i was wondering if someone could possibly help me on this lately i'm having trouble understanding lead or as sometimes known as bodylead in the smooth dances i take lessons at a local dance studio and my teacher is trying to teach me lead but i guess i get rather shy when i'm put in so close and pressed up against her,is their any other way i could lead ?

Hi! That really is the best way to lead. Usually when the man and lady are farther apart its harder for the lady to follow. I suggest practicing more, or asking other ladies to dance at group classes or parties, and use that positioning with them. After a little while you'll get comfortable with it and it'll be natural to you. I, personally, don't like dancing any other way than close together. It gives you a great connection, helps you pick up on weak leads, and is much more comfortable (well atleast for me!) I hope this helps you!!

If you ask the people who really know what they are doing - the current and former (British) world champions - you find they really don't go for this body contact obsession.

The lead comes from the man's body, yes, but it is transmitted primarily through the arms - specifically his left hand. He's not using the arm to push the lady around, but he is using it to transfer the movement of his upper body to hers. High level people dancing this way are very close to each other, and their bodies may touch, but there is no pressue. As they often put it "our clothes touch"

Many Americans teach and believe in a tight body contact. This seems to come from pro-am, where you typically have a professional leader paid to dance with a comparatively unskilled amateur lady. By holding her very tightly against his body, he can walk her through things she really doesn't understand how to do and give her an experience that immitates dancing at a much higher level than her actual training would allow. But being stuck so closely and firmly together limits their motion, gives them a distorted look, and as the original poster mentioned, can feel indecent to some. The reason using the more advanced arm connection is not favored is that it only works if both partners make an effort to keep their arms in the right place - which is primarily to say with their elbows in front of their back. If an inexperienced lady twists into her own arm, her pro leader can't do much to rescue the situation. Or if an inexperienced leader doesn't keep his arms connected to his torso, his partner won't know what he's doing, unless she has her own direct contact with his torso.

Body contact is not necessary to dance like a world champion. It should not be necessary to dance as a beginner either. If you want to use it you are welcome to, but if you aren't comfortable with it you don't need it. Ironically, as Americans we are sitting on the prime example of the fact that you can have lead-follow connection without body contact: American Smooth, which is full of actions much like those of closed position, only done with the partners partially or completely separated.

I thought firm body contact was more of an Italian development, so I'm suprised to see you 'blame' it on Pro/Am. I say this because a British teacher I know of made some remark about how he didn't like that 'damn Italian style' when he was asked about body contact.

It may well be the Italians who are at fault for getting the arched-back 'look' of body pressure contact accepted into world competition (and even preaching it at the *gasp* blackpool congress) it also seems to contaminate American dancing rather heavily. Even so, while a lot of Italian and American competitors are over-using it in my opinion, this doesn't come close to the extreme form in which it is often taught.

My most direct and frustrating personal encounters with strong body contact have been in attempts to dance with the pro-am students of teachers who insist on a pressure body contact as a means of tightly controlling the lady. After being so indoctrinated, these women thrust themselves at you in a rather alarming and movement blocking way. If you hold your arms and their hands in the proper place, they simly scrunch inside their frame in search of a contact they don't have the skills to achieve properly, because they never learned that contact, even if consistently maintained, is at most just one part of the connection.

"Is there any other way I could lead..."

Leading is a continuous process of responding to each other's body movement and making delicate adjustments to achieve the desired movement.

To lead properly in closed position (smooth/standard) requires a good understanding of the five "points" of contact. These are: (1) the man's left hand w/ lady's rt. hand, (2)rt. palm around the lady's left back (scapula) area(allowing for height and so on), (3)right forearm (under ladies left upper arm), (4) lady's left hand on the man's right upper arm (below the deltoid) and (5) the body.

The combination of these points form the basis of the language that the lady must listen for, interpret, and execute--factoring the general direction of movement as a couple, swing, balance, and so on. Sometimes you can omit words in sentences and still convey the proper context of the message. Thus with just one point of contact you could lead a lady into a turn. Leading is simply communication. Good communication requires good sentence structure. Word choice can make a sentence elegant and supremely understandable. Sloppy words create garbled messages. Same thing. For instance, holding the left hand/arm correctly makes it easy to follow.

The body is simply one of five things used to communicate. There are four others (and more as you get better) that you can use to create to elicit the proper response from the lady. Favoring any one of these heavily during dancing can be detrimental, making it difficult to follow.

Here's an exercise. Before starting a back whisk (which ends in promenade position)or even a twinkle, imagine how the lady will look at the end of, say the third, step. Imagine how you will use the five points as you step through the first, second, and third steps. Examine in your mind how your body shifts its position in order to elicit the proper result from the lady. Now try it with your body.

I hope this helps.

Nicely said frying dragon!!

Thank you Whitaker.

Of course. You don't *need* body contact to lead, but it is often helpful. I only skimmed the other replies, but I did catch TheFryingDragon's list of contact points. That's a good thing to keep in mind. All of those points of contact are used in transmitting the lead. Body contact is helpful because that's where you should be moving from. The lady effectively follows the motion of your center. If you've got body contact, it should be a bit easier for her to follow that motion because she's got a direct connection to it. Of course, in the beginning this can feel restrictive though, like the lady's blocking your range of motion. (She won't be because she moves with you, but it may feel awkward to start.) She can still get the lead through the arms and hands though so you don't need the body contact. You just need to maintain a good frame and be clear with your movements. If you make your movements definitively, not wishy-washy "oh, I think I want to go here", the lady should follow you fine with our without body contact. If you're not comfortable with it yet, you don't have to use it. Wait until you're ready for it because you're right, it can certainly be a distraction. But as you progress, you should get used to it and you'll probably want the lady to give you body contact when you dance. Once you get used to it, it is a nice feeling. :)

FOLLOW YOUR INSTRUCTORS IDEAS.CONENTRATE ON THE DANCE .