[Tango-L] Women leading IV

[Chris, UK]

Nice post, Jake. And well done for resisting the temptation to compare Sergio's

> Everybody should do whatever pleases him/her.

and

> Back leading is a bad practice and should not be encouraged . 

;)

------

Sergio also wrote:

> the leader gives signals (marca - lleva) to communicate to the follower what he 
> has in mind, what movements he wishes her to  execute. 

The saddest words said to me at the end of a dance: "Did I do all the steps you wanted?"

> When the follower does things on her own that are not lead by the man 
> this ... interferes with the leader's thought process who, more or less 
> awkwardly, has to change his projected figure, improvise and do something else.

That awkwardness is tango's way of giving a hint to the guy who thinks his figures are 
more important than his girl :)

Though if her 'interference' does succeed in breaking him out of those thought processes 
into improvisation, then all the better for him.

Not least because whilst not always with a girl that 'does things on her own', he is always 
with adjacent couples that do. So he's going to be awkwardly 'changing his projected 
figure'... until he find a way out of that cage of projected figures.

Chris

-------- Original Message --------

*Subject:* [Tango-L] Back leading - Electra
*From:* "Sergio Vandekier" <sergiovandekier990 at hotmail.com>
*To:* tango-l at mit.edu
*Date:* Wed, 31 May 2006 16:49:56 +0000

You know that we need two to tango.

In any activity that we as a group take part in, there is one that leads and 
others that follow.

Four people ride in a car, one drives and the other three ride *and do not 
interfere with his driving".
Should one of the passengers in the car attempt to take control of the 
steering wheel the car will sway from side to side and lose its smooth ride.

In dancing the leader gives signals (marca - lleva) to communicate to the 
follower what he has in mind, what movements he wishes her to execute.  The 
better he leads, the smoother the dance will be.

When the follower does things on her own that are not lead by the man this 
is called "Back leading".

This interferes with the leader's thought process who, more or less 
awkwardly, has to change his projected figure, improvise and do something 
else.

In traditional tango the man leads (marca - lleva) every single movement the 
follower does.  Even he leads all the embellishments directly or by allowing 
time for the woman to express herself.

I know there are all sort of inventions to attempt to change this : 
interleading, changing roles, the leader leads the woman to do the man's 
foot work while he executes the woman's, the woman puts pressure on the 
man's arm to ask for more time to do something, etc.

All this is fine, no problem.

There are all sort of changes in traditional terminology to accommodate the 
feelings of the "modern woman":

Such as the man does not lead, no sir! - he invites, proposes, - and what  
are you going to do? : refuse to do whatever he is leading (excuse me 
inviting)? no you are going to follow and do it.

Can you refuse? of course you can and then proceed to sit at your table. Big 
deal.

So in actuality terminology changes are only that, words. The essential 
aspects of dance do not accept too much variation.

Can a man follow, a woman lead, two women or two men dance together? of 
course they can.

Any experimentation should be welcome. Everybody should do whatever pleases 
him/her.

And those that do not take part in those experimentations should be tolerant 
and accept them as equal, because they might discover something.

Remember at he end everybody should have total freedom to do what seems to 
be attractive to them, that is one of the essential elements of tango.

Do you disagree? you have the right to refuse to dance with anybody or in 
any way you dislike.
You have the right to create your own milonga or to go to the milonga you 
like.

Summary: Back leading is a bad practice and should not be encouraged . 
Freedom is a good thing.
              Fanaticim, intolerance are bad things.

PS. check the following page :)))   
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electra_complex

Saludos, Sergio

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