As a fat follower, what do I need to do to make sure I dance lighter?

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Eternalvoyageur

New Member
Not looking for weight loss advice, just Tango advice. With that clarified - -
I'm progressing from beginner to intermediate, and wondering what is important so that the dance at Milongas is enjoyable for my partners as well. From what I understand, I am pretty grounded, but need to take care to be light as well. Any advice?
 
To prevent "heaviness", I think most leaders enjoy dancing with followers who don't place too much of their own weight on them — that is to say, being centered and balanced on your axis. I think one way to do it, from what I have been taught of following, is to try and have your weight/centre of gravity [?] over the balls of your feet.

It really depends on the leader in question, and sometimes you might need to adjust how much weight is shared with them, from very light to heavier than what the average leader might prefer. If you have a regular dance partner, or even just a leader at a practica willing to give you clear and honest feedback on how it feels for him as you shift your weight, I think that might help you be more aware of what it feels like.

For lightness, it's more about responding near-instantly to what the leader leads, if he leads properly. There is of course an inevitable delay, but the more responsive a follower is, the lighter they tend to feel, since if they "move with you", there is less of a resistance to the leader's movement, as well as a lessened sensation of your weight. Some resistance is necessary, of course, since otherwise it would be like dancing with a ghost.
 
It is nice that you can recognize your progress and that you are trying to bring more awareness in your dancing.

weight is not correlated to the heaviness in dancing. Slim followers may feel heavy if they are too grounded or lean too much on the leader.
As you progress to feather weight following you will need to learn how to adjust your heaviness according your leader.
 
For me, heaviness has nothing to do with the weight of my partner. It is a matter of how fast my partner reacts to my leads and of how much effort I need to put into my leads.

Simple example: I want to lead a back ocho. Some partners will pivot as soon as I turn my chest a few degrees. They will feel light. With others, I will need to turn much more before they deign to pivot, sometimes to the point where I start to wonder whether they will ever react. They will feel heavy.
 
I would say that groundedness refers to the ability to keep your balance, especially in movements that require pivots.

A follower can feel grounded and light (best combination), grounded and heavy, not grounded and light, or not grounded and heavy (worst combination).
 
Eternalvoyageur said:
As a fat follower, what do I need to.. dance lighter?
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Hi Eternalvoyageur, welcome to DF. The fattest follower in my peer group also feels the lightest when dancing. How does it work? For this you need good calf muscles, intact foot vaults, and a fine equilibrium organ. And of course you have to have a stable axis, i.e. do a lot of stability and balance exercises every day.

But the counter question also is interesting, when does the follower feel heavy? The two best dancers in my hometown worked hard on feeling heavy. Both are super slim tango gazelles. In fact, they do not give weight to the leader, but they react delayed and filtered to the lead. Thats a style question. I hate it, so I always say that I only dance with them if they dance like a flummy. Well and then there are the inexperienced followers without axis, or weak abdominal and back muscles.
 
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I dance Apilado style ("A" frame). I pull my hips back which puts my chest forward and my weight on the balls of my feet. My leading is better because my chest moves forward before my feet move. If I dance vertically like most dancers, it's difficult to transmit energy to the woman.

For women who dance apilado, they move backward easier because their weight is on the balls of their feet, not on their heels.
 
My biggest gripe with dancing with fat followers is that my arm is not long enough to embrace them all the way with my right hand below their right shoulder blade (or thereabouts), the way I prefer it!

Most recently, I danced with such a lady from the Baltic region at a tango marathon; I noticed that she was very musical and precise with her steps in the previous tanda, and she was a delight to dance with. I remember that she had excellent balance, and never once pushed on or pulled me to maintain it.
 
Eternalvoyageur said:
Not looking for weight loss advice, just Tango advice. With that clarified - -
I'm progressing from beginner to intermediate, and wondering what is important so that the dance at Milongas is enjoyable for my partners as well. From what I understand, I am pretty grounded, but need to take care to be light as well. Any advice?
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Your question is incorrectly worded. Irrespective of your weight and body size, the technique of being lighter on the feet is the same.

The others have mentioned good tips to get there.
 
Followers and leaders are both pivoting on the ball of the foot and have similar techniques. For me the unsupported training has been helpful to understand where the alignment became distorted. It has also speed up the development of muscles needed for turning and maintaining the balance.

The most important exercise for me has been this! Turn the upper body - stop - turn the hip also.
This pattern forced me to use the muscles in core and to create the flowing turn from there.
I repeat variations of these movements several days a week but just for 5mins, only one or two repetitions of each per a session. I *listen* what is going on in my body, what I need to correct, what is ok.
I have socks on when I do this in the morning.

Screenshot (644).png



The whole video

 
I agree that weight doesn't matter if you keep your own balance and are responsive. Here are some additional thoughts:
  • When we started, my dear wife (DW) tended to list to port. It was tiring to hold her up. Talking about it didn't fix it. I started suddenly relaxing my arms, and she would have to step to the side to catch her balance. That cured it pretty quickly. Sometimes I'll do that with newer followers in a class or practica as feedback they are leaning back or sideways. You could ask leaders to tell you, or just suddenly "let go" as feedback if you are leaning and counting on the leader for balance.
  • Taller or ladies of size I have seen be worried about doing volcadas or colgadas or a side lean (don't know the Tango name) -- look for classes for these. Done right and with reasonable angles, it really isn't much force to deal with. BTW, what sometimes happens is the lady will refuse to do the step, I'll offer reassurance, and then it goes perfectly on a 2nd try. I have also had ladies say things like "I knew step X would go just fine with you, and it did." I will have to confess one time with a total Amazon of a follower, it did take a lot of strength! Next Amazon I'll lessen the angle!
  • Random thought: Going the other way, does leader skill cover everything, or might followers of size prefer larger leaders? In my experience, dancing going skillfully doesn't require leader size/strength, but it can help with mistake recovery.
 
LadyLeader said:
There are balance problem and there are problems with loading the the steps with proper energy.

If your sidestep is too strong you will struggle when you collect your feet.


(I noticed this when I switched from leading to following for a tanda. Wrote about it https://leadingladyl.blogspot.com/2012/08/balancing-vs-loading.html)
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Very true! Matching the intensity of the leader's intentions and movements is key; moving without the same energy, which could very well translate to a difference in acceleration, or linear/angular distance travelled, etc. could break the connection or render you and/or your leader unstable.
 
Thanks so much everyone, there is so much encouragement and good advice on here. I see that my size matters less than I thought, but I need to put in the work. My calves are super strong, my core definitely needs some works. I notice it in my backward ochos. I'll also ask my leader for feedback.
 
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