teaching

The truth about leading and following

Over the past couple of years, I’ve noticed something: people have the wrong idea about leading and following. I see students all the time who dance with an unspoken but implicit assumption about what it means to lead and to follow, and it  causes all sorts of problems for their technique and movement. These people think that “leading” means physically moving a follower and “following” means being physically moved by the leader.

This isn’t surprising. Think about how most dance classes are taught. We teach patterns that reinforce the idea that the leader moves the follower through a predetermined set of movements. The leader is in control and is responsible for moving the follower where she needs to be. Followers can style and embellish, but the leader is in charge of moving her. In fact, most new leaders think the ultimate aim of being a great dancer is to learn more – and more complicated – patterns, and new followers are overly concerned with where to go to execute the leaders’ patterns correctly. This is something we teach people, overriding what we instinctively know about how to lead and follow correctly.

As a result, leaders focus too much on moving the follower, followers focus too much on what the leader is trying to lead, and neither focus enough on moving themselves. This mindset produces things like tight arms and arm leads, imbalance and instability, over-leading, slow or heavy followers, poor execution of turns, and an over-reliance on the partner that detracts from individual expression and connecting with the music.

So what then, is the correct definition of lead and follow? I’ve come to realize that it is this: leading is moving your own body in a way that communicates something to the follower, and following is moving yourself in response to what you feel from the leader (and vice versa, responding as a leader and communicating as a follower). For both roles, the focus should be on the self – moving your own body to communicate and respond – rather than on moving or being moved by someone else.

My own dance journey has helped me to understand the appropriate role for each partner. I started out, like many, aspiring to have the coolest moves in town. As a matter of fact, a top champion saw me in my early days, complimented my dancing, and added, “Now you just need some big moves.” And as I advanced, I worried that my repertoire wasn’t big enough or complicated enough to be a great dancer. And as a result, I was often catering to my follower, rather than claiming my own place in the dance. But of course, the best dancers are the best because of their ability to lead and follow, and it stems from knowing how to move themselves so well that they can accomplish more with a partner to the music. In the past year, as I pushed myself further in this dance, I came to see that the path forward was about mastering my own movement and expression to create something better with my partner. The focus was not on what to do with my partner, but what to do with myself – to raise my quality of movement, to improve my own musical expression, and to better define my position as a leader in the dance. In the end, the more I focused on my own movement, the more I could communicate and the more I could achieve with a partner.

Focusing on your own movement means taking responsibility for yourself, and that results in greater balance, clearer weight transfers, and thus better connection. It also means we are less dependent on our partners, freeing us to be more expressive and communicative in the dance, and to create something more dynamic yet comfortable with our partner.

So take control of your own movement. Focus on raising your own quality of movement and worry less about your partner. If we all take care of ourselves, we will be better partners in the end.

Are you dependent on your partner? Are you a leader who focuses on moving your follower through patterns? Are you a follower who worries too much about what your leader wants? Are you in tune with your own movement and expression? Teachers, is the way you teach reinforcing an unhealthy dependency between the partners? Do you help your students stay focused on their own movement while dancing with a partner?

Stop working on connection

I often ask people what they’re working on in their dancing, either out of curiosity or because they are my students and I’m checking in with them. A frequent response to the question is “connection” – to which I inevitably reply, “What do you mean by that?”

We all want to have better connection with our partners. I get it. I really do. Connection is basically my number one value in partner dancing, because without it, how can you have a comfortable, effective, and successful partnership?

But here’s the thing: connection is not something you create unto itself. It is the product of other things, namely movement and body mechanics. Connection is created through movement of one’s body, either towards or away from a partner. So if you want to improve your connection, you work on movement and body mechanics.

I’ve written before about the importance of doing specific, concrete actions and it’s the same when working on improving your connection. Connection is an abstract by-product of other concrete actions – not something you tackle directly but rather indirectly by working on other things.

So stop working on connection and start working on the things that will actually improve your connection.

What are you working on to improve your connection? How has your instructor provided clear and specific actions for improving connection? Teachers, how do you help your students understand and work on connection?

What happened to the slot?

So, from everything I’ve been taught, West Coast Swing is a slotted dance.

Yet I feel like these days I’m seeing more and more leaders not really leading the follower down the slot. They either don’t really lead much or they give rotational and lateral leads.

At the same time I’m seeing more and more followers not really going down to the end of the slot. They either don’t go to the end of the slot or they aren’t back-weighted when they get there.

And I’m seeing more and more dancers move the dance all around, and even when they’re just shifting, bending, or scrolling the slot, it happens with such frequency that the dance starts to look less linear and more circular.

