[Tango-L] Leading and Following

[lgmoseley@aol.com]

Leading and following
 
Igor makes an important distinction. Dancing is a different skill from Learning to dance. A major point of getting good teaching is that one will learn the technical points which make Tango work. That must in part be an intellectual activity.
 
However, once you have internalised the teaching then you just dance. The intellectual part becomes minor. 
 
I am happy to believe that there are some people who are naturally gifted and who can just dance. However, in my experience they are few and far between. For most people, it appears that if they are properly taught (and learn what has been taught) then they progress to the more automatic part of dancing, and do it well. For a man to have been encouraged to dance as follower usually helps as well.
 
However, without the intellectual analysis and teaching beforehand then (a) they may merely practice bad habits or (b) not realise that they have anything to learn. I think that many of the complaints that we hear from ladies is about this group of men who do not think that they have anything to learn. They are the ones who pull the ladies off balance and then complain about her lack of balance! A common diagnostic symptom of such men is that they indulge in arm-wrestling while they are dancing.
 
The good news is that usually they either respond well to the teaching, move to another club, or give up Tango altogether!
 
Brazos
 
Laurie (Laurence)
 
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Leading is not harder than following.
LEARNING to dance as a leader is much harder !
 
Gentlemen should practice 3 times more than ladies.
 
Why? An experienced leader can lead any beginner in a dance with ease.
An experienced follower is not able to make a dance with a beginner leader.
 
Igor Polk
PS
Last posts helped me to realize this. Yes, I probably agree that dancing as
a lady requires significantly more of many things, including physical effort
than a man does in the dance. It would be interesting to read lady's point
of view.
 
But what I should do? I like to spend a lot of energy in the dance !