Lead/follow question from newbie

[Ampster]

1) ...Actually i feel "guilty" that I really do enjoy leading, since it goes against my "equality" mentality. ...

2) ...but in swing and tango we were taught, "do this so the woman will do that". Call them cues, leads, or whatever. In swing, it was typically raise hand on the last beat of the previous figure, and she does at least 3 steps to turn under back to place, then go back to doing the "basic" step until the next lead is given...

3) ...I have not found a teacher (or heard f from anybody else) that teaches anything other than the woman being a puppet, except for an occasional hijack (like escaping from a dip, or a broken ankle step in charleston).

--Carey

(My numbering)

1) Like most politics, it pollutes and puts malice into something beautiful. In this case, AT. I suggest you get over it, as you're probably the only one who thinks this.

2) Stop comparing other dances with AT. If you really want to learn it, learn it by itself. Don't try to learn too many things at once. Also, what you described is not how AT is supposed to be taught. Not at all.

3) If you really think this lead-follow thing is puppeteer and puppet, then that's all it's going to be, and you will never see what the wonder of it.

We're talking about dancing; human contact; a beautiful interaction of souls in a dance method that works. Not some socio-economic/geo-political/race and social justice-inequity excercise.

If you really want to learn this most beautiful of dances, then learn it because you want to. Leave your issues and emotional baggage behind. Otherwise, I don't think it's a good fit for you. Partner dances will work because they are designed as lead/follow.

Apologies for the rant. I have seen so many beautiful things in life ruined, stained, polluted, and vilified by politicians, politics, and political correctness being overzealously done.

 

[Zoopsia59]

If what you are looking for are ways to incorporate exchange of lead and follow within a dance, Daniel Trenner focuses on this often. I believe some of the Bridge to the Tango videos he did with Rebecca Shulman are on this very topic. I don't know if those videos are still available though.