Pro as a follower or as a leader, is it equal?

[GoldStar]

If I didn't have a grammar mistake.. the title I believe, says it all.

When the pro is the leader.. isn't that easier to the AM dancer than when the pro is the follower?

I mean, leading isn't that easy and really affect the quality of the dance..
If a judge think you don't lead well and therfore the posture isn't as it should be and if it is look like you aren't dancing in pair.. it can take so much points, isn't it?

[pruthe]

If I didn't have a grammar mistake.. the title I believe, says it all.

When the pro is the leader.. isn't that easier to the AM dancer than when the pro is the follower?

I mean, leading isn't that easy and really affect the quality of the dance..
If a judge think you don't lead well and therfore the posture isn't as it should be and if it is look like you aren't dancing in pair.. it can take so much points, isn't it?

I think there's an advantage if pro is leader since most likely has experience leading inexperienced followers. If pro is follower, normally should follow whatever's being led (or not). Some pro followers have ways to suggest to am leader what to do though.    Maintaining dance position/posture while dancing is a hard thing to do for both leader and follower and usually takes much time to learn.

[elisedance]

I think this came up before, but not to worry we'll get some new pperspectives.

I think its harder for the AM leader too - for the reasons you say PR.  But I also think that judges recognize that and give the AM leader a bit of a break.  As they should IMO...

[GoldStar]

Yes. I mean, if you don't lead well, it won't look like you dance in harmony with each other which I heard judges said it's one of the most important things they jusdge about.

Now, in Pro/Am it's really hard to make this harmony what so ever because one of ther partner pays to the other partner even for the practice.
And of course, many times it looks like without the pro the AM couldn't dance normally, like the pro makes all the dancing, just like Dancing with the Stars 

I guess the couples that win the championships overcome all of this and both of the partners are dancing and maybe even give a great performance on stage.

But still, when the AM leads there is much more chances that this harmony will be broken than when the AM follows.

I hope I will have the chance to compete in those huge Pro/AM events in the future, to see what is it all about.
What now I'm trying to get is videos of American Smooth competition from Holiday Dance Classis championship to watch what is it all about. 

I love this forum
Thank you guys for the new prospectives!

[elisedance]

and thank you for your interest, questions and ideas.  Its nice to know we mean something somewhere

[Rugby]

Our slogan:  No questions too big or too small and we take them 24/7 with answers given from from the far north to the far south of this planet.  Who could ask for more!!

[GoldStar]

Was there someone who competed in Pro/Am category as an AM and became afterword became a good pro himself?

I mean, I don't want to compete always as an Pro/Am.. I belive that a big part of the ballroom dancing is to find a good partner
and enjoy her company, find a good partnership.
But still, Pro/Am looks like a good idea to get yourself dancing good but quickly because the pro can check your leading and every move you make.

The quesion is, if i"m right. Was there someone who competen in Pro/Am and than started competing in Pro with a partner?

I won't pay for a partner to the rest of my life, I think I will leave my Arthur Murray studio and start searching for good partner in International Standard if this is the case.
It really feels like all they want to do is get more of your money, with showcases and studio competitions but no partner. So you need to pay to private lessons so much money.

What you guys think?

[elisedance]

Sounds like a great plan to me!  To be honest, you will never really learn to lead until you have an am partner at your own (or slightly higher) level.  As useful the training is with a good pro, they just can't resist helping you do your job. 

Chain studios do a terrific job for people who are starting to dance and also want to get a dance community.  However, they vary a lot with respect to people who want to become competitors outside the chain environment - its in their interests to keep the students from experiencing the outside world of dancesport - since they will find out very quickly that they can learn a lot more and do so a lot cheaper by leaving the chain. 

A lot depends on what is available in your area.  But the best way to move forward is to meet with some local AM couples and ask them.  Each place is different and perhaps the chain is the way to go where you are - but expand your dance world and find out for yourself. 

Just so you know, I started in a studio that ran a chain-like organization but not long after, started to go to an independent studio.  Many years later I became serious about dancesport, found an independent teacher and then one to compete with in pro-am.  After competing at championship (schollarship as its called here) I eventually met my current partner and started in AM.  I did both for a while and then dropped the pro-am entirely.  Looks like you may go the same route.

Have any pros started as pro-am?  Yup - a male pro is Corky Ballas, a latin dancer.  There must be many more...

[cornutt]

Our slogan:  No questions too big or too small and we take them 24/7 with answers given from from the far north to the far south of this planet.  Who could ask for more!!

We're open to questions from off-planet, but we haven't gotten any yet.   

My experience as an am lead in pro-am is that some judges handle it a lot better than others.  Depending on what circuits a judge works in and how much experience they have, they may not have seen am-leader pro-am couples very much.  If that's the case, then your results can be rather random. 

To me, the biggest difference is that if an am follow freezes up, the pro can usually salvage the situation.  But if an am lead freezes up, there's not a lot the pro can do other than make her partner stop, count off, and begin again.  So an important thing for an am lead to remember is: no matter what, keep moving.  Even if you've totally busted your choreography, do something.