leader and partner

[ballroomdancertoo]

does anyone know where these words came from? i have never come across these words in the US. it was always male partner or female partner.

 

[middy]

Really? I often hear lead(er) and follow(er), or gentleman and lady.

 

[jump'n'jive]

Leader and partner/follower is the term I hear most with same sex couples.

 

[dlliba10]

I always hear lead/follow and I refer to my follows as my partners. Which makes for some very confusing conversations in my personal life.

 

[fascination]

I think it also depends on the type of partnership...I would consider it a disrespect to call my pro my partner...I mean,I aspire to that sort of skill, but I would never assume the term

 

[Daphna]

Started when some studios in NY (and maybe elsewhere, I just know about the NY scene) added same-sex group classes (about 20 odd years ago) and you could no longer use "the male's step" (actually at the time is was "the boy's step") and the "female's step" (or the "girl's step".) It became "leader and follower or lead & follow"

 

[Dancing Irishman]

I always hear lead/follow and I refer to my follows as my partners. Which makes for some very confusing conversations in my personal life.

My coach has this problem too! It's especially confusing because he actually does have a (non-dance) partner in addition to his pro partner.

 

[Warren J. Dew]

Blackpool entry forms used to have spaces for "competitor" and "partner". I don't know if they still do that.

 

[Dancing Irishman]

I always clarify dance partner when talking about my am partner to non-dancers (it's also a "subtle" way to prompt friends to start a conversation with me about dance...to which I'll never object!). I also try to use "leader" and "follower" as much as I can instead of implying a gender to make them more broadly correct and applicable to girls who lead (or guys who follow, though I've yet to personally encounter one outside of same-sex rumba as a fun dance).

 

[Bailamosdance]

I always liked 'leader and responder'...

 

[stash]

IDK when I'm teaching standard I like using McDreamies and Pretty Pretty Princesses.

 

[Dr Dance]

I always hear lead/follow and I refer to my follows as my partners. Which makes for some very confusing conversations in my personal life.

I'm not sure that I follow.

 

[dlliba10]

I'm not sure that I follow.

Partner = dance partner
Partner = romantic partner
"Partner" without either of those qualifiers = confusing

 

[Terpsichorean Clod]

I don't like it when people say "man" and "girl". It sounds so patriarchal.

But I was tickled to hear Andrew Sinkinson say "boy" and "lady".

 

[SwayWithMe]

Partner = dance partner
Partner = romantic partner
"Partner" without either of those qualifiers = confusing

And some of us have "partners" in business too!