I Do Everything The Man Does, Only Backwards And In High Heels!

When I was encouraged to practice leading, first I didn't get excited about the idea at all. I thought that there was enough to learn with the following already, and since following was something I simply enjoyed doing why would I want to do something else, I thought. In a way, I kind of wanted to keep it old fashioned: it was a man's job to lead and lady's task to follow him. However, it was something like the end of summer  when Big O pushed me to the world of leading by insisting me to lead him in our Zouk practices every now and then. I was so unsure about everything in the beginning but after getting the basics I gained some confidence and started to lead some others too. A nail in the coffin was when I started practicing different figures with Gaga. Now I must admit that I have become quite enthusiastic about leading!

The other perspective to couple dancing has been quite interesting one. Actually it helps to realize some things that make someone a good follower and that is a good lesson to learn for all of us who want to improve out following skills. Leading practices has also made me listen to the music different and more careful way, not only when I dance but whenever I listen to Zouk music. What bothers me though, is that I still need to concentrate so much to the leading I can't focus to my own dancing at all. I'm also quite impatient to go to the level where I could interpret the music better. However, I've already got some good feedback from my leading. I was so happy to hear that it feels really nice, gentle and pleasant. This kind of feedback is exactly what I need at the moment. Something to keep me motivated to keep on going.

I remember wanting to write a post about leading ages ago and I started writing this "ten tips how to lead a girl" posting but I never finished or published it. Now I had to go back to the draft and check those ten things I thought were important for leader - and how do I see those requirements now that I’ve tried leading myself.

My requirements were quite tough actually, and I can’t even say that I as a follower would fill all of those. I had some good points though, like Dance with a feeling or Dance with your partner, not with yourself. These are surely important but takes a certain level to accomplish. Or do they really? I've danced with beginners who put great feeling into their dancing, so at least I could relax a bit and try to dance with a feeling also when leading. It's all about the attitude. Adapt your leading to the different dances then again is something that I should take care of whenever I dance. Zouk has started to dominate my dancing so much in every other dance styles that it is getting irritating really. One tip I wrote especially caught my eye: Never blame the girl. Really, dancing doesn't include blaming anyone! Everyone dances with her/his own level and style. This would be a better tip: never blame myself. My dancing level is different when leading so I just have to be patient. It will get better with practice.

Anyway, leading has given me some new perspective to dancing so I'm glad that I was encouraged to give it a try. And I really do love the challenge and opportunity to put my own ideas to the dance. Finally I must say: damn everything is so much easier for us followers!