Third Stop—There Is More Than One Way To Lead

A second big section of this dance site contains educational articles or essays that discuss a wide variety of dance topics. Where the figure lists describe the details of how to do each figure, the articles discuss how to do them more easily and more gracefully. How and why do we lead and follow? What is "sway" and what is it good for?

We haven't created an organized plan for this writing. When we encounter a new idea in the classes we take, the clinics we attend, or in our reading, we just write it up, to try and discover what we have learned. Certainly, none of it is gospel, but each article represents one way to think about a dance issue.

If you look at the article table of contents, you can get a good idea of the variety of topics available.

Whenever our round dance teachers bring up the subject of leading and following, we assume that the man will lead and the woman will follow. But you experienced dancers have discovered that other styles of leading work well, too. The traditional man's lead can yield wonderfully smooth dancing, but a more collaborative style, where both partners contribute to the lead can work well, and even a woman's "back" lead can give very good results.

MAN'S LEAD

The traditional, modern style of lead and follow expects the man to direct the movements of the couple, much as a conductor directs the playing of an orchestra. I like this metaphor, because the orchestra knows perfectly well what it will play, just as the woman round dancer knows what she will dance. The orchestral players have the scores right in front of them, and the woman dancer hears the cues just as the man does. But as an orchestra must not play until the baton rises, so must the woman not dance until the man leads.

If you would like to read the full article, you may go to "leading styles."