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Dear Leaders, You’ve probably heard somewhere that if there’s a mistake, it’s always your fault. I want to tell you that this isn’t true. As a lead, you are supposed to compensate for a follow who is struggling. This might…
Some dancers in close-hold dances like to do isolations with their hips and upper body. However, some dancers also use the “Leg Clamp” as a way of trying to connect and control the movements. The Leg Clamp is when a…
In partner dance, we have two (typically) well-defined roles: leader and follower. Each of these roles has its own set of responsibilities. The leader is the director, who has a vision for what happens next. They create the requests, which are…
When I was a new teacher, I had a student who began as a very ‘heavy’ follow. She used so much resistance that I would be exhausted after one dance with her. After a few months of regular practice, she became…
The idea that lifts shouldn’t be done on the social floor is well-known. I agree with this, the vast majority of the time. But, every time we mention that it’s a no-no, there’s some lead out there who knows this…
Most dancers have heard of the dreaded Backleader: the follow who doesn’t listen to their partner. But, until now we didn’t have a similar concept for leaders who don’t lead. Therefore, I’d like to introduce the concept of backfollowing: when leaders…
I was speaking with a dancer a few days ago. She was learning how to lead, but was scared of being ‘too strong’. Part of the fear stemmed from the idea that good follows prefer ‘light’ leads to ‘strong’ leads….
When I’m not dancing, I currently work on making plain-language legal resources. This means that I write things that are supposed to be easy to understand for people without advanced English language skills. Today, I had a thought: what if we apply…
I hate to break it to you, but this post isn’t going to be where I give you a magic formula that works with every partner. There’s no universal ‘great dance’ formula. However, every social dancer has their own personal ‘great…
Hands are magical. They’re one of the most sensitive parts of the human body, and can even feel large microscopic molecules on a flat surface. We also generally rely pretty heavily on the hands for social dancing. Of course, it…
Many leads I’ve met are frustrated by a paradox they see in the dance world. It can often seem that follows say “I want a guy who leads solid, connected basics – not advanced patterns”. Yet, the same follow is…
Pinball Lead: a lead who does not let the follow finish a movement before launching into the next one. I have come across many Pinball Leads in my time. They can be a newer or older dancer, outgoing or shy, kind…
A Note from Laura Riva: I don’t normally post guest articles on my blog, but for Trevor Copp I make an exception. For those who don’t know, Trevor is one of the people behind the Liquid Lead Dancing Tedx Talk…
A few days ago, I published an article about how a leader I danced with managed to turn a really rough and scary dance into an amazing one. It was meant to show how respecting and communicating with your partner…
I recently arrived home from one of the largest Zouk congresses in the world. It was full of all kinds of social dance partners, but there are a few that truly stick out in my mind. One was a dance…