In my classes I emphasize the importance of a clear, linear lead for the leaders and of going to the end of the slot and anchoring for the followers. And when I’ve studied with top champions, many have reinforced the importance of defining the slot. So what’s happening? And equally important, what does this mean for the dance?

This could just be a phase, like so many fads in our community that come and go (remember swango?). Or maybe it’s an evolution of the dance, influenced by dancers and music that push the limits and boundaries of what’s possible. (Dances like Carolina Shag and DC Hand Dancing were spot dances that became slotted under the influence of West Coast Swing.) Or maybe I’m just seeing a lot of poor technique and poor mechanics. (Ebonics: a new language or just poor grammar?)

Yes, I’m a technician and a stickler for good mechanics, but I’m not against an evolution of the dance. Heck, West Coast Swing itself is an evolution of Lindy Hop, and it has always been evolving – adapting to new music, new technical knowledge, and new influences. And the definition of West Coast Swing, let alone swing, has always been the subject of debate among purists and progressives alike.

In my view, though, I think it’s important to learn the rules before you bend or break them. And when they are broken, it should then be done with purpose and intent, not because you never learned them in the first place. Besides, I think it’s important to know our history and to understand where we came from so that we can better understand where we’re going (or might possibly go).

For my part, I’m going to keep teaching my students about the importance of the slot and linear mechanics, but I’m also going to pay attention to those who are playing with slot dynamics. And I’m going to keep hoping that people will better define the slot in their dancing before they venture to change it.

Is anyone else noticing this change in the mechanics or shape of the dance? Do you think this is just poor technique or pushing the limits of what West Coast Swing is? And does it matter at all?

No, really. What are you actually working on?

Whether it’s my regular students or someone I’m working with for the first time, I always ask the question, “What are you working on?” I ask this to get a sense of where their focus and areas of concern are, as well as to get a sense of how they think about the dance.

And time and time again, I get answers like: “Posture.” “Connection.” “Creating space for the follower.” “Not being heavy.” “Frame.” “Anchoring.” All good things to be working on, to be sure, but they’re also abstract constructs and concepts. What does it mean to work on these things? In other words, when you’re practicing, either by yourself or with a partner, what are you doing differently to achieve your intended goal?

I’ve written before about the importance of self-awareness, mindset, and focus for improving one’s dancing. Equally important, however, is having a specific, concrete action to work on. If you can’t say in specific, concrete terms what you’re doing to improve your dancing, it will be more difficult for you to make progress.

Learning to dance – and developing our dance – requires specific instruction on how to do something new or how to do things differently. Abstract constructs and concepts are important for understanding the why of what we’re learning, but at the end of the day, in order to do something new or different, we need the what and the how. Therefore, we need a specific and concrete action to perform that helps us develop a new habit or skill.

So while it’s important to not just focus on what not to do, it’s also important that as students and teachers we talk about specific, concrete things that we can do to improve our dance.

Can you say right now what specific thing you’re doing to improve your dancing? As students, do you make sure you walk away from lessons with concrete things to work on? As teachers, do you make sure your students have concrete actions to work on?

 

 

What you need to get better now

If you’re reading this blog, I’m guessing that you want to get better. (I mean, why else read a bunch of articles on dance if it isn’t something you’re passionate about?) And improving at any skill requires passion and motivation, proper instruction, and mindful and focused practice. A lot of us are passionate and motivated, and there are plenty of good instructors out there to study with. The clincher, at the end of the day, is practice.

I recently had the privilege (it’s always a privilege) to take a workshop with Brandi Tobias. Among the many amazing insights she shared with us, one that stuck was this: “It’s not about years. It’s about hours.” And the truth is that few of us put in the hours. Acquiring any new physical skills requires frequent and consistent repetition, drilling the new behavior until we develop what we call “muscle memory” – the ability to execute a task well without mindful focus. And as Brandi also reminded us, practice doesn’t make perfect – perfect practice makes perfect.

For my students, I know many of them don’t put in the hours. Heck, I personally don’t put in as many hours as I’d like to. But when I do put in the hours, when I’m social dancing, I’m working. I’m focused and mindful, all the time, every dance. (Which is probably why I don’t smile often. Sorry to all my followers.) Because I know staying focused and practicing is the only way to get better. After all, if you’re not working on developing a new skill, you’re just going to keep doing the same old skill, the skill that keeps you where you are.

So as February rolls on, and we renew our commitment to achieving those New Year’s resolutions, here’s one for you: resolve to practice – and to practice frequently and consistently. Because without practice, your New Year’s resolutions might not stick.

How often do you practice? How do make sure to practice regularly and consistently? Teachers, how do you help your students commit to practicing? Leave your comments below.