[Tango-L] A Training Scale

[Michael]

Lisa:
My teacher told me that "A lead is an invitation to step." A man holds the door open at a building for a woman to enter. He signals with his eyes, arm or some other body part that she should enter the building. She enters without being shoved through the doorway. But what are men taught about leading? Inviting or shoving through the doorway?

On the rare occasions a woman asks me for feedback, I take her hand and tell her we're walking on the sidewalk. She doesn't have any problem walking forward,in a circle, backward, nor rocking. The moment her mind goes to dancing, the brain takes over and she concentrates on what she has learned in class, not what is being invited. The fear of making a mistake trumps everything.

But then, what is dancing? Dancing is walking to music! If you can walk and feel your body's rhythm, you can dance.

Michael
I danced Argentine Tango --with the Argentines
Washington, DC (hopefully not for much longer)

However, and this is not personal to you at all:  I don't like the language of lead and follow. Follower seems to imply something very passive.  As if the follower were only an expression of the leader's will. As if she had no bones, muscles, or mind.  Or, as if she had no part in the creation of the dance.

I once heard Corina de la Rosa define leading as proposing something about the music.  I like that description very much.  Note that it is "proposing" and it is not dictating, forcing, telling, screaming, controlling or commanding.  All those negatives could be associated with leading.  Further, with proposing, then the dance partner is still left to dance and express herself - to accept the proposal and to make it reality.

Lisa Battan