ROUND DANCING — CHOREOGRAPHED BALLROOM

THERE IS MORE THAN ONE WAY TO LEAD

Whenever our round dance teachers bring up the subject of leading and following, we assume that the man will lead and the woman will follow. But you experienced dancers have discovered that other styles of leading work well, too. The traditional man's lead can yield wonderfully smooth dancing, but a more collaborative style, where both partners contribute to the lead can work well, and even a woman's "back" lead can give very good results. We would like to examine these three styles and perhaps bring the possibility of collaboration and woman's lead out of the shadows and into more serious consideration.

MAN'S LEAD

The traditional, modern style of lead and follow expects the man to direct the movements of the couple, much as a conductor directs the playing of an orchestra. I like this metaphor, because the orchestra knows perfectly well what it will play, just as the woman round dancer knows what she will dance. The orchestral players have the scores right in front of them, and the woman dancer hears the cues just as the man does. But as an orchestra must not play until the baton rises, so must the woman not dance until the man leads.

The man's lead comes from throughout both dancers' frames. In closed position, the arms are up, and both man and woman have their muscles well toned. When the man steps forward, he lowers a bit in anticipation of the move. She begins to respond. He doesn't push with his left hand, but his toned frame maintains its shape, so she feels pressure at her right hand and hip, and she feels a release of pressure at his right hand. She moves to regain that pressure in his right arm and to maintain her position on his right hip. She feels the movement along her left arm. Especially in the smooth rhythms and in closed position, your frame is a single, integrated unit, and the lead is transmitted at many points of contact. Such a lead can be very clear.

Again, don't try to steer your partner by pushing and pulling with the left hand. Don't pull or shove with the right hand. Don't lift or drop a shoulder. These sorts of local or focused movements break the frame and move you out of position with respect to the other. They destroy the smooth lines of your dance position. They are often jerky movements and impediments to smooth flow. A strong lead comes from the legs, hips, torso, and both arms, all at the same time; it comes from the whole frame moving as one.

As the man takes his first step forward, the woman's step back should be long and from the hip. The man lowers and begins to step forward with his left foot. The woman follows by lowering and stepping back with her right. Reach back. Allow the tip of your toe to touch the floor, but don't transfer weight until you feel the man transfer his weight. You might think to yourself that you must not commit until he does. Otherwise, you may cut his step short with a bump, or you may get your toe stepped on. If he is taking a long, flowing stride, you can let your right toe slide along the floor. When he begins to shift weight, you do, too. If he shifts sooner, you will be in position to shift as well, and you will remain together, your movements smooth and not jerky.

Avoid "Noise" --

It can be especially difficult to avoid extraneous movements as you dance. An extraneous movement is any movement, from head to toe, that might be a lead, but it is not. Extraneous movements are "noise" in your lead/follow communication system. Men, I know you are groovin' to that music, and it is telling you to shake your bootie. It is saying, "get down!" But don't do it. Don't shake. Don't bounce. Don't look around the room. Your partner will assume you are communicating with her, but she won't understand, and in truth you're not talking to her; you're just talking to yourself. You must stay toned and quiet. Each movement must be smooth, conscious, a clear signal, a clear lead.

If the lead tends to be noisy, then a look to reverse could mean anything or nothing. The man may just be checking out the refreshment table. But if the lead is relatively noise-free, then a glance to reverse does mean something: it means, get ready to go that way. It might work something like this: You are in butterfly, and you are doing a side, close, side, touch; cucaracha; (notice that I am using punctuation to describe timing: a comma marks the end of a beat and a semi-colon marks the end of a measure). These step cues can come fast. Tone in the man's left arm leads the side step, and continued tone there helps insure that we both close and step side again. As you begin your "touch," relax that tone, turn your head slightly to reverse, and strengthen the tone in your right arm. All this primes the woman for the change in direction. Then your cucaracha to reverse comes as no surprise, and she is smoothly with you. These little movements and glances work only if your lead is noise-free.

