I am getting two different view points
from a high level latin female pro coach and a male coach.

The female pro says lead less and use your body to lead not much with your hands, arms or shoulders. Give the lady the space to dance her steps and do her stuff. Do not try and place her here and there--she should know where to go and how to do her footwork.

The male pro says use more specific musle tone in places, and put her in specific spots. Let her dance, but give her much more specific direction.
No pushing or pulling, but specifically placing her in certain spots.

The male pro does lots of pro am and works with making ladies look good while dancing with him. He says that it is typical for female pros to tell guys to lead less. He has no amateur couples that he coaches.

The female pro is a much higher level latin dancer than the male pro. She has at least 3 very high ranking amateur couples that she coaches.

Two good teachers, but with two entirely differnt takes on leading and following. Anyone had similiar experiences from latin male and female coaches?

Hi,
As a male dancer, i would agree with the male pro teacher. The man has to lead the lady. Leading means making the lady dance the steps you want her to dance. The lady simply follows.

Regarding leading in Latin. If you follow Slavik's DVD. He explains how to lead, which is not a arm or hand wrestling match. The weight of the body and an arm with some tension in it. I know that a former high class professional teaches a very light grip. It should be possible with the lady in the fan position to have one finger held between the mans finger and thumb. Very light pressure then ease off should be enough to tell the lady you wish her to draw the RF to the LF. As said before . If you open a door. Should you have to push the lady to get her to go through. No, she has the message when the door is opened. With a beginner it is a different problem. To get them to do a Hip Twist and out to the Fan, you might need to use both hands to get them where you want them, which is to the Fan Position. In Standard dancing if you haven't noticed they with the mans left and ladies right have the thumbs together and up. Whith slight pressure the lady know what is expected next. How things have changed!!!

If you want women to enjoy dancing with you, take the female pro's advice! In reality, you'll need to develop a range of leading styles depending on who you're dancing with and how responsive she is. But start out with a body lead and a light but connected touch.

I think of leading more as communicating. You are inviting the lady to do her steps, not forcing her to do them. Better dancers have learned to “listen” intently and will understand and respond to the lightest leads. Less experienced ladies may need a bit more help, but don't do their dance for them. Accuracy and clarity will likely be more appreciated than just putting her where you want her. A pro dancing in a pro-am competition is often dancing at the fringes of the lady's ability and is more concerned with looking good for the judges than trying to make the dance as enjoyable as possible.

Ok, the guy needs to have several or many options of leading a variety of women at different levels? However, if a guy starts placing ladies here and there he could screw up or ruin his hard earned style of advanced light leading abilities. What about just doing the correct light lead or opening the door for just very basic figures and forget about more complicated movements? Maybe a guy should just do what possible with just one good leading style and let the ladies adapt to it. Maybe the dancing would not look so exciting, but at least it would be done correctly without over leading. And the lady would benefit from experiencing the correct leading style.

Maybe some of the male Pro Am teachers are teaching and using incorrect leading and totally messing up the system of leading. Lots of pro men want to show off their dancing abilities to others socially in order to attact potential students. Many times I have seen pro men out dancing ladies and definitely over leading and putting the ladies in their positions.
Sometimes there is lots of tricks and flashy stuff. Guess they think that it's is good marketing for them. And they figure that most amateurs wouldn't recognize really good dancing if they saw it.