Hi everyone, Fran here with your Tango Tip of the Week. Last week, we talked about one of the principal difficulties that follower encounter, when dancing Tango — what I referred to as “anticipation.” Today, I’m going to address what I think is an almost universal problem for leaders — what I’ll call “assumption.”

Assumption is the expectation on the part of the leader — almost always completely unconscious — that a he has properly lead a Tango movement or sequence, when, in fact, he hasn’t.

For example: The leader decides to launch himself and his partner into an elaborate sequence he recently (more or less) memorized from YouTube. As he makes his first move, his follower freezes, then bravely does her best to determine what he’s asking her to do. She stumbles. He shoves. The sequence falls apart. He starts berating her about what he says she’s “supposed to be doing.” Somehow, she thinks the entire disastrous encounter must be her fault.

Does all this sound familiar? Followers, none of this has been your fault at all. The real culprit has been the leader’s assumption that you know exactly what he wants you to do in advance, when, in fact, you don’t.

How could you?

Leaders, let me ask you the question: How could she know? Can she read your mind? I don’t think so. Could it be that you didn’t give her the appropriate lead to execute what you wanted her to do? That you made the unconscious assumption she’d naturally be able to do whatever you wanted by some act of magic?

Yes, I think that may be the answer to our dilemma. In fact, the problem of “assumption” is so prevalent among leaders of social Tango — at least, here in this country — that it seems to be practically chronic. The leader knows what he wants; why shouldn’t his follower?

Duh …

Let’s cut to the chase. The way for a leader to overcome the problem of assumption is to finally bite the bullet, and learn how to lead. Proper application of the lead/follow mechanism is the magic formula, which makes it possible for the follower to know pretty much exactly what the leader wants her to do from moment to moment in the dance.

The major stumbling block here is, of course, that learning how to lead isn’t easy. It takes lots of time, effort, and commitment to accomplish. And, to tell you the truth, it feels kind of, dare I say, boring. There’s no instant gratification involved. Just what amounts to often tedious, repetitive hard work and meticulous practice over a fairly long period of time.

Who wants that?

Well, let me be the first to tell you: the one and only way you’re going to eventually be a decent Tango dancer is to do whatever it takes to become a skilled leader. Nothing else will eliminate the problem of assumption — not wishful thinking, not accumulating hundreds of fancy figures, and certainly not asking your follower to read you mind every time you want her to execute a dance step.

Lead/follow expertise is the answer. Please make up your mind to start learning lead/follow now.

Anyone remember me saying that in the past? A million times or so?

Please join us for our Saturday Practica at Dardo Galletto Studios, 151 West 46^th Street (between 6^th and 7^th Avenues), 11^th floor; 2-4pm, $10 per person. (Bringing a partner isn't necessary.) Pat and I will both be on hand to answer any questions you may have about your dancing, and to help you with material you're working on. Plus you get a new “must-have” tango move each week! If you’d like a private lesson, you can visit our website at www.franchesleigh.com, call Fran directly at 212-662-7692, or email him at franchesleigh@mac.com Join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/franchesleighllc

The following folks helped set up, break down and clean up before and after the milonga. Without them, there would be no Firehouse Tango.

• Steve Turi
• Lynn Gross
• Barbara Lombardo
  
• Elena Titova
  
• Hilda and Rafael
  
• Tsipoyra Sartan
  
• Jesse Barton
  
• Steve Maisch
  
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