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| In my experience, man not only should lead, man also should follow. Geoffrey Hearn offers the observation that "The Man suggests the movement, the Lady dances the movement, and the Man follows the Lady", and I think that's dead right. |
| Communication between the bodies through the hand (which is of vital importance) does not mean force is applied with the hands - what it really means is that the partner is held and sensed with them.
Learning the difference between communication and force is an essential dance skill. |
| Just curious. What is the difference between 'force' and 'pressure'?
I'm assuming that leading can be transmitted through pressure from the gent's right hand. |
| Pressure requires force, obviously. We need to be careful what we mean by using pressure. Braced muscles will exert a constant gentle pressure through the connection to the partner, and each can be very sensitive to the movement of the other, through the points of contact. That doesn't mean, of course, that any movement is initiated, or signalled from the man's LH to lady's RH handclasp: that would always be a basic fault. The man's RH on the lady's shoulderblade is used for leading, but as Geoff Hearn writes: The Man's right hand should always move with the Lady's back, it must NOT move the Lady's back. |
| As usual, very good dance rules, that were said to newer dancers in an atttempt to curb bad habits, seem to morph into dogma that allows no rational thoutht.
I would tell any man who was pushing with his left hand, and using it as his primary lead, that he should concentrate on leading with his body.
I would also argue that the left hand should be part of the mans frame, and therefor it would always be a part of his lead.
I know that some dancers have pretty much abandoned the use of the left hand, my belief is that the breaking of the frame, so you can say you are not using it for leading, is foolhardy.
In my opinion, the left hand is part of a man's frame.
So I guess we must agree to differ. |
| I don't think there is a difference to disagree over, really: perhaps it is one of terminology. Allow me to refer you back to an earlier post, where I make the connection with the frame and the Man's LH very clear: There is no inconsistency between the man's LH to lady's RH hold forming part of the dance frame, and the hand-clasp NOT being used in guiding or leading.
The joined hands move, as the couple move, but the relative position of the hands (and therefore the frame) remain static, and do not alter from moment to moment.
The fact that the muscles of the dancers' bodies are braced at all times means that they will feel the rotation of one another's bodies, but the hand-clasp is the least appropriate point of physical contact from which to 'communicate' the intention to rotate. Men do not 'steer' their partners around the floor using the extended arm as though a tiller on a boat, but rather, the couple move together, the lead having been already felt elsewhere.
The fact that in rotation, the movement is most apparent at the extremity of the frame (the point farthest from the centre of rotation) emphatically does NOT mean that it originated there. |
| The protuding " thumbs " has been adopted by many of the world class Profs ( the theory is.. it stables the hand position.. ).Many of them now teach this ( J. Wilkins for one )
Personally, I am not convinced, and think it is more of an abstraction... |
| You should not be squeezing your partner's hand but you do need to maintain a little pressure-we are not talking broken bones here!
Do bear in mind though that in ballroom dance the lead does not come through your hands or legs. It is through your body movement. I teach this as moving through the diaphragm i.e. the girl can feel the guy rise or move to one side ready to begin.
To help you at the moment you can try dancing without the left hand. Just place the right on the girls left shoulder blade and dance. If you are a good leader this will be easy! |
| We're going in circles, now, for I posted this a month ago: One of my favourite ballroom class exercises for lead & follow, is for the man to release hold with his LH completely (ie no contact at all), in order to demonstrate that the hand takes NO part in leading, and that everything else carries on just the same. I think that the best leading comes from the upper body movement & rotation, and is felt through the body connection, occasionally with very gentle pressure with the RH on the lady's back, particularly with movements into promenade position. |
| You can dance without the left hand, great.
Now can you dance with only the left hand, bodies not touching?
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