First off, learning to follow in ballroom dancing is a mystical and elusive skill.
Learning to lead is like waiting tables at a 5 star restaurant with roller skates on. Eventually, one gets the hang of it.
But following? That's another story. 200 years ago this level of sensitivity could get you accused of sorcery.
Not only does it take dance lessons... It takes training, and it's a little mental, combined with physical, and the trust involved may even have you describing it as spiritual.
Here are some dance resolutions that will get you to that place. The one that has the leaders in your studio saying, "There goes that crazy sorcerer again… who follows like a dream."
Leading and following are the two roles in the partnership while ballroom dancing. The leader is responsible for initiating, or leading, the patterns, the timing, and changes of direction. The follower, on the other hand, is responsible for staying poised and sensitive to those movements.
Read more on Leading and Following here.
Fantastic Following Resolution #1:
I will reduce the number of times I complain about not feeling my partner’s lead… since this is an actual admission of backleading.
Fantastic Following Resolution #2:
I will remember that the more I develop my posture, balance, and my frame I will feel lighter and more responsive in a leader's arms.
Fantastic Following Resolution #3
I will commit to the idea that my body's sensitivity to movement can be just as sexy as choreographed movement.
Fantastic Following Resolution #4
I will be so busy stretching, twisting, rotating, and generally enhancing my [insert technique here], that I will never be caught just waiting for a signal idle and impatient.
Fantastic Following Resolution #5
When his dance frame has been reduced to rubble, and his size 12 dance shoes have found my new pedicure one too many times, I will choose to remember that he asked me to dance, I accepted, and that he just might feel worse than I do about it.
How you lead or follow is your dance DNA, it's your social dancing reputation.
It doesn't matter if we are talking about ballroom dancing, latin dancing, hustle, swing, salsa, or country: Following is your number one job. Learning to follow, however, doesn't require any magic, mysticism, or loads of "constructive criticism" for all those leaders you are dancing with.
You see, great leaders can't sweep just anyone off of their feet.
That, my friends, takes fantastic following.
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