Dance Better Now

Following: dance tips on being a good follow in Latin and ballroom dancing

One of the keys to good ballroom dancing is good following. If you are a follow, then you might have found that you know the dance steps (ballroom dance steps, swing dance steps, Latin dance steps or any type of partner dance), but find that you can’t always work out which step is being led. This can often come from learning through routines. It can also be from a desire to back lead. Sometimes it is just hard and you’re not sure why. Before writing this blog post I spent a solid period learning to follow to explore all the challenges that a follow can have. I now have some insights that can help you. Let me share them with you now.

Do you have a good lead?

I have come across some follows who feel that they are not good follows, but they have been dancing with leads who are not as skilled. This is because the person they were dancing with was at the same beginner level. It’s not that following is easier, it is more that it can be more instinctive. Thus, if you are dancing with a lead who is as experienced as you, and you’re both in the earlier stages of developing your dance ability, then it might be that you actually need a more experienced lead: it might not be you at all. Worth checking this first before you start blaming yourself too much.

Have you done too many routines? Try some pure freestyle!

I have seen a case after case of people touting that fact that they free-styled in studios where there is a large focus on routines for learning. Because free-styling is rare for them, they talk about it like it is a big deal. I have personally danced with ladies who are at a gold level and still have troubles following. The simple fact is that if you practice only routines, then you will never really learn to follow. You will know all the ballroom dance steps, you might even be able to back lead others through each, and even the whole routine, but you will not be able to follow. If you want good dance ability, then you need to practice your following. Do some pure freestyle ballroom dancing (or Latin or swing) and you will develop your ability to follow.

Making yourself freestyle is one of those universal dance tips for many aspects of dance so there’s many reasons to do this when you can.

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Have you danced with only one partner?

Sometimes follows pick up different/wrong signals for a lead - I did this when learning and noticed it when leading. These might be the habits of the one person you always dance with - as long as you dance with them, these mistaken lead signals are not an issue. However, it means that when it comes to ballroom dancing you know it only with one person. This is also common in studios that use routines to teach dance - the routine is drilled with one teacher, and that's the only person you can dance with. The solution is the obvious: group classes and free-styling (that same dance tip again).

Do you want to be a good follow?

I have danced with women, who learned through routines, who have decided that they simply couldn’t follow. They decided that they simply weren’t good follows and that was how it was going to be. This was honest of them in a way; they were not good follows. But they could decide that they wanted to be different (better) when it came to dance, and work on their ability to follow. Do you want to exhibit good dance? If you do, then put the effort in to learn to follow and demand help from your teacher if needed.

Do you know the steps without a lead?

This was one of the more interesting aspect of being a good follow that I discovered.

If you know the ballroom dance steps and know them well (without the lead), then when you are ballroom dancing you can focus on the leads so you can follow easily. I have danced with many who are concentrating so much on the steps that they miss the leads or even back lead. Try to know the steps well. Then all you need is the first lead to perform the figure. You will see you will have good dance ability very quickly.

However, there might (probably will) be when you don’t know the dance steps. Here is a dance tip that is almost the opposite of what I just said for good dance. Try to forget the dance step altogether and simply be led through everything. This was something I found I was doing when following. When I knew the step, all I needed was the first lead, and the rest would come. However, if I did not know, then I went blank and handed myself over to the lead and simply ran on instinct.

This, I found, required some mental agility. You need to quickly determine if you are to execute a dance step you know or simply go mentally blank to follow everything. You might even need to make something up, which is not quite a back lead, but might feel like it. A good lead will accommodate this if it does happen - if free-styling.

Do you have the right contact and know what to be aware of?

I found at times I needed to focus more on the contact I had with the lead or change my awareness of the lead. Sometimes the lead is visual, sometimes it is physical. By being aware of what you can both see and feel, you will be a better follow. Expanding your awareness beyond yourself to your partner in general is one of the best dance tips I can give you for good dance. 

Maybe you’re meant to be a lead

Sometimes we assume we should take on the roles allocated to us by our gender. It has worked for me: I am a man and I enjoy taking the lead. However, you are probably a woman if you are reading this and looking for advice on how to follow. It might be that you’re meant to lead. Just something to consider if you find yourself having issues following and maybe at times you back lead.

Do you trust the lead (and yourself)?

