Leading from the Center

Dancebug

Dancebug

Well-Known Member
The other day while we were practicing our Latin, we overheard a professional Latin couple arguing. The man was complaining that the woman was not following properly, and the woman was arguing back that it was because he was not leading her from the center. Mind you these are a professional couple and they look damn good. We do hear about this very often. Our coaches talk about the importance of it frequently. I know when it happens. But how do you do it? Obviously even professional couples are not perfect when it comes to leading from the center. (The couple I talk about do only Latin, very devoted.)
 
i remember someone telling me that in latin, leaders should be leading from the wrist - i'm sure she doesn't mean yanking the followers around, but does that make any sense to anyone?
 
It might help to think of what is being lead: not the lady's wrist, but her center.

Sure, the connection is through the hand, which would suggest that it is possible to move the wrist in a way that will comfortably lead the lady's center.

But it's conceptually simpler for the man to lead the lady's center by moving an object of comparable mass: his own center, and having that motion be transmitted through their hands.

Once this is really working right, the man probably has some freedom to switch to the simulated-center or hand-only lead and still preserve the feel of leading from the center. But it would be quite easy to go too far - loose that center-to-center feel, and end up with "directing traffic" sort of disconnected hand waving.
 
i don't know about leading from the wrist, that seems very odd.

leading from the center is very important thought. you can think of it in more "solid" terms...

if you are trying to move a chair across the floor with your bellybutton what would you use? a twig? or a stick? if you use a twig it will bend and all your force will not be felt by the chair. if you use the stick then your force will go straight to the chair.

so you can view the stick as your arms and legs. if they are twigs then they are moving on their own, not connected to your core. but if they are sticks then they will be better connected to what your body does.

now if you substitute the sticks with something with a little "give" or "tone" then that is even better. if you could put a spring on the stick so when you push the spring will compress, cushioning the force on the chair, and when you pull the spring would expand, again cushioning the force on the chair.

the force still comes from you moving but the stick with a spring acts as a "filter" to our movements to make them a little more subtle.

now... in this example note that the stick (with or without a spring) never acted on its own to move the chair. it required you to move first. so your arms and legs should behave the same. they do not move on their own they first require something from your core.
 
Maybe they mean that the leader should connect his wrist to his center ... so that his arm moves as a result of his center moving ...

Oops guess we posted at the same time. :)
 
perhaps it means that a lady should be lead form her wrist and not from her hand or fingers.

the wrist is directly connected to the forearm and much more "sensitive" to the lead than the fingers or hand.
 
I love dTas' description. What an excellent way to convey the concept!

It's possible that they meant to lead/connect with the wrist as opposed to the hand. The hand is much more likely to move independently and make it more difficult to transmit the lead from the center. The wrist is a much more direct path to the arm and ultimately the center.
 
leading from the wrist? nah. you lead from the center. your wrist is a waystation but it's not the motor on the car.
 
As they all say... the center is where the lead comes from, not the wrist. If you were to lead from the wrist, the dancing would not look smooth. It would appear as though the follower was simply being yanked around the dance floor. Leads might also come late as a result of this. Some instructors never really give a good explanation of leading and connection. Those instructors will usually just teach their students routines, but not how to really dance with each other. very unfortunate....
Good instructors not only teach you how to move, they teach you how to be completely connected to your partner using only a very light handhold, touch, etc.
 
Leading

An important idea that I have learnt the hard way is that when you are leading you are really just initiating a movement, but it is her job to execute it.

When you are connected then you both have your own personal centers, and then you have a mutual center which is where your hand connection is.

Imagine there is a spring between your personal center to the mutual centre. Any lead involves stretching or compressing that spring by moving your personal center only, and keeping the mutual centre where it is.

The common mistake is to initiate a lead by 'shoving' the mutual centre. The only way she can respond to this is by stiffening her own 'spring' which ruins any fluidity.

Here's an example where the man is leading the lady to take a step backward. The ideal situation is that he compresses his 'spring' by initiating his forward movement, so he has started moving, but the mutual center is completely still relative to her. That is, the distance between his personal center and the mutual center decreases, and the force increases.

Next she feels this change, and allows her spring to compress by letting the mutual centre to move toward her. At this point she has not moved her personal center at all, but she is responding to the increase in force in the connection and preparing to move.

Finally, when she is ready, she uses the force provided through the connection to move her own personal center backwards until the two springs are at their neutral lengths again, the force is back to zero, and both people are ready for the next step.

This creates this beautiful delayed look to the movements. It also means she can control when and how she starts to move her own center and she can keep completely on balance.

Hope that is of some use to people, and that you don't disagree to much!
 
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