The Magical Lead
(by Joanna Seigmann)
What constitues a magical lead?
I went to one of our local milongas last night and had the enormous pleasure of dancing with a visiting milonguero from Portland. He had one of those imperceptible leads that nevertheless was precise and clear. We were doing very complicated footwork, syncopations and paradas, and yet I never felt a "lead". After dancing with him for a magical tanda, I danced with someone
who felt like he was driving a Mac truck with no power steering...it really got to me to thinking about something that might be an interesting topic for the list, a philosophical versus technical query. What is it, in the non-technical sense, that makes for that fabulous lead? It is not "put the
foot here, shift the weight there", because there are some marvelous dancers whose footwork breaks every rule. It is not counting, because during improvisations anything can happen and counting would get in the way. Anyway, you get the picture. I would like to start by offering my own possible elements of what constitutes a magical lead:
1. Surrender
There is a moment in a magical leader's (ML) first embrace where there is a tangible melding of energies. Not just the back and forth shifting to make sure you're both on the same foot, but a kind of spiritual handshake. There is a certain tenderness, concern, and awareness of the partner, a calibration of sorts. In that momentary embrace comfort levels are detected, postures are assessed, breathing is harmonized. The ML's first concern is the couple, not the steps he wants to lead. For this to happen, the ML must surrender to his partner in the same way as the follower must surrender to his lead. He must surrender any image of what he wants/expects
to do and open himself to the possibility of what might develop.
2. Musicality
Without exception, every ML uses the music!!!!! This is the single most important misunderstanding people have about Tango. Improvisation does not mean "ignore the music". You must find the soul of the music. If the leader follows the music, the follower has a frame of reference in which she can move as well. They are both working off the same script. When a leader randomly does fast steps, slow steps, complicated steps, and pauses, a woman has no choice but to follow robot style, since she does not have any idea when he might move again. I believe leaders who cannot hear the music are also unable to "hear" their partner.
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