New tango blog ...

I just found a new tango blog here at http://tangoloveandotherdevils.blogspot.com, the author is quite funny, read it, you will enjoy it.

In one of the postings, she was wondering what are the qualities of the "Perfect follow", as she sees some of these women dancing and it's not clear why leaders consider them perfect. Here is my take on the subject.

I've only been dancing for a little more then an year, but I've been fortunate enough to dance with some of these "Perfect follows". I will make an attempt to describe why are they perfect, as I wish more follows would follow (sic) in their footsteps.

Here are some of their qualities :

Warm embrace - Their embrace feels like a hug you get from a close friend you haven't seen for years. And it lasts for the entire time you dance with them. It's relaxed, unhesitant, and you feel like you have ALL their attention. Once in a while you find a beginner that has this quality, and many (of the better) leads are just happy to dance with them despite their other shortcomings. This rare kind of embrace sucks all the tension out of me and allows me to completely relax and be at my best. I've danced in Boston, NY and Montreal, and I find Montreal had the most follows mastering this embrace. I can't wait to go back.

Grounding, presence, balance - They maintain their axis, they hold their own weight, they don't use the lead for balance and they are able to compensate for a bit of imprecision of the leaders part without compromising the smoothness of their move. I have to elaborate on this as I think it's a quality that is often overlooked. I don't care how good a leader is, he will sooner or later take the follow a little off axis during a turn. The "Perfect follow" will not tense up, she will communicate she is taken off axis by a slight increase in groundness, she will maintain her upper body vertical (as opposed to her tilting her entire body) by allowing her supporting leg to bend at the hip yet not allow her knee to go soft. As a result, she will go off axis but remain light, at the same time communicating to the leader she is off axis so he can correct.

Calm following - This is closely related to "Grounding & presence" but I felt it deserves a paragraph of it's own. The "Perfect Follow" will not get ahead of their leader, they follow through the step (as opposed to step on their own after the initial intent was communicated by the lead) maintaining their presence. This technique allows them to follow any change in the dynamic of the step a lead will make, including but not limited to : stops, sudden accelerations or decelerations, micro-rock steps, marking beats by slight dynamic changes while in a slow move, etc. She steps without hesitation, matching the dynamic of the lead.

Musicality - This one is going to be difficult to explain. The "Perfect follow" often looks to the outside observer like she's merely a passive dancer, not doing anything that wasn't lead, just being a receiver. That is misleading, as this cannot be further from the truth. With the "Perfect follow" a good leader will be able to have a bi-directional communication, in which he leads something, and she responds with her interpretation of the move, by varying the dynamic of the move, without breaking connection. That of course requires the lead to listen and not move like a steam roller. In addition, she never loses connection with the music and she takes the openings the lead offers to adorn or make her own contribution to the dance, As a result of all this, as a lead, you feel like she is dancing (with you, not by herself) and not merely move when the lead moves.

Unclear lead management - As a less then experienced leader I often don't lead as clear as I'd like to, and the follow is put in the situation of dealing with that. A "Perfect follow" will not tense up or start to resist movement as they're trying to figure out what the leader is trying to do. They will move, executing something that is compatible with the unclear lead, not lose their musicality or posture. Fortunately, as I gain experience these moments are getting less and less frequent, but they will still plague my dance for a while, and this is a quality that really helps.

Icings on the cake - The following qualities are for me, the icing on the cake, not required for an awesome dance, but if there, it's magic!

Navigation assistance - Many times when I dance in a crowded space, I make educated guesses on how the other couples are moving and act on those guesses. I cannot play it very "safe", if I did, that would not be a dance, it would me dodging other couples. I'm sure that more experience will help, but unfortunately one cannot buy that at the corner store. So until I can develop eyes at the back of my head, I will make guesses and take some chances, trying to balance the dance and the risk of bumping into others. Some really good dancers I've had the honor to dance with, would gently squeeze my hand, or tighten the embrace as a signal that I'm about to bump into someone, and they did that without tensing up or trying to resist the move, which allows me to gracefully avoid the impact

Playfulness - Too many people are just concentrated on their feet when they dance, they forget they have shoulders, hips and the ability to disassociate one from another. I was lucky enough to dance with dancers who, while following the steps I was leading, they would use their upper body to express something in the music, maybe a stray note, or a playful instrument bite, but at the same time, not allowing that to become distracting (for the lead)

Well, there you have it. I'm sure there are other things I can't think of right now, but someone with all the qualities listed above would definitely be a delight to dance with.