Learning New Moves; in Class or Lesson - and Then Dancing.

[Spitfire]

Kind of frustrating...

Learning a new move and doing so with little or no problem, but having difficulty with it at a dance. :?

A problem most of us have had at one time or another I'm sure.

[bordertangoman]

What is the nature of the problem? Does your partner know the move?
I find that if she doesn't know what is being lead and how to respond then it won't work.

[Sagitta]

A lot can be lead, so perhaps the issue is with the follows in class anticipating moves. Then you coudl ask the instructor to have soem practice time where you can practice anything so you can mix it up and the issue of anticipating is not so much a problem for teh follow.

There are some moves that are very difficult to lead, though, or that the follow needs to know to be able to respond appropriately. :(

[etchuck]

In my case, it's a question of (a) confidence and (b) breaking habits. I have great difficulty doing lindy because I did ECS 6-counts for somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 years. Same thing with international tango; I had a lesson last night where we went over international tango, and all I can think is American steps. Yeah, I was awake when I learned how to do simple tango walks and link steps and a reverse turn... but I can't get T-A-N-G-O out of my subconscious.

[Spitfire]

This brings up a point; there does seem to be a standing belief that if it does not work it's the leader'd fault. Is this prevelant elsewhere?

[cupojoe2]

This brings up a point; there does seem to be a standing belief that if it does not work it's the leader'd fault. Is this prevelant elsewhere?

I think that the problem isn't always with the lead, but if the lead is bad -- it just isn't going to work!

I had a group class recently where my "partner" wasn't getting a move. She thought it was her fault, but as soon as she tried it with the instructor she was able to do it.

As I watched the two of them, I figured out what I was doing wrong and adjusted -- after I fixed my mistake, she was much better at the move. :wink:

[tsb]

This brings up a point; there does seem to be a standing belief that if it does not work it's the leader'd fault. Is this prevelant elsewhere?

yes, but not necessarily a technique issue on the leader's part - it may be that the leader should not have chosen the move to begin with for reasons such as but not limited to:
- follower not capable of doing the move;
- follower capable of doing the move but not recovered from last move;
- not enough room on dance floor/impending collision;

it is my view that dancing is dancing & practice is practice. so if you're dancing with someone you know and have an understanding beforehand that you want to practice a move, ok, otherwise, move selection should be limited to those which can (in the leader's best judgement) be led & followed smoothly.

as to the original point, i think it a good idea that to, if in class and the lead for a move is not clear, ask the teacher to clarify the lead, as well as to get feedback from your partners as to whether the lead was clear (assuming that they're not backleading). as a previous poster suggested, i like what one former instructor of mine used to do which was allow us to do a series of basics and lead the move of our own initiative, throwing in other moves to keep the follower from backleading.

[jon]

Learning a new move and doing so with little or no problem, but having difficulty with it at a dance. :?

Usually a good sign that you haven't learned the move well enough yet.

I'd agree with bordertangoman only to the extent that there are types of movement which, if the follower hasn't been exposed to patterns using them, she will have difficulty getting. But otherwise the onus is on the leader to be clear.

[Bronzestudent]

Learning a new move and doing so with little or no problem, but having difficulty with it at a dance. :?


At the last dance I went to, I was confronted with just that problem. Granted, it was a more difficult move, Spin Turn in Foxtrot. But even without it being a more difficult move, it's my experience that I get used to doing a move with my teacher, getting good at leading her through it, and then I have to adjust for other partners. (My teacher will usually make it easier to lead new steps when first learning them, but then she'll leave it all up to me.)

Yeah, as pointed out in earlier posts, it's typically the leader's problem, if the follower is adept at the move and it does'nt work. However, that phenomenamarama also effects Ladies as well in some cases. Like, she can get used to being led a certain way by her instructor, then when doing it for the first couple times with somebody else, she will need to make significant "adjustments".

Not that you change the technique for the move. Rather, you've got little quirks to work out in timing, and doing new steps with different partners can quickly improve your performance of those moves.

:arrow: Many of us typically sleep, or veg out on Dance Forums between learning a new move and dancing it publicly. That probably should be factored in as well.