[Tango-L] Skilled women [was: buenos aires milongas]

[Jay Rabe]

 >Victor wrote:> Its not unusual for a follower to do something you don't expect.
 
 
Amen. In fact, if you get right down to it, it's pretty UNusual for a follower, no matter how experienced, to do EXACTLY what you expect, in terms of her step speed, direction, or timing. IMO one of the goals of a leader is to accommodate the variability of his follower's responses. Like Gavito said, "I lead, but I follow." The leader cannot afford to "expect," to count on, a specific response. He must wait for her to start moving, pay enough attention to her that he can see/feel what she's doing, and adjust his step and body mechanics accordingly.
 
That said, an experienced follower will get a lot closer to precisely what you intend her to do that will an inexperienced one (duh). A principle I learned in a management training class in my previous life in the corporate world applies here. It's called Situational Leadership. Basically you lead differently depending on the skill of your partner. Certainly you lead different steps, but you also use different timing and body movements. If I want a cross and am dancing with an experienced follower, I don't hardly need to turn my torso at all. I just set up the step and our body positions, and it works. With an inexperienced follower, it's often necessary to do the "CW-wind & CCW-unwind" in order to get her to cross.
 
OTOH, I have heard Alex Krebs say Many times, if you lead a woman to the cross a couple of times, and she doesn't get it, then she doesn't get it, and you should stop leading it. Every time you lead something that she doesn't get, she knows something went wrong, and assumes she messed up. So the principle is, make her feel comfortable, give her a pleasurable dance, by not leading steps she doesn't know how to follow.
 
             J
           TangoMoments.com
 
 
 
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