Right Side, Not Important?

[Dancebug]

What do you say to a leader who does not believe that keeping the right side forward is not important in standard dance?

[suburbaknght]

What do you say to a leader who does not believe that keeping the right side forward is not important in standard dance?
Switch roles for a practice and let him experience being lead the right way and the wrong way.

[samina]

have a professional demonstrate this comparison with him in a lesson...

[Mengu]

What do you say to a leader who does not believe that keeping the right side forward is not important in standard dance?

I say double negatives hurt my head. :confused:

[Josh]

To be clear, you are talking about a guy who does not feel it is important for the lady to keep her right side connected to the man?

Having this connection is something that will feel right upon consistently experiencing it, and feel very wrong when it is not present. It's like describing how ice cream tastes--words don't do it justice! :-) From a technical point of view, if the lady allows the right side of her body to open up away from the man, it weakens connectivity and limits information that can be sent from the center of the man's body.

The lady must be careful, however, to not take the left side away while keeping the right side forward. Sometimes ladies will "twist" their right side forward, and in the process the left side moves slightly backward, which causes the shape of the partnership to be compromised. The lady's left side should still feel like the slightly more dominantly forward side.

[Dancebug]

To be clear, you are talking about a guy who does not feel it is important for the lady to keep her right side connected to the man?

No, no. The leader believes presenting his right side is not important.

[Chris Stratton]

Well neither side should be back, but its the left side that is dominantly forward, even in some respects when a figure calls for a"right side lead".

Such things depend a lot on the nuanced meaning given to words - the only real solution is in person consultion with a good teacher.

[Angel HI]

Unless I am mistaken, I believe the OP to understand the man's left shoulder lead, but is speaking of his keeping the right side lifted and connected with the follow. This being the case, my reply to the post is to acquire a qualified coach to explain it to him.

[hjr28]

I would say he/she is completely correct. A strong, forward presented *left* side is much more important than the right side. The right side connection will happen naturally, the left side however needs to be kept presented towards the partner.

this is why Mirko wins (amongst other reasons). He has *such* a strong left side (and by strong I mean always forward and rotated slightly to the partner.

Josh

[Chris Stratton]

I'd like to hear a more specific description of the complaint, specifically what the partner is doing instead which is objectionable. Many of us have been interpreting it as a rotational dispute and reacting with suspicion. But if it were something like leaving the hip behind in movement...

[Lorelei]

If I understood the question correctly, I would say I can't quite feel where his "post" is, which might make it difficult to follow... I am not sure I would tell partner how to fix the problem though, as he is a much better "guy" then I am..;)

[Dancebug]

I see a little background story is needed.

Whenever our coach wants to try something with me, the first thing out of his mouth is, "I do not feel your right side, bring it up to me, up to me." I figured that it is because my partner does not like me to dance with him the way I would with our coach. He rather discourages me from presenting my right side toward him. So I normally dance with him without thinking about it, therefore I simply do not have the habit of presenting my right side. Recently I tried to fix that and gave more thought to why my partner does not like my right side. Of course it could be that I am simply not doing it right. Or/And my partner does not know how to deal with it or respond to it. Ok, if it is the first, I can work on it. It is within my control. But if it is the second, my partner needs to do something about it. That is why I am asking here. I assumed that if a lady is supposed to present her right side toward a man, he needs to do something reciprocating, like presenting his right side. But seeing the responses here so far, that might not be always the case. So now please enlighten me.

[Chris Stratton]

I think maybe the right/left thing is a distraction - this actually sounds like a very legitimate disagreement about the importance of being in contact.

Its a debateable subject, because to achieve consistent contact often means accepting some degree of posture problems - but that's a compromise that's so automatic for those who've adopted it that they don't really notice any more.

I personally would examine extreme cases and suggest trying to avoid those. In the non-contact case, leaving the hip behind rather than advancing it with the bending knee is a common problem. But in the other direction, too much contact - the plastered together feeling - tends to disable movement unless the lower back is arched to free the hips.

Perhaps the most important point though is that dancing with an amateur partner is not going to feel like dancing with a pro. The balance of immediate priorities is dfferent when two amateurs dance together, than when a pro's skills and implicit habits are part of it. Coaching couples even requires somewhat different skills. Expecting an amateur partner to feel like a pro, or even dragging one to a teacher who has limited experience facilitating the development of amateur couples, can be great ways to kill a partnership.

[Lorelei]

DB, it could be too much of a good thing. If your right side is presented forward too strongly, it may affect your partner, whether lady or man. As a lady, I think about dancing around man's post, sort of an imaginary vertical line inside his right side. I am trying to be as compact around it as possible, but not interfere with it. Hope it helps...

[Mengu]

I think what you're talking about is perhaps not just a left side/right side thing, but a general lifting of the rib cage, and having a positive forward feeling. Perhaps having your partner focus on that may be sufficient to get you the support you're looking for from his right side. Telling him to push his right side forward is likely to create other problems such as him squeezing you to death.

If this is more of a problem during movement, than just getting in dance position, then it might be because of the man being back weighted. I've had this problem, where my partner typically won't even notice it, but I'm preventing her from shaping correctly. However when I dance with our instructor she will immediately "fix" me, and at the end of the fix I feel very much forward almost like leaning on top of her (though when I look in the mirror, I look straight). I'm sure for every person this may feel different. But it could be one of the reasons you are losing that support from his right side.

[Angel HI]

I think what you're talking about is perhaps not just a left side/right side thing, but a general lifting of the rib cage, and having a positive forward feeling.Yes. This is mkaing much more sense since th 'backstory'. Mengu's post is probably spot on, as is a partial from CS. It woul dseem that the corection, or concentration, need be simply stretching through the spine, and lifting up (obliques). To dance too open is a common error for the follow as she often is attempting to sty in the man's arm.

[Warren J. Dew]

I figured that it is because my partner does not like me to dance with him the way I would with our coach. He rather discourages me from presenting my right side toward him.

How does he discourage it?

You have a coach who knows what style he wants, so he's probably the best person to help you get it. I'd just tell him what you just said in that post the next time you and your partner get a lesson with him, and let him figure out how to fix both you and your partner.

[Chris Stratton]

...assuming the partner endorses that coach

[Dancebug]

...assuming the partner endorses that coach
Exactly. I think my partner endorses our coach selectively. He has respect for our coach in general, but he often says that his build is quite different from our coach's, so we cannot apply everything he teaches to our dance. Also he often says that I feel good when I dance with our coach because he helps my move by carrying me around, which I do not think is true. I had a lesson with our coach alone last night (a very rare occasion). Actually my body is more sore than usual. I think our coach knows how to encourage me to use right muscles and power.

I learned compromise and agreement between partners are a neccessity in partner dance. It is just that sometimes it is hard to decide which one is Ok to compromise.