"A competetive lady dancer can't just follow, she has to learn the routine"

[elisedance]

And theirin lies the conundrum of following.  Providing enough pep to make the dance dynamic but not so much as to throw it off kilter...

It's only a conundrum if your brain is involved... if you have to guess how much power your partner wants.  If you take the guess work out of it, enter a state of "being" (a car), then you won't have to guess.  The car doesn't have to guess (no conundrum) 'cause the indication is clear and the mechanics and wiring take care of the rest. 

I think often we are too conservative - men like sports cars more than jalopies so its good to be highly responsive.  Actually we were working on that last night.

[ttd]

We did a showcase at our studio the other day, and beyond the no-hold intro, which was agreed upon a couple of hours before the event, we did not have any routine whatsoever, he just lead different groups from our smooth and standard routines. The room was not very large, and it has a weird shape, so all groups had to be adjusted. The feedback I received was that out of 3 showcases my pro did that day, ours looked the smoothest and didn't contain any obvious errors.

[elisedance]

We did a showcase at our studio the other day, and beyond the no-hold intro, which was agreed upon a couple of hours before the event, we did not have any routine whatsoever, he just lead different groups from our smooth and standard routines. The room was not very large, and it has a weird shape, so all groups had to be adjusted. The feedback I received was that out of 3 showcases my pro did that day, ours looked the smoothest and didn't contain any obvious errors.

Awesome.  Which probably means you were the only one dancing..

[ttd]

We did a showcase at our studio the other day, and beyond the no-hold intro, which was agreed upon a couple of hours before the event, we did not have any routine whatsoever, he just lead different groups from our smooth and standard routines. The room was not very large, and it has a weird shape, so all groups had to be adjusted. The feedback I received was that out of 3 showcases my pro did that day, ours looked the smoothest and didn't contain any obvious errors.

Awesome.  Which probably means you were the only one dancing..

You know, he once told me that I was the only one of his students who felt comfortable going out on the dance floor to compete or perform without having a solid routine. I think part of the reason that I am is that fairly early in my dance career, when I was somewhere between bronze and silver standard, I was introduced to dancesport series events (unintentionally, due to rules change we didn't pay attention to while doing the entries), which are open to all levels, and he would do things in them that we wouldn't normally get to do in the closed events (as in "I can do anything I want? <emphasis on the second I> Just follow"). He didn't go overboard with it, but it was varied enough that it made me comfortable with the idea of not having a pre-planned routine, and I decided that I like entering another standard multi-dance, so I was free-styling in the standard dancesport series for several years before actually moving up to gold.

[elisedance]

Well, that has to be best argument for the dancesport series that I've heard yet!  Looks like it really paid off for you.

[ttd]

I think people on either side of the equation (leader or follower) have to have a certain "sense of adventure" to be able to go out there and dance without a set routine. Over this past weekend I've realized that I inherited that quality together with 50% of my genetic material, even though it is/was applied in completely different outlet (I posted a sample of it on FB). Going out there without having a solid plan is a risk - if the connection goes bad, there's no preplanned routine to fall back to. Some people are just more risk-averse than others.

[elisedance]

I think people on either side of the equation (leader or follower) have to have a certain "sense of adventure" to be able to go out there and dance without a set routine. Over this past weekend I've realized that I inherited that quality together with 50% of my genetic material, even though it is/was applied in completely different outlet (I posted a sample of it on FB). Going out there without having a solid plan is a risk - if the connection goes bad, there's no preplanned routine to fall back to. Some people are just more risk-averse than others.

One could turn it round though.  If one has a pre-set routine and it goes bad disaster can befall.  Indeed, I think this is much more likely to happen (and often does for couples that are just starting championship where they have new routines).  Eventually you have to have both and neither simply due to experience:  if your dancing is based on routines, experience teaches you how to keep going whereever the routine is interrupted; and if you are lead-follow based, experience teaches the follow all the possibilities that their particular lead might dance (and hence, become like little routineletts).  The advantage of the latter, however, is that if the lead had to do something outragious the follow would still be there whereas they might not for the former.

[GreenEyes26]

Perhaps PDO should start a movement...  Actually, this may truly be what we are for.....

I would agree with that 

[GreenEyes26]

You know, I think I'm out of touch with the "typical" ballroom world: I've come to think of what we talk about here on PDO as logical and normal.

[elisedance]

You know, I think I'm out of touch with the "typical" ballroom world: I've come to think of what we talk about here on PDO as logical and normal.

And that it is, both logical and normal.  Trouble is there is a very large illogical abnormal world outside...

[Some guy]

 

[QPO]

like minded always attract

[elisedance]

like minded always attract

I thought the phrase was 'opposites attract'.
So each body schooler is destined a round school partner.  And vice versa

[Dora-Satya Veda]

You know, I think I'm out of touch with the "typical" ballroom world: I've come to think of what we talk about here on PDO as logical and normal.

And that it is, both logical and normal.  Trouble is there is a very large illogical abnormal world outside...

I so agree....

DSV

[Dora-Satya Veda]

like minded always attract

I thought the phrase was 'opposites attract'.
So each body schooler is destined a round school partner.  And vice versa

I think the saying goes...."Birds of a feather flock together"

DSV