--- "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Before I went I scanned the last couple of years of > TANGO-L archives for pointers on following, since I went > to learn how to follow. I found enough on leading to > fill a doctoral dissertation but almost nothing on > following - unless you count followers complaining about > bad leading!
Then there are those fellows who seem to think that following really well doesn't require work or classes. In another post, you mentioned about not seeing classes for women. I disagree. I see them fairly regularly. Perhaps the women who complain aren't actually practicing the material that they should on their own. A class can only take you so far, and the woman must work on self-awareness on her own. Go to a practica and see how many women will be sitting waiting for a partner instead of practicing their walk or doing their molinetes. > Different partners wanted my right hand oriented > differently and I had to learn to match their desire. > Luckily none wanted it oriented in a painful or awkward > arrangement and I didn't have to resist their preference. I found this comment interesting because it's something that I personally don't notice with my partners, despite the wide range of styles I dance. This made me think that either the man usually adjusts toward an embrace I feel comfortable, or I'm just used to adjusting. I think it's more of the former, though. Your comment also indicates that you might not have learned to rotate your upper arm in the socket before raising your right arm. This keeps your shoulders down, frees the arm from the shoulder, and allows you to adjust your arm from the elbow or wrist. > My left arm rested along the top of her shoulders in > close embrace. I had to fine-tune how heavy or light I > rested it. Too little and our connection was poorer; too > much and the weight would become painful...> A couple of leaders positioned me further away and had me place my left hand just above her biceps. With this I had to learn not only to keep my arm from drooping but also to grasp firmly but not painfully. I agree with Astrid's comments on this. Also, one of the things I learned to do early on was to keep my left arm alive and to reposition it every so often. This allows the man's upper shoulders to breathe so that it doesn't feel icky from constant pressure. It also allows me to check that I'm not letting my arm get heavy. And, again, rotate the arm in the socket before lifting it. > I had some trouble leaning into my partners the way they > wanted and still need to work on this. The issue here might be more of your hurrying to get to the next step than it is the lean. This sensation can be confused with needing a lean. Another way of thinking about it is separating the lead for a leg extension with the lead to change weight. It's like the follower says, I'll extend my leg but I'll go in my own time. I find that as long as my follower doesn't rush away from me, then a light lean isn't a problem. If the problem really is the lean then you might want to try using enough of a lean so that your weight feels as if it's in the middle of your foot (over the arch), but if your partner stepped away from you, you'd be on your metatarsal and not falling forward or grabbing with your toes. In close-embrace turns, however, you might want to think of exaggerating the forward lean to get the right feel. Many beginning followers send their energy into the space when turning instead of sending their energy into their partner. The latter makes a more powerful turn. > When moving a couple of my partners urged me to step back > straighter and stretch my toes a bit to reach the floor. > This helped keep our knees from bumping together. The "step back straighter" sounds right if they are talking about straightening out the knee, but I wonder if you've been given poor advice (followers are always getting poor advice from leaders who really can't interpret women's technique well). If you stretch back and reach with the tips of the toes, you're liable to take too big a step. It sounds to me as if you need to think of your leg as starting from the chest and stretch your leg from there through it's natural line with your metatarsal. Also, some people need to think of reaching with their heel to get the same effect. > Any experienced followers out there who can give us > newbies pointers on how to follow? AND how better to > learn to follow? Same as the guys. Practice, pay attention to details intead of going through the motions, work on self-awareness. The best partners to work on basic technique are quite often beginnning men who aren't trying to do all these steps. Those guys who simply walk and do ochos are great for followers who simply want to practice walking during an actual dance. Make those guys feel like they can do anything and you're on your way to being a good follower. Good luck on your following. Trini de Pittsburgh PATangoS - Pittsburgh Argentine Tango Society Our Mission: To make Argentine Tango Pittsburghs most popular social dance! http://patangos.home.comcast.net/ _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
