Gareth & Jeryl
Rock 'n' Roll is:
- easy to learn. Most people can do it -
- extremely versatile. It suits a large range of modern and older popular music -
- a great social activity for meeting new friends and partners -
- inexpensive. Anywhere there is suitable music you can dance -
- suitable for young and old -
- well established. Its practised around the world -
- very suitable for amateurs as well as pro dancers. You don't need to be perfect for fear of being laughed at -
- a great fitness activity -
- a socially acceptable way for ladies to show their knickers in public (but gentlemen don't notice!) -
Sandra trusts Trevor
to have a firm grip on things
James and Ann
dance with color and style
Sandy and Annette
strut their stuff!
No butterfingers here!
Hands up those who
love to dance!
George & Sue can step
with the best of them
Sandy & Annette have a
laid back approach
Gareth & Jeryl
What time is it? Time to dance!
Dancing Doubles
Heather, Rod & Leslie
contributed by Gareth
Traditionally, the man leads in most types of dance. Most women don't seem to mind, being more concerned about how rather than whether the man leads. Sophisticated women dancers seem to regard following as another form of leading anyway.
Men are far more concerned about their role, few being prepared to be in the 'follow' position. They insist on leading. There are some very good reasons justifying this gender-role allocation unrelated to any special leadership talent of men but they will be dealt with in another article. What we are concerned with here is the classic and very common cry by a man during dancing of "You led!" (How dare you?)
Having studied Philosophy for many years I am acutely aware of the dangerous and quite destructive human tendency to inaccurately describe things, particularly things of an interpersonal nature. Most often this occurs through the fuzzy complexity of that which is being described. Its all too easy to superficially observe what appears to take place and label the occurrence according to what is believed to have been seen instead of delaying judgment, then carefully observing and considering what might have happened. I believe it is exactly this practice which gives rise to an accusation of a women 'leading' while dancing. The man accuses the woman of having usurped his authority and decided for herself what she, and consequently he, will do next. This accusation is very often false.
Women who virtually always 'follow' in dance don't suddenly 'lead' for no reason. What they do in reality is 'go off half-cocked'. Like starters in a race who jump the gun, they are nervous and on edge, inclined to spring at the slightest provocation. They pitch into a spin or a turn at the merest hint of a lead, whether real or imagined.
For the man, this can be quite disconcerting. In freestyle dance he is (hopefully!) analyzing many things at once, such as precisely where the woman is at any particular point, the speed of the song, the close proximity of other dancers etc. When the woman charges into a move which he has neither signaled nor considered making the difficult job of effective leading becomes a lot harder. What often happens next is that he himself then 'goes off half-cocked' and accuses the woman of having usurped his authority, something which she has not intentionally done. Her nerves have simply got the better of her and she has responded to a signal that she imagined or misinterpreted. This does not amount to a deliberate 'lead'.
Note that this occurrence is quite distinct from two other tendencies. One is that of some men to give sadly inadequate leads. The other is that of some women to completely ignore the lead-follow relationship and just do what they want. These are separate topics, to be dealt with elsewhere. They are of lesser importance since frankly, these people do very little dancing as they find it largely impossible to find willing partners.
One of my favorite axes to grind is the highly over-looked but entirely necessary factor of being relaxed while dancing. Many beginners and even experienced dancers fail to do this despite there being some pretty good reasons for it.
Firstly, relaxed dancers are far more effective. Dance is a visual art as well as a physical activity and if participants want to look good, which they all do, their performance will be far more aesthetically pleasing if they are relaxed rather than tense. They will balance themselves more easily and their movements will be smooth, free-flowing and accurate instead of being restricted, jerky and erratic. If, as in some cases, their composure goes to the extent of actually being taut, effective dancing becomes almost impossible.
The next reason is quite simply that in fast, energetic dance such as Rock 'n' Roll, being tense can render dancers liable to injury. It is impossible for them to accurately gauge how much strength and energy they are putting into their moves when their muscles are tight. If they over-do it they can cause them self or their partner obvious injury or insidious skeleto-muscular damage.
The third reason, which I particularly want to highlight, is the surprisingly less-than-obvious fact that two people necessarily working together in a fast and energetic physical performance need to relax or else the potential for misinterpreted communication between them is very great. This really is the crux of the matter. The more two dancers relax the more likely they will understand gestured signals, body language and facial expressions.
It is highly important to recognize truth in these sorts of issue because failure to do so consigns us to continued difficulties. Having worked out what the problem is we need to devise a solution. That can be far from easy with a nervously pre-empting woman dancer. Her tenseness is likely to have become a habitual response to the dance situation and hard though it may be, she needs to break the habit. It becomes harder still when she is falsely accused of doing something untoward, which is likely to increase her nervousness.
It is possible that in some instances on-edge nervousness on his part may have been a great deal of the cause of hers! Which of course, amounts to only one thing. He led in that! She simply followed his lead.
Here is something which both the man and the woman can lead themselves at doing while dancing. Relax! It will give rise to more effective and enjoyable dancing, both for participants and onlookers.