Compensating for your dance partner

Okay folks, so how much should you compensate for your dance partners, and how should you do it? Examples: Should you compensate for a bad lead or follow, for misplacement on the dance floor, for the level of ability of your partner? And how much compensation is too much?

Depends, depends, depends...in the social/club arena there is the need for people to learn that needs to be balanced by the wish by all parties to have a good time dancing. I don't see, for example, an advanced follow just following a leader all the time, even a beginner who is off and whose basic beat wanders all the place. Here an advanced follow by keeping the basic beat and communicating it to the beginner could be doing a good thing by compensating for the beginners lack of knowledge and skill, and by doing so help instill synchronicity to the music in the leader. At the same time I'm sure dancing that way would be a lot more enjoyable.

I think this definitely depends on venue and scenario. Take competitive partners for instance . . . during lessons and practice the absolute worst thing you could do for your partner or for the partnership is to compensate for them. These are exactly the times when you want to be strengthening your skills, and especially weaker ones, not ignoring them. When actually on the competition floor, however, the reverse dynamics come into play . . . this is when you want the partnership to look as strong, solid, and together as is possible. Not compensating for your partner in such circumstances – at least in so far as you can do so without significantly compromising your own role – is directly antithetical to the idea of competitive partnering.

Sagitta said:

Depends, depends, depends...in the social/club arena there is the need for people to learn that needs to be balanced by the wish by all parties to have a good time dancing. I don't see, for example, an advanced follow just following a leader all the time, even a beginner who is off and whose basic beat wanders all the place. Here an advanced follow by keeping the basic beat and communicating it to the beginner could be doing a good thing by compensating for the beginners lack of knowledge and skill, and by doing so help instill synchronicity to the music in the leader. At the same time I'm sure dancing that way would be a lot more enjoyable.

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edie the salsafreak has often mentioned that one of her partners was a great dancer - but almost never danced on the 1 - she often joked that he was as likely to dance on the '7' as on the '1'. instead of trying to correct him, she chose to reframe her perspective as a challenge to herself to improve her own follow skills. i suggest that people who have this attitude are more likely to become advanced followers who are sought after as partners.

as a leader i see following the lead as it's perceived as the kindest thing a follower can do - it gives the leader feedback in terms of 'oh, this is what happens what i lead a move this way' and is more likely to motivate him to improve. in terms of enjoyment, a leader certainly isn't going to have fun if the follower is fighting his lead and/or otherwise communicating that he's somehow off and/or wrong. should he become a dancer who's sought after as a partner, memories of those kinds of experiences are likely to influence whom he asks to dance (with).

IMO & YMMV.

I agree - that depends!

If you are social dancing, you should dance to the level of your dance partner, that is, if you are the better dancer . . . you need to dance down to their level. If they are the better dancer . . . do your best because they should be dancing to your level.

In other words . . . just enjoy the dance and just dance!

In competition, say in a Jack and Jill at the Intermediate or above level, if I draw you as a partner, you better be dancing at that level as well because that's what I will be doing. I won't dance down in competition!