[Tango-L] Lead and follow

[Jack Dylan]

I'm still open to the idea, but I'm not convinced about any big improvement 
that the man will make by learning to dance the woman's role.

Yes, of course the man must understand the woman's role and must know 
all her steps and pivots that he is going to lead but, IMHO, I don't think that 
requires the man to actually be able to dance the woman's role. There might 
be some minor advantage but we all have a limted amount of time to spend 
on our tango and is it really time and cost effective to learn and practice in  
the woman's role when we could spend that time learning and practicing in 
our natural role?

And just who will lead these men who want to learn the woman's role? I might 
be being selfish but I'm certainly not going to spend my time and risk possibly 
injury by leading a large, clumsy man. And one thing I am convinced of is that 
my leading technique will not improve by leading  men; men and women are 
just too different and I don't just mean physically.

The other thing that puts me off is that whenever I see a man dancing  the 
woman's role, he's invariably using it as just another way of showing off. 
'Look at me; look how clever I am'. Also, the other way around and from my
experience, women learning to lead definitely doesn't improve her ability to
follow.

Finally, there's been a lot of talk about "That's how the older milongueros 
learned". But, let's not forget that it wasn't by choice because it make them 
better dancers. That was the ONLY way they could learn.

Jack



----- Original Message ----
> From: Trini y Sean (PATangoS) <patangos at yahoo.com>
> 
> 
> Perhaps, one day, if you learned the woman's role, you'll better understand why 
> learning to follow adds so much to the man's arsenal.  Until you learn it, you 
> might not appreciate it.
>