I found that when it came to following I needed to trust the lead. And this came to trusting myself as well. If I did not trust the lead or myself, then I found that I tended to back lead more. I would then dance the ballroom dance steps I thought expected and not what was led: not good dance at all. Feel confident that your lead knows enough and that you can respond in a suitable way to whatever lead you get - even if it is not what they expected (it's not really a big deal if it does not work out in this context).

Summary

If you apply the above dance tips, then you will see your ability to follow improve. However, I think it is worth noting what else I have discovered. When it clicks, following can make good dance great. You can start interpreting the ballroom dance steps to style them your own way. When that happens, you’re really ballroom dancing: a good follow is what makes a couple look really good on the dance floor; a good lead only let's it happen. When it comes to ballroom dancing following it often thought of as being the easier out of leading and following. However, while the basics of following can come faster at the start (they do not need the same grasp on ballroom dancing steps) you always need to be switched on when following and you need to overcome some habits that might be holding you back. I am not saying following is harder than leading, but doing both has let me know follow is not easier either.

Is this the right way to become an excellent dancer?

Let’s consider one of the most common approaches taken on the path to the mastery of partner dancing. It goes like this:

1. Find a dance school with a good reputation – you can judge this by the awards they have, the number of studios, the number of students, the size or their events and membership of a national dance regulatory board.
2. Make an appointment for a trial lesson with a person who will potentially be you instructor.
3. If the trial seems to go well, then sign up for regular lesson – probably twice a week.
4. Work towards your first level (or medal) grading by learning routines of each style in one groups of dances
5. Then satisfy the first level in any other groups of styles you are interested in (street Latin, American Latin, Modern, American Smooth, American Rhythm and so on).
   1. Once you complete level 1 in your selected style grouping, you can say that you can dance
   2. Then on to the next level.
      1. The second level will make you a polished dancer.
      2. Then the next level.
         1. You will then be an advanced dancer.

Does this indeed make you an advanced dancer?

There are two defining features of the above approach:

1. A focus on routine
2. A social interpretation of standard figures

A focus on routine is ideal for learning figures, but not social dancing. A social interpretation is enough for social dancing, but it provides bad habits for dance sport. Thus, because of the routines you will not be well equipped for social dancing, but because of the social interpretation you will not be prepared for dance sport either. It’s like the worst of both worlds. You might have a good teacher who will encourage proper social dancing or focus more on technique than is needed. However, this will slow progress, which can frustrate you.

So what do you do?

If you like simply learning more and more challenging routines and being recognised for that, then this approach is fine.

If you eventually want to get into dance sport, then consider making the move early. You can then focus on technique.

On the other hand, if you wish to become a social dancer, then you can push your instructor to teach differently. This works well for follows – you can have your instructor not teach the routine, but just do the routine with you and show you how to follow. They can even do something different from the routine during training and then do the routine when you are graded. You get to reach a new level and learn to follow.

For leads, you just need to accept that learning a routine as well as how to lead will take more time than learning one or the other. You will need to enhance the learning process if you want to learn both at the same time.

What if you like learning at a social studio, you want to attain higher levels, learn to dance socially and dance with the proper standard (dance sport standard)?

You will need to do the following:

• Attend a school that does gradings and has a dance sport connection (This might be your school now, you might need to change schools or you might need to split your time).
• Manage your teacher to teach you the way you need to be taught so you can also to dance socially.
• Manage your own learning so that you can accelerate the rate you can learn all the dance skills you wish to learn.

The first one is fairly easy – just find another school if needed. You might even charge your teacher with learning about this higher standard. That brings you to the second point – managing your teacher.

If you can manage your teacher and yourself, then you can learn all you want. To know how to do this – click here.

The alphabet of dance - How to write reminders in dance

The post is going to start off with something that will seem odd, but stick with me here. It will be worth it.

Consider the following: how hard would it be to recall the statement below and rewrite it upon request?

Every good boy deserves fruit

Anyone who has learned to read sheet music will know where this is from. It is a mnemonic to help you recall the notes for the lines (E, G, B, D, F). The fact that is a mnemonic is important; it is much easier to remember than a series of disconnected letter.

The sentence is like a single thing to recall and thus easier to remembers than the letters at the start of each letter.

