I have been taking private lessons with my instructor since the last week in May..........He is an excellent teacher.........but I seem to have a difficult time learning to follow a lead. This happens with every male I dance with, but it bothers me most when I am dancing with my instructor and I am not following well. I seem to get into a hurry. It's easier for me to dance and follow a lead with a choreographed dance, but to dance (say a Waltz or Rhumba, for example) that is not choreographed, I seem to stumble, and do not know what step he is trying to get me to execute. It seems to me that by this time I should be better than this. I have a dance background, but not in partner dance. Can anyone offer any insight or advice that may help????

Learn to "listen" (in the tactile, not aural, sense). Welcome to the long and wondrous journey of partner dancing!

6 months ?--you seem to have the usual impatience of a beginner.

Remember-- dancing is a marathon-- not a sprint .
The subleties of partnership ,cannot be gained in such a short period of time ( as a rule ).

you will look back on this episode in 12 months, and wonder what happened to that " other " dancer? ( you )

"6 months ?--you seem to have the usual impatience of a beginner.

Remember-- dancing is a marathon-- not a sprint .
The subleties of partnership ,cannot be gained in such a short period of time ( as a rule )."

Yes and no. I can think of many ladies whose competition training did not involve fixed routines, who from even the first few weeks have been able to follow from the best of their movement ability. They may still move like beginners, but they can feel what the leader wants, and will do the best execution of that which their feet are currently capable of carrying.

To improve your following:

- Work on learning proper basic actions to the point where they are unthinking reflexes. Not whole figures, just actions, such as how to take a step forward or backwards with CBM, how to take a step in a pointing alignment, etc.

- Do most of your practice without a routine. Try to feel which of the basic actions practiced above is being suggested at each point. Don't think about figures, try to feel the lead as a suggestion that prompts each of the individual actions that make up the figures.

5lisamarie, I think the suggested approach from "anymouse" is the most valuable advice from my own experience. I'll continue to improve my following by doing just that.