[Tango-L] Strong Lead - resistance effect

[Chris, UK]

Krasimir wrote:

> if you (the leader) make a sharp step back, the connection would break,
> provided you do not hold her... So much for not having to pull the lady.

You do not have to pull the lady... and you have to /not/ pull the lady.

Pulling wrecks her forward step. Instead of a nice continuously connected 
forward motion, she's instead forced into a kind of stumble to regain her 
balance. It doesn't feel good for her or you.

> ... still, if you don't hold her, the connection will break, 
> or become loose at least.

Not at all. She needs only to keep herself close at your chest. You don't 
need to hold her or use your arms at all.

When the two are stationary in the embrace, she's constantly giving you 
forward energy that's held in check by yours. The cancellation of equal 
and opposite (tiny) forces. You make the back step by releasing that 
check, so it's her energy that carries her forward, and drives you back, 
both in perfect balance. To make the arrival, you restore your energy, 
bringing her back to check.

This is the same as in the forward step, except with energies reversed. A 
good demo of this is simple slow smooth alternation of forward and back 
steps. Try doing this by switching between push and pull, the outcome is a 
shambles. Try it by using that checked energy, and you can feel the 
polarity swing continuously back and forth. The result is immeasurably 
better. And has very little sense of 'leading' and 'following', note.

Often hereabouts it's suggested that a student should try both roles to 
get an appreciation of how different they are. The better reason I think 
to try both roles is to get an appreciation of how similar they are.

--
Chris