Well i'm a beginner dancer and i dance as a follower but i have great difficulty following most leads. If the leader is of the same level as me i find that because they are not too confident with their leads i quite often get the wrong signal. My usual partner is very shy with her leads and if i ask her to be bold it improves communication but makes things look very forced and obvious. I have no problem dancing with more experienced leaders and rarely put a foot wrong but i'm not sure if this is because a more experienced dancer knows how to "carry" a beginner and by default make them look good also. Any suggestions as to how i can read leads more accurately? Thanks in advance, Lauryn.
Bad follower
- Thread starter licklelolli
- Start date
Hi Licklelolli, welcome to salsa forums!!
If you have a bad lead that is either off time or giving ambiguous signals then its going to be difficult to follow for just about anyone. If the lead is not clear then you pretty much have to guess at what the lead wants. If you can follow more advanced leads then it sounds like you are on the right track and doing just fine. Best of luck.
If you have a bad lead that is either off time or giving ambiguous signals then its going to be difficult to follow for just about anyone. If the lead is not clear then you pretty much have to guess at what the lead wants. If you can follow more advanced leads then it sounds like you are on the right track and doing just fine. Best of luck.
PielCanela
Changui
Terremoto said:
right on the money
Welcome
!!!! 
:lol:
Thanks for the warm welcome! Is there anyway to help my dance partner with her leads? I know it would be beneficial for us both. Lauryn
PielCanela
Changui
licklelolli said:
yes, !! don't compensate for her lack of "leadingship" if the leader is not leading you enough to make a turn, then don't turn. Instead tell the leader, --what will make you turn--, if you don't have instructor then do a trial and error until you can come up with a set of movements that clearly shows you what do to.
Just yesterday I was going over and over doing a cross body lead with a right turn, that I was able to do without problems with one of my dancer partners but not with a new lady that was joining us for practice.
The only explanation was that I was not leading right, and my dance partner has been to a point, compensating my lack of lead, She is now capable to translate my bad lead and successful execute a move that other ways my leading would not had been able to accomplish. ( if you dance with someone long enough that is bound to happen)
I very much enjoy now dancing with people I don't regularly dance because they are like a set of alarms that go off whenever I am not leading right.
Thanks for the advice! My lesson is tonight so i'll have a chat with her about it and if we can't resolve it, get the instructors input also.
She's been dancing three months also. We both started together and she's always been a leader. She tried dancing as a follower with the instructor but didnt quite get the hang of it (understandably after only having experienced leading for three months).
licklelolli said:
That's interesting. Most ladies start as followers first and then take up leading later on when they get to an upper-intermediate/advanced stage as a follower.
Does she never intend to dance as a follower?
(The only reason I ask is that I am very much against followers learning how to lead in the early stages of their development as I believe it is detrimental to their following.)
Well i think she will learn to follow eventually. The reason that we have some women who only lead is because we live in a small town with no salsa clubs locally (nearest big city is two hours away) so we had to create enough female leaders that we would a) be able to learn together and b) be able to hold salsa nights. Otherwise the 5 or 6 men who attend would have to take turns dancing with everyone and all the women would be left with no partner for the majority of the night. Not sure if this is a common problem or not but it seemed to be the only way that our classes could happen.
licklelolli said:
That's fair enough I guess, but they may find themselves at a disadvantage if they ever decide to go to any of the 'bigger' clubs/events - who will they dance with? Most people will only dance with a member of the same sex if they know them (or if it is a gay/lesbian club night)
I'm just worried that not only will these women not be able to follow, their leading will not progress as well as it should because they'll be dancing with a handful of the same, regular partners.
I can see what you mean. We had planned (once we know a few more steps) to travel as a group to a salsa night and we realised that probably the female leaders in the group would only be able to dance with followers from the group wheras the followers and male leaders could dance with just about anyone.
licklelolli said:
Beginners classes are often quite uneven in numbers between men and women but, believe it or not, this can actually be beneficial to both leaders and followers.
For the men, it means they get to practice and refine their lead with multiple partners. For the ladies, they get to work on their basic footwork when they're dancing solo so that when they come to dance with a partner, they can concentrate more on their following.
As long as the teacher changes partners quickly and often and keeps the class engaged then there shouldn't be a problem.
I've often taught beginner classes where women outnumber men by 3:1 or even 4:1. On occasions, I've had no men at all, just myself and 7 or 8 women!