euroking at aol.com wrote:
>
>Igor,
>
>My apologies, there are gender neutral in English. Language is as self
>limiting as it is expansive, connotative meanings vs denotative meanings.
>Otherwise, I agree what's the problem?
>
>Bill in Seattle
>
>
>In a message dated 5/25/2006 3:43:49 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
>ipolk at virtuar.com writes:
>
>I still  do not understand that fuss about "leading" and "following" in the
>tango  community.
>
>These words where not chosen to be "gender neutral". These  words are used
>all around the world at least for a hundred of years to  describe relations
>between dancing partners. I have heard it since I was a  boy! "Lead me",
>"I'll dance it if you lead it", "He is such a good leader",  "He led me so
>well" - that is routinely is used in russian language.  Without any negative
>feeling whatsoever. About women we usually say  differently. She - dances. I
>lead her in the dance. I'd like to know how it  is in other languages.
>
>At times at some places there was not enough of  dancers of the opposite
>gender. So what? They danced with each other. No  problem whatsoever. This is
>less interesting, of course, sometimes funny,  but it is better than to seat
>in the corner. Literature, movies, personal  memories vividly present such
>episodes. There are few of them, because  nobody even paid much attention to
>it: it was more than normal, it was  unnoticed. You know, there are things
>which we do, but do not pay any  attention to it, we take it as granted.
>
>May be in Argentina, where at  times there were many more men than women,
>dancing women presented  something extraordinary - they ignored men.
>
>For me to "follow" is to be  able to perceive and react to the lead well.
>This is it. Just a name.  Because of my limitation in language and culture, I
>do not sense any  negative connotations. I could say "feeling". There is such
>thing like  "feeling of the partner".
>
>Igor
>
>PS.
>I am not really good in  English, but I have to tell you how I see the
>problem, then you might  understand me better.
>In Russian, there are 2 words equivalent to English  "Lead": "Lead", directly
>borrowed from English, (leadership), and "vesti" -  a slavic root. The
>first - "Lead" has to do with authority. "Bush is  an  American leader".
>Russians would use exactly the same word. The  second one, "Vesti" means "to
>show a path". A father leads his baby along  the path, a man leads a woman in
>the dance, a TV host leads the show or a  discussion. We can say: "We lead
>the conversation". It means we have the  conversation, we go along the same
>path, when one speaks - he leads it, we  exchange our roles in conversation.
>But it does not have much relation to  authority.
>
>
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>
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