Ladies, Ignore the Cues --

Perhaps you can tell that the cues we so enjoy in round dancing can really interfere with good leading and following and therefore with smooth dancing. If the woman hears the cues, if she knows the figures perfectly well, and if she steps off into what she knows she is supposed to do before the man leads her to do so, then they will go bump, bump, bump, down the ballroom floor. She steps producing a little separation, he steps to catch up, and they bump. The next cue comes, and they do it again.

Women, you must learn to wait. Confidentially, you may know that you are the smarter one with the better sense of rhythm. You hear a cue, and you know that you must step back, but don't do it. Wait for your man. Wait for him to step forward. Wait until you feel his lead through your frame, and only then take your step. In this way you will be dancing as a couple, rather than as two dancers, each responding to the cuer. Yes, you do hear the cues, so you are forewarned. You know ahead of time what you will do. But let your man tell you when to do it.

Finally, if you are really good, you will even let the man tell you what to dance, as well as when to dance it. Imagine a dance in which the cuer cues a Reverse Fallaway, and somehow your man hears "Reverse Turn," and he dances and leads a Reverse Turn. What will you do? Will you jerk him into that fallaway position, where you know you're supposed to be? If you do that, it won't look pretty. Instead, dance the Reverse Turn with him, and do it with a smile on your face. He will know something is wrong by now. You don't have to tell him. The Reverse Fallaway is a one measure figure and the Reverse Turn is two, and the cuer is telling him to do something he can't do from there, and he is dancing and trying to hold this partnership together. The woman's job is to follow. Eventually, a cue will come along that you can do from where you are, and you will be back on track. Those on the sidelines might not quite recognize what you are up to, considering what is being cued, but mostly they will see how smoothly and pleasantly you are dancing together. Once, years ago, Mickey Moore confided that Brent, "liked her to dance a little fuzzy," a little compliant: You want to turn left, hon? Sure, I'm with you.

COLLABORATIVE LEAD

There are several, separate steps or skills that a dancer must use in responding to round dance cues:

• he must hear the cue
• process that cue and get a mental image of what is to be done
• actually execute the move, with appropriate movements in the right direction
• lead your partner through that same figure
• hear the beat of the music; count the time, either consciously or subconsciously
• of course, move to that beat

In an ideal world (see "Man's Lead" above), the man is supposed to do all this, and the woman is supposed to follow. In the real world, the man and woman are not so one-sided, not so specialized, and not so focused at every moment during the dance. Sometimes he misses the cue, but she hears it. Sometimes he is momentarily bewildered, but she understands. Sometimes he does not have as good a sense of rhythm as she has, and all this can create a more collaborative style of leading.

In the collaborative style of leading, he leads when he can, and she leads when she can. Both are sensitive to each other and are prepared to follow, and the dance becomes more of a balanced conversation, back and forth, a give and take, a discussion, maybe even a civilized debate between colleagues; rather than the more one-sided or even autocratic relationship in traditional lead and follow. When he is sure of himself, he strengthens his lead, and off you go. When he is not so sure, he softens, and perhaps she is able to step into the breach and carry on.

But if the woman is to lead, then the man has to learn to follow. Following is a discreet activity, a unique skill, just as leading is. While the leader has to visualize the figure and communicate clearly what he wants his partner to do, the follower has to interpret that communication and then execute the request. It's like speaking and listening. Being a good listener is a rare skill. If you both want to lead and follow, then you both will have to work on both skills. Neither comes automatically.

LADY'S BACK LEAD

And finally, carrying the suppositions in collaborative leading a good bit further, the man may be tone deaf and the woman sharp as a tack. This doesn't mean that he doesn't have many, many fine qualities, but on the round dance floor, it is she who has the skills listed above. She may routinely hear, process, and remember better that her man. She may be more attentive, more interested in the whole activity. It may be her "thing" and not so much his. Perhaps he is indulging her passion, and it is good of him to do so. In these circumstances, certainly let her be more assertive. Let her step out firmly and guide the figure.

Sometimes, male dance teachers will joke that on the dance floor is the one place where he is the boss, where he has the final say. I'm sure that such a comment is just a humorous exaggeration, but even so, the man's lead is only one style of leading. Other styles, other relationships between partners work well and yield smooth and graceful movements. Each couple should work out what works best for them.

An expanded version of this essay is entitled Lead and Follow.