Now imagine how hard it would be to recall the series of letters – someone who knows the letters of the alphabet, but not yet how to spell. It would be near impossible.

Imagine now someone who doesn’t know the letters of the alphabet and had to recall each basic shape as a series of lines and circle segments. If the prior task was near impossible, then this would require a near photographic memory.

However, you would be able to reproduce the sentence by simply recalling the single phrase and then reproducing it using the knowledge of the alphabet and spelling that you have gained over the years.

So imagine how easy it would be to recall a dance routine if each figure was like a letter to you. Each line of a routine would be as complicated as a word or a phrase. The whole routine would be a short story. This is what experienced dancers do – especially the ones who can quickly learn a routine. They do not learn each foot placement – they learn letters (the figures). They also work on good penmanship – (the proper posture and top-line and such for each figure). That’s like simply writing in a manner that looks good.

I am not sure how good your hand writing is, but I am pretty sure that you can write a sentence.

How did you get to that stage? Remember how hard you were worked as a child? That was just hard drilling so that the letters of the alphabet were known to you – it might be hard to recall E, G, B, D, F, but you can probably recite the alphabet. If you wanted nice hand writing, then you could have practiced that too – you just needed to put the effort in and you would know that each letter you write would look good.

This principle can be applied to dance. If you have not done so, then try the following:

1. Learn each figure (of each style you do) and its name – to the point where if someone says it, then you can recall how it looks and how it feels (you could do it). This step will take a while.
2. Take a line of a routine that you are learning and remember each figure in it and in order.
3. Give that figure a name that helps you recall that line
4. Now do the same for each line of the routine
5. Now link the names (in the order of the routine) into a story
6. The story is just one thing to remember – it then allows you to recall each word – and each word then lets you recall the figure of each line

This might seem odd at first, but this is how many successful dancers quickly learn new and many routines. They are not recalling one incredibly long figure like many of us do when learning a routine. They are linking together a series of letters into words and then a phrase/story.

So put the effort now into having a total recall of each figure – like learning the alphabet. It won’t be easy, but it will make things much easier in the future – just like learning the alphabet.

Do you need to know a lot of figures to be a good social dancer?

Something that bothers many social dancers is how many figures you need to know to be a good dancer.

Do you need to buy those DVDs with the extra salsa moves on them; do you need to do the next medal in modern or Latin so that you have more figures under your belt; should you go to that special workshop by that swing dance couple to learn those extra figures?

If you lead, then you worry that your partner will get bored. If you follow, then you worry that you might be led into something you do not know.

How many figures is enough?

Before I answer this, I want to relay three stories.

I recall being told explicitly that I did not have enough figures by a salsa dancer that I had been dancing with on and off for some time. We were talking about this topic – how many figures one needed to know. I had said, with some confidence, that I thought that I had enough to keep things interesting for anyone that I was dancing with.

 It became very apparent to me, very quickly, that at least one person thought that my contention was incorrect.

This led me to think that I needed to learn many more figures.

However, another story relates to one of the most interesting dancers I have ever encountered.

This was a dancer from South America who I encountered when I was living in China. This guy would do nothing but the salsa basic. However, whenever you watched him dance, you could see that he really felt the music. He looked like his entire like was in balance and satisfied when he danced. He was the epitome of contentedness: All from doing nothing but the basic.

He never had any troubles finding a partner to dance with. The women he danced with seemed to be able to pick up on his vibe, and get the same pleasure from dance that he was experiencing.

So then it looked like a large number of figures was not needed.

But there is one last story I want to share.

I danced with another woman where I tried to use a balance of moves and dance in sync with the music and express the music. Sometimes I dance simple figures, but really feeling the music. Other times, I danced a collection of figures in what I thought was a well-executed mini routine. And you know what she said to me? “I like it when you spin me.” All she really liked was being spun form one side to the other. It didn’t seem to matter too much whether I was expressing the music or putting together a nice collection of figure. She just liked to spin. However, she didn’t just want to spin on the spot; that would be silly. The spins needed to move and flow from one to the other.

So what can be extracted from these stories about the figures you need to learn?

Well it doesn’t hurt to know a few figures and how to put them together. It can be handy to know variations too so that you can mix it up a bit. That’s if you’re a lead. If you’re a follow, then it helps to know a few so that you can be led into what may come.

