Hi everybody, Pat here. Last week, Fran posed two key questions about learning and dancing Tango. Question One: What is the greatest difficulty leaders have to deal with in dancing Tango? Question Two: What is the greatest difficulty followers have to deal with in dancing Tango? For this week's Tango Tip I'm going to address the second of these questions.

Last week, Fran talked about an important stage of Tango which both leaders and followers typically reach after they have become familiar with the basic elements of the dance. It is the moment when they feel that they can now move "forward" in learning pre-ordained steps and memorized figures.

There are many Tango teachers who can't wait to get these students into a class which features fancy choreography, primarily because choreography is easy to teach. In the case of followers, it leads them into a way of dancing that is antithetical to social Tango. Followers who "dance from their heads" after being exposed to this kind of "teaching" do not, by definition, listen to their leaders. Instead, they cannot wait to find an opportunity to put their newly found choreographic knowledge into practice. The result, of course, is a discordant partnering that looks and feels very awkward.

A frequent example of this type of follower is one who has learned a few new embellishments and thinks that each of them must be put into every dance. You can almost see her thinking which one to do with each next step, or after each ocho . Of course, the timing and choice of movement are almost never appropriate, and instead of looking as if she knows something, this follower looks like an amateur -- because she is always rushing ahead of herself - and paying little or no attention to her leader.

Note: If you've learned some embellishments, try to put only ONE into a dance. This is a difficult thing to do. You may go several dances without getting it done. It doesn't matter. Just enjoy the dance anyway. And keep in mind, you can only incorporate embellishments with a leader who gives you the time to do so!

Another very common occurrence is a follower who has decided that a certain idiosyncratic posture is the one to adopt. It may be draping herself around and leaning on her leader, or perhaps bending her knees too much, extending her posterior, or hunching her shoulders. When these followers take up their pre-conceived dance position, their leader must then try to execute his leads while accommodating his follower's rigid and ill-conceived posture -- probably not the amazing 3-minute Tango experience everyone is looking for!

So followers, here are some tips that I hope will help you to be a good follower and not to dance from your head:

·      Practice your basic movement and balance - I cannot emphasize this enough

·       Posture! Stand up straight, shoulders down, chin held in

·      Relax! Take a simple, balanced dance position and just wait - don't think, don't expect, don't plan

·      Clear your head and pay attention to the lead - if you don't feel a lead, don't move!

·      Listen to your leader with your body...just let it move with him.

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