Am sure this will have been covered before but I can't remember the specific thread and a couple of recent posts made me decide to revive it.Originally Posted by straycat264
Which group - leaders or followers - do you think gets the better deal in MJ and why?
Poll to follow shortly........
(for the most part)
Above the beginner level, without actually learning to be an advanced follow myself (well - to be brutally honest, without learning to follow) I don't think I can be qualified to give an answer on this one. So I'm going to find me a nice comfortable fence, and sit on it.
I'm not far from the fence either, the thing that makes me say that followers get a better deal is that even with beginners leads they can still try to make the most of the music within the lead (ie expressing the music in a way that won't confuse / disturb the lead) and that's a pretty challenging and cool thing to do, imo.
In my opinion neither should get a better deal i take it we all dance for pleasure therefore if you follow or lead you should get fun out of it
I think MJ can be a huge ego boost for leaders when they are good enough for followers to start forming a queue. However, perhaps, as in other areas of life, it is not how often but how fulfilling each experience is?
Deal?? Deal!!!
Hang on a bit .... gotta ring my stock broker??
For the most part, I agree. I don't think it's always the case though.
Since when has the concept of being qualified to do so prevented people from giving answers on this forum?
I don't think you need to have experienced dancing as a follower to have some understanding of what it entails.
I wasn't asking what should be the case, I'm interested in what people perceive actually is the case.
Personally I think leaders in general get the better deal partly since the level of the dance tends to be determined by the level of the lead (so whilst we may not experience the highs that some follows get with a truly great leader we do get a more consistent experience) but mostly due to the disparity in gender numbers which means that competent leaders are often in demand as much due to their scarcity as their ability.
Since when has it been wrong for me to refrain from doing something, just because other people do it?
Some understanding, sure. I just don't have sufficient understanding to make a judgement on this issue, because I haven't experienced as a follower dances on the kind of level I've experienced as a leader. So
Well, if all your peers were jumping off a cliff, shouldn't you do it as well...?
{pause}
OK, bad example. Maybe.
Well, I've next to no experience of dancing as a follow either. But I have a fair amount of experience of follows complaining about how hard it is to find a decent man.Some understanding, sure. I just don't have sufficient understanding to make a judgement on this issue, because I haven't experienced as a follower dances on the kind of level I've experienced as a leader. So
(And to go upstairs, a fair bit of experience of follows complaining about how indecent it is to find a hard man...)
Depends ... on what you're looking for in a dance. If musicality is key to your dancing, then probably the leader has the better deal as this is set by them & there's nothing you can do as a follower. But equally, as a follower, if the dance was rubbish, you can blame your partner. At the moment, I'm considering learning lead in tango so that if there aren't enough leads or they aren't being especially musical, then I can pretty much do my own thing. If that fails, at least it should improve my following.
Are leads and followers looking for the same thing out of a dance? Are you looking for the same thing out of every dance? It's like asking who gets the better deal: WCS dancers or Tango dancers?
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I have the best of both worlds...having spent the first 8 months learning to follow, I'm now relearning all those beginner moves as a leader. It's given me a real insight into how hard it is to lead, but also makes me a better follower as I can appreciate how relaxing during your dance can help the lead
And when I have enough of that, I go and dance blues instead!!!
I think Followers get the better deal.
We get to dance with a different man for nearly every track and we don't have to think at all (well I don't) - just follow whatever our Leader throws at us. Therefore, unlike Leaders, we aren't bored by the repetitiveness of our own moves.
Mind you, if a Leader doesn't know many moves, I itch to take over.
Daisy
(An Easily Led Little Flower)
Thats a good answer Daisy. I itch to take over sometimes when I am led roughly, being a tall lady doesn't mean my arms are strong enough to stand up to be yanked and twisted etc during pretzels and baskets. I have had my fair share of bruises from leaders who grip too tightly as well. Ouch|
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