However, you probably can’t just rely on knowing figures. You need that musicality to really bring it to life.

And then, there might be times when the key is not a lot of figures or musicality, but focusing on a certain characteristics (maybe spins, but maybe not) while not being overt. For that you need to be able to link the right figures together and maintain flow.

That means that there are three things you have here:

1. Figures – the more the better
2. Expression – doing them with the music
3. Flow – knowing how to go from one to the other

If you think you’re fine with numbers 2 and 3, then look into more figures. However, if you have learned a lot, then make sure that you are OK with expression and flow. If you are not, then maybe look at the one(s) that need work before learning more figures.

Many of us fall into the trap of thinking we simply need more figures. There’s certainly nothing more with knowing many, but don’t go thinking that’s the silver bullet to better dance.

How to lose that serious face when dancing, and have one that matches

A question from a reader:

Hi Clint

 Hope you are well. Its me again with a query I have.

Was just re-reading the idea of the Self 1 and Self 2. For me, I am a very analytical person (accountant haha) so for me, I need to know the routine 101% first along with the the footwork. Self 1 is definitely operating here and if I screw up I get a bit frustrated (esp with the Paso, given it’s such a fast dance for instance). How do I apply Self 2 so I don't "worry" about doing a mistake in terms of my footwork. I have medals in a couple of weeks’ time and I just want to dance naturally and not have that "thinking face" on whilst I go through it. Does this make sense?

Cheers

M

 

My answer:

This is not an uncommon issue. We want so hard to do well that we cannot trust our instinctual side. Even though that’s where we really need our dance to be and we know it too.

For those who can’t recall, the notion of Self 1 and Self 2 come from Tim Gallwey who made these notions famous along with the idea of the inner game when he wrote about tennis. The idea is that our conscious self is Self 1. It is analytical and ideal for when we need to reason. Self 2 is the part of us that just does things naturally – it’s the doing part. Think about those times when you made a mistake because you were concentrating so hard – that’s Self 1 taking too much control.

The key to letting Self 2 take over in a routine is to distract Self 1. Self 1 can really only do one thing at a time. If you distract it from a task, then Self 2 needs to take over. You can think about any thing while walking – it’s so natural that Self 2 does it.

So what are some ways of distracting Self 1?

One easy way is to simply talk. If you have an amenable dance partner, then talk to them about anything so that Self 1 is distracted. If you do this during practice, then you get better at handing control over to Self 2.

This is not ideal for a competition or exhibition.

Another technique is to give each figure a name (not the standard one) and then link the names into a story that uses those names. This will also help you remember the routine – it’s not something you can do quickly (we don’t all have the story telling ability of Stephen King), but it will likely mean you will never forget the routine. If you can also make the story fit the mood of the dance and music, then as you recall the story while doing the routine, then you will be more likely to have a congruent facial expression.

 

This is just an example set of 2. You can come up with others. The key is to keep your conscious mind (Self 1) distracted so that you rely on your automatic Self 2, which is better at this kind of stuff, to take over.

Can group classes kill your dance ability?

As I mentioned in the last post, I was recently at a dance recital. In that recital there were a number of routines performed by large groups where each member of the group did exactly the same thing.

In these performances, I noticed a number of people looking at others to ensure that they themselves were on time and doing the right figures. This got me thinking: is it always good to have a visual cue when learning to dance?

Once again, as I also mentioned I did in the last post, I posed this question on a LinkedIn group of dance teachers and coaches. The response was pretty unanimous – many students will rely upon others if they can and follow them. This prevents students from properly learning routines. That’s bad enough; however, it can also prevent students from learning how a figure should feel. One teacher in the conversation said that she would sometimes teach students without mirrors so that the students were less able to follow others or rely on visual cues. Instead, they would learn to trust and develop their memory and pay attention to how their bodies feel.

So what does this mean for you? It means that while it might be uncomfortable, you should isolate yourself from others and from mirrors when learning a routine or even how to do a figure. This will help build your memory and your ability to feel when a figure is done right. You need not do this all the time, but every once in a while will probably help. This could be a good tool for teachers – especially those training a group for a performance.

As an example - I had a friend who did not realise how much she was relying on mirrors and other dancers until she went to a medal night. Only then did she realise that she was always looking in the mirror and using visual cues from others to be able to complete the routine. Not a good place to be.