Leading and following

The first instruction he gave in his thick Russian accent was, "on this floor, the man is the lead and the woman follows. The man sets the rhythm, decides which steps and controls the direction."  In my new dress and high heel shoes, I looked him in the eyes and said, "I hear you."

Learning how to sense and respond to my teachers lead will be a challenge and once learned, an accomplishment I think.

The ballroom dance floor is going to be a hotbed of interesting lessons on leading, following, resisting, relaxing and working together. And of course all the lessons I can't yet anticipate! 

Here are a few of my personal take-aways from this week: 

• Another way to think about following is to see it as cooperating or adapting to another persons rhythm 
  

• To be responsive, I need to stay in the moment and not anticipate my partner's lead

• To be a good partner, I need to find the right balance between resistance and relaxation (neither one alone seems correct)
  
• Besides learning the steps and the rules, I need mostly to feel the movements in my body
  

If you want to learn ballroom, find a dance teacher. If you want to take first steps to a new career or improve on the one you have, call Coach Minda  514-791-4506.

Keep dancing,

Coach Minda