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CHAPTER 6 - Connecting with the Partner

Excerpt....."I have found over the years that, if I am dancing with a new follower, as long as I make my intentions plain she will oblige, more often than not, even when she has not been taught a particular movement. Occasionally, though, things do go wrong. Sometimes the error will have been in the magnitude of the indication, but – more frequently – the message will have been mistimed. No follower, let alone a new follower, can follow a message given so late that she is already committed to acting on the previous message.

So, my feeling is that a leader needs to tune in to the sort of follower he is dancing with to ensure the connection, and this may take a little time to begin with. The wise and thoughtful leader will not freak off into fancy footwork before finding the ‘resonance’ of his follower. Even before the feet move, the leader will try a few weight changes to the music to see how the follower moves and feels in his arms. He is testing the connection.

Similarly, the wise follower focuses on the leader’s chest to be able to gain early signals of intention. Some followers, however, dance with their eyes shut and find that this enables them to feel the indications better using the arm contact as ‘antennae’. This really works only when the leader has learned to keep his arms fairly still in relationship with his upper body. They then act as amplifiers of the chest lead. It is for each dancer to discover how best to tune into their partner; there is no right or wrong way to do it. One fairly universal agreement is, however, that the follower should ‘try not to think’. This is not to be taken too literally, but refers to the fact that it works better in tango when one of you leads, plans and pilots using the brain constantly, and the other reacts spontaneously as an animal does; with the spinal cord. A better motto than ‘try not to think’ would be ‘feel where to move’. ‘Tango heaven’, for me as a leader (dare I suggest), is when I take a woman into my arms who has enough confidence in me and herself that she lets go and just listens to the music."

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