newdancer113
New Member
I'd be tall enough...and I'd be willing to learn to lead. Too bad I'm south of Toronto in Upstate NY!
Learning to lead as a woman
- Thread starter icequeen
- Start date
I'd be tall enough...and I'd be willing to learn to lead. Too bad I'm south of Toronto in Upstate NY!
Peaches
Well-Known Member
I'd agree, in ballroom, but I wonder if that's just because they haven't spent as much time focusing on it (compared to time spent focusing on following, or compared to the time a guy spends on it).
I've seen phenomenal girl leaders in AT, but I confess to not liking how the overall result looks, regardless of ability. Seems lacking, somehow. Don't get the same feeling when guys follow.
fascination
Site Moderator
.....who wants to?
Adwiz
New Member
Sigh.
quixotedlm
Active Member
bad set of expectations. it's silly to expect women leading to look as men do, and so is it silly to expect men who follow to look as women do. But while owning/wearing their own masculine or feminine looks, they can still kick-knat and look good.
I've seen both - examples of women leading as well as men following - that look good and are advanced leads/followers.
Angelo
Member
False assumption about the expectations. I don't think anyone expects a woman to "look like" a man or vice versa while switching traditional lead /follow roles. I interpreted Joe's comment to mean that he has never seen a woman look as efficient or comfortable in the skill of providing dance leads to the follower. Whether or not that's what he meant, only he can say
Terpsichorean Clod
Forum Master
We have a decent same-sex dance scene out here. I know a number of people who have learned from the ground-up in the non-traditional role. One girl, who just started dancing two months ago, is a much better leader than I was after I'd been dancing six months. I've had the privilege of following her.
Terpsichorean Clod
Forum Master
I watched "Out Ballroom" (documentary on same-sex ballroom) and "Learning to Fly" (documentary on a group of women's training up to the 2006 Chicago Gay Games). Both had good examples of people doing well in the non-traditional role. Out Ballroom had an incredible male/male rumba (or was it bolero?).
samina
Well-Known Member
so... i have led twice previously, once in salsa rueda what seems ages ago, when i'd only been dancing a few months, and once a couple years or so ago, in international tango (CANI happened to be my follow in that experience, and i have to say i really enjoyed it 
)
this evening there just weren't that many men at the beginning of a lengthy bachata class, so i decided to lead and was just in love with leading by the end of it. wow, dance is quite different from that perspective!
one thing that was just so cool: as i started to get the very complex pattern (which was not ideal for a beginner lead), the women would finish the dance a bit breathless and excited, with a kind of "wow" comment of giddy exuberance, and it was cool because, hey, i've been there. i know that emotion, but this time i was seeing it on the faces of women, and i was "giving them" that experience. it was so incredibly satisfying to be able to pull it together enuf to give these women a "smooth ride", a kind of easy flow in the dance, where i was right there with them, helping them through it, giving them what they needed & understood at the right time... and to have orchestrated it rather than have plugged into the lead's orchestration, if that makes sense.
i got "high tens" from all the women and lots of compliments, and it felt just great. now i know what men mean when they say "they just want to make women smile" when they go out social dancing. it was interesting from the switched gender position as well, to not hold back. i danced with full-out enjoyment as if i were dancing with a man, and that was... interesting, to share that with a *woman's* energy.
the other interesting thing...which to be honest, i don't recall i've ever heard from a man on DF, and probably because they don't want to offend, but as a woman i'll say it right here... how you lead a woman is very much dependent on her shape! LOL there's a huge difference in the mechanics of leading a woman with a larger circumference than a woman with a teeny waist, or a narrow woman vs a woman with a giant bust. i mean... it's really a big difference, how you have to change your reach or the position of your torso to accommodate difference women, or not.
anyway, i just loved the experience. decided to do all my salsa/bachata group lessons from the leader's perspective, for the time being. except the casino rueda stuff, as i'm in serious rueda country and have a lot to learn as the follow.
)this evening there just weren't that many men at the beginning of a lengthy bachata class, so i decided to lead and was just in love with leading by the end of it. wow, dance is quite different from that perspective!
one thing that was just so cool: as i started to get the very complex pattern (which was not ideal for a beginner lead), the women would finish the dance a bit breathless and excited, with a kind of "wow" comment of giddy exuberance, and it was cool because, hey, i've been there. i know that emotion, but this time i was seeing it on the faces of women, and i was "giving them" that experience. it was so incredibly satisfying to be able to pull it together enuf to give these women a "smooth ride", a kind of easy flow in the dance, where i was right there with them, helping them through it, giving them what they needed & understood at the right time... and to have orchestrated it rather than have plugged into the lead's orchestration, if that makes sense.
i got "high tens" from all the women and lots of compliments, and it felt just great. now i know what men mean when they say "they just want to make women smile" when they go out social dancing.
it was interesting from the switched gender position as well, to not hold back. i danced with full-out enjoyment as if i were dancing with a man, and that was... interesting, to share that with a *woman's* energy.the other interesting thing...which to be honest, i don't recall i've ever heard from a man on DF, and probably because they don't want to offend, but as a woman i'll say it right here... how you lead a woman is very much dependent on her shape! LOL there's a huge difference in the mechanics of leading a woman with a larger circumference than a woman with a teeny waist, or a narrow woman vs a woman with a giant bust. i mean... it's really a big difference, how you have to change your reach or the position of your torso to accommodate difference women, or not.
anyway, i just loved the experience. decided to do all my salsa/bachata group lessons from the leader's perspective, for the time being. except the casino rueda stuff, as i'm in serious rueda country and have a lot to learn as the follow.
Sweet! Great to hear of your experiences! I think you will really enjoy that decision to be the leader in a number of your group classes. I'm convinced that the number of times I have volunteered to be a leader (countless times!) in all the group classes/workshops without enough leaders has definitely helped me to be a better follower than I otherwise would be. Enjoy!
One of the things I love about our WCS teacher is that she DOES address this subject when necessary. DH, being rather tall, is sometimes used as a example for her explanations of how to deal with extreme height differences. She also occasionally mentions adaptations for short reaches (whether due to short arms or long distances that those arms have to cover) and how to reconnect (e.g., after a spin) in a way that does not involve contact with "off-limits" body parts. As a woman, you're probably a bit less concerned about inadvertent improper contact, but DH has mentioned his terror at the prospect of reaching into a spinning mass and coming out safely, not to mention accomplishing the goal of the pattern in question. This is more of a concern in dances like WCS, salsa and Hungarian that involve numerous free spins. Smooth/standard dancers may have no conception of the hazards involved.
Oh, and ... congratulations on leading. I tried for a while when the structure of the classes we were attending made it reasonable, and I rather miss the experience. Take advantage of your opportunity ... it can only improve your dancing in the long run.