LEADING

You are NOT Competitors

You are PARTNERS

You are a TEAM

Focus on Your Partner

CONNECT, with...

Smiles

Emotions

Jokes

Support

Stay TIGHT

Carboard Box Frame

Never Drop into Neutral

WAIT

There is No Rush

Take Time to make it Right

LEAD

Wait for your Partner to Follow

Ask How to Lead it Better

Assume you Should lead it better

FOLLOW

Wait for your Lead to LEAD

Patiently!!

Do NOT Complete the Move

MISTAKE?

Everybody Apologizes!

LEADS

Be CLEAR

Lead What You Know

Smile LOTS

Don't Worry About the Steps

Find a Down Beat Sometimes

Lead VS Play-Time

Use Physics

Wind her UP

Let Physics do the Rest

Do LESS

Create Structure

Let Your Partner PLAY

LEADING

....is Simple. Just figure out what your Follow needs and create the right Lead for that.

Ha! Lifetime project.

When I was first learning to lead, sometimes if I lost the pattern (and the thought).... I would just grind to a halt, stop, and try to get going again. You can only put so many thoughts into one brain at a time, and there is SO much to keep track of when you first start leading.

However, "stop" is a lot like "straight line" in the real universe..... they are imaginary concepts that do not actually exist.

With experience, you get to where, even if you wobble around a little in your lead, you manage to keep moving.

"It takes at least five years of rigorous training to be spontaneous."

Martha Graham

She was either a complete optimist or knew what she was doing.

Not like me at all! I can only hope I am a little bit like Thomas Edison:

"I have not failed. I've just found ten thousand ways that won't work."

I estimate I have danced 150,000 dances with 20,000 different dancers. How many more "wrong" ways of leading can there be?

With experience, you can slowly turn off the brain and become "spontaneous", trusting that you have the tools and it will work out.

I have now learned the most important lesson of dance "leading experience", I think:

I have just scratched the surface

on what is possible in leading....

keep playing!

More important than spontaneous though, is the magic. Those moments when you find Joy and Connection with another body, another spirit.

Ideally, I would Lead every Follow in every song... differently! I would be "listening" to the Follow and the song, and looking for Dance Magic.

I’m not that good, sadly. So much still to learn!

To explain that, a bit, though, I can break down on a gross level how I lead differently, for dancers of different experience levels in a particular dance:

* Beginners... I lead constant moves that are easy to control, like lots of inside and outside turns. Beginners are usually super nervous, and when you are nervous you do not dance well. That can create a negative feed-back loop, where the awkward dancing reinforces the nervousness. I try to "over dance" them just a bit, so there is more going on that they can think about, creating room for their body to Follow along, as it already knows how to do. If I can get it into that groove, they quit thinking and start doing. And smiling, and having fun! And gaining confidence. And come back!!!

* Intermediates... I actually find leading them the most difficult. They are taking lots of classes and learning lots of moves and patterns. I am naturally dancing "outside the box" most of the time, intentionally breaking those patterns…. Which can easily make an intermediate Follow uncomfortable. When I know the patterns, I do more pattern dancing with Intermediates than any other dancers. When I do not know the patterns (because I’m doing a dance style outside my expertise). It becomes a real challenge, to which I do not have a great solution. Mainly, then, I just smile like the Cheshire Cat, to make sure I am signaling that "everything is OK!"

* Pros... I don’t Lead, I Play. I do nearly no patterns. Instead, I focus on Connecting in every beat, and between every beat. Trying to get to "One Body Dancing". Mostly, I Lead nothing and give them TONS of room to Play. Leads! When you have a great Follow, just let them do their thing! First, they will look really good, and heck, people will think you are Leading all that Magic. Ha!! Second, they usually don’t get that Play room. You are going to stand out if you give it. Just enjoy ‘em!

There are SO many great examples of Leading and Connecting in this Blog, that it is hard to choose one for this Post. But, the Leading challenges and the magic achieved in this one.... I never fail to choke up a bit watching it.