[Tango-L] Fwd: Pettiness that needs to be broken

[El Mundo del Tango]

Thank you Alexis.

So Brick posts my article and says;.

"I thought I'd share it with the list, especially those who object to 
followers being compared to non-human things."

 ...What a sorry attempt to prod people into fighting his own battles for 
him in his sorry obsession against our studio.

 At least I am glad that more people got a chance to read the article.  I 
just hope that they take into context the manner in which it was presented 
and read the whole thing before jumping to conclusions.

It is so much easier to destroy than it is to create...

 All the best,
John

INTRO - "FOR THE FOLLOWER"

Last week I wrote about improvisation for the leader, so this week it makes 
sense to write about the follower's side of the story.

Sometimes when teaching a follower I find that it is necessary to work on 
the "auto-ocho" habit. Like a wild bronco that needs to be broken, these 
followers become runaway horses when led forward from the cross. This 
phenomenon manifests itself as a series of un-led forward ochos that spiral 
out of control. On occasion, I will stand there unmoving as the follower 
commits forward ocho after forward ocho while I patiently wait for her to 
finish.

Horse trainers have developed techniques for breaking wild horses which 
requires the tying up of a bronco to a barn or tree until it is too tired to 
fight anymore. I haven't heard of such techniques being used in tango, but 
it could be a possible last resort. When a leader is a victim of 
"auto-ochos" all he can do is sit there and wait for the follower to finish 
and then give her a nice, warm smile.

The reason that these `auto ochos' occur is because the some of us teachers 
have not trained our students to follow properly. Unfortunately, ochos are 
often learned as patterns and the follower's technique is not addressed in 
enough detail.

To make matters worse, bad habits can be learned from leaders. Sometimes 
leaders will push the follower and give them the mistaken impression that 
pushing is the correct lead. So when a gentleman doesn't push when leading a 
forward ocho and uses the correct lead based on turning his upper body and 
committing clear weight changes, the follower is sometimes unsure of what 
she is supposed to do.

On the other hand, some leaders have a very weak lead. During the execution 
of a forward ocho many of these leaders don't rotate their upper body to the 
right, so the follower doesn't have enough room to step. In response some 
followers can develop a bad habit of forcing their way through the forward 
ocho. In this manner they become accustomed to ignoring the lead and dancing 
by themselves.

Herein lies the agony of being a follower. The question is. if the man 
doesn't lead properly should she help by completing the step for him? My 
answer is. NO!!! It is human nature to want to please your partner and 
sometimes we feel that it is not unreasonable to give in to the temptation. 
Just remember the consequences will lead to bad habits for him and probably 
for you.

So lets analyze what it takes to be a good follower.

A woman must give up any attempt to guess what the next step of the dance 
will be and live in the present. Her biggest concern should be to determine 
which leg is free to step... Please let me explain. When a leader places a 
follower's weight on one leg, a good guideline states that the woman 
controls her standing leg and the man controls the free leg. The follower 
needs her standing leg to keep her up, but she has the ability to give 
control of her free leg to the leader.

So whenever the leader puts the follower's weight on one leg (lets say in 
this instance the right leg) her other leg (in this case the left) will be 
the one that will takes the next step. Therefore in this example, when the 
man leads the woman to walk backwards. the first leg to step backwards will 
be the free one, the left leg. If he leads her to the side then the first 
leg to step to the side will also be the left one. ETC. So the free leg (the 
one with no weight) will always be the stepping leg and the follower will 
never have to guess which leg to step with. If this concept is understood 
then it should really take a load off the follower's mind.

If a follower can stay in the present and focus on these weight changes, 
then she can free up her mind so that she has time to focus on musicality 
and proper technique. A woman must focus on what is important. These weight 
changes are much more important than thinking about whether she is good 
enough to follow the leader, or whether or not her stomach is showing 
through her dress, or whether or not she knows enough adornos, or whatever. 
Just start by focusing on weight changes. Then if you can ignore all the 
other voices in your head. you will have time to focus on musicality and 
technique.