The perfect follower (PF) .... what is she like?

[Bordertangoman]

The ideal follower has her hearing aid switched off; so she's following you and not making it up herself

Adaptability: she realises that the fumble you just made was a cleverly timed bit of syncopation...

Lightness: has convinced herself that the 16lbs/sq ft that just landed on her toes was a mere feather light touch

Leadership: steers the man away from collisoins but makes him think he did it himself

Grace: second name Jones

[SwingWaltz]

She danced a foxtrot to cha cha music with me and loved it!
Great sense of humour that one! 

[elisedance]

She danced a foxtrot to cha cha music with me and loved it!
Great sense of humour that one! 

ahh... now thats what we want to read...

[dlgodud]

She danced a foxtrot to cha cha music with me and loved it!
Great sense of humour that one! 

This is a nice one. I love to do that.

[Bordertangoman]

or danced tango to a slowwwwww blues number with a sizzling sax solo.....

[SwingWaltz]

or danced tango to a slowwwwww blues number with a sizzling sax solo.....

I think we did a tango to cha cha music too.

Well there was another pro at the studio teaching cha cha at the time and he had the music. 

[Bordertangoman]

snort!

[albanaich]

The perfect follower - I have the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK8oJs36raU

Neither of them know the first track, but the second track, she knows it and he doesn'r. She takes the lead while making it look like he's in control.

Awesome, fabulous, this is what REAL dancing is all about.

[elisedance]

The perfect follower - I have the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK8oJs36raU

Neither of them know the first track, but the second track, she knows it and he doesn'r. She takes the lead while making it look like he's in control.

Awesome, fabulous, this is what REAL dancing is all about.

You can see something very similar at many pro-am ballroom competitions here

[Bordertangoman]

how about this watch out for guy 17

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAbV8nXY8HI

[albanaich]

It wasn't a pro-am competion, Parker Dearborn is a seriously good WCS dancer, no amateur, - he just doesn't know that music - he can lead when he wants to.

Here you can see that he is confident with the music. The difference was in the previous example that he knew when to hand over control to the follower.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV9_qb1qk3U

That's why we do WCS - its a team excercise :-)

And what about guy 17 is worthy of note?

[elisedance]

It wasn't a pro-am competion,

I know, perhaps you misunderstood (since I don't think you have them like we do) but often when the pro is the woman in the partnership she almost imperceptibly leads the am in the routines..... its actually quite an art!

[albanaich]

I understood what you were saying in terms of Pro-Am,

I was trying to explain that the woman in the couple clearly knew the music, so the leader, in order to win the competion, had the sense to let her lead. Parker Dearborn can lead as well as anyone, but in this case its clear that he was unfamiliar with the music, so Melissa Rutz, was allow to intiate most of the moves.

It wasn't about 'dance ability' it was about knowing the music. It's what makes Melissa Rutz such a dream to watch in Jack and Jill's, she has a superb ear for music, and as a follower she 'sets up' the move for the leader.

To get the 'kick' at 2.10, she had to set up the spin at 2.06, and she was planning that somewhere down the track at about 1.80. The leader had to read all the subtle signals she was giving him about what she wanted.

[elisedance]

I understood what you were saying in terms of Pro-Am,

I was trying to explain that the woman in the couple clearly knew the music, so the leader, in order to win the competion, had the sense to let her lead. Parker Dearborn can lead as well as anyone, but in this case its clear that he was unfamiliar with the music, so Melissa Rutz, was allow to intiate most of the moves.

It wasn't about 'dance ability' it was about knowing the music. It's what makes Melissa Rutz such a dream to watch in Jack and Jill's, she has a superb ear for music, and as a follower she 'sets up' the move for the leader.

To get the 'kick' at 2.10, she had to set up the spin at 2.06, and she was planning that somewhere down the track at about 1.80. The leader had to read all the subtle signals she was giving him about what she wanted.

She sounds like a terrific dancer.

[cdnsalsanut]

I really enjoyed that and yes, they are both terrific dancers.

I understand much of what you say about wcs vs ballroom, about the musicality and so forth. We have a big WCS community here in Toronto with some terrific teachers and I admire the way they interpret the music, move, swap leads and so on. It's a great style of dancing and a pleasure to watch. One of my favourite vids is and will always be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uBwm3FjdP0

I just love the relaxed joy of dance these two exhibit. I've dablled in WCS (yes I realize the vid is lindy) and would like to get better but...only so many hours in the day and unfortunately I go the path of least resistance into salsa, which I know quite well and where we have a huge community in Toronto, with salsa on every night of the week at a different venue. I notice there is quite a bit of crossover between the two communities, wcs and salsa (and hustle) and one day hope to make that transition myself.

Salsa also starts with the music first and dance second as opposed to ballroom, where although timing is everything the dance is often imposed on the music.

That being said I also enjoy ballroom. It too is an art, albeit much more disciplined and rigid. I don't know why I've focussed on ballroom, a masochistic streak I suspect, but certainly a part of it is the elegance, both of the dance but also the venues, the dress and the culture. WCS and salsa are often a bit grungy...the jeans and t-shirt crowd. OK I like to dress up occassionally.

But in my opinion they are ALL REAL DANCING. Add belly dancing, jazz, contemporary, whatever floats your boat. To become adept at any style takes committment, years of practice, singularity of purpose and each style, at a high level, can be an art form.  Ever seen a Japenese tea ceremony?

Look, we're all passionate about dance, but to suggest some forms are not "real dancing" is the height of arrogance.

I learned recently that some of the worst poseurs in the dance community are those who actually can't dance worth crap themselves.