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CHAPTER 7 - The Ocho

Excerpt....."One point is important for us leaders to consider when leading the forward ocho by rotating our upper bodies. The torso rotation works best, as far as I can see, if it does not take place using the centre of the body as the hub of the wheel but uses the opposite shoulder to the side of the ocho. For a moment, imagine that the leader’s torso and right shoulder is a door, hinged at the left shoulder. If I want to make my follower feel free to step to my right I need to ‘open the door’ for her. This may seem a subtle difference but, if you are a follower who is offered a movement to the leader’s right then, as you try it, you find his right shoulder in your face, you feel blocked and unable to step into the ocho. If, on the other hand, the leader creates a space for you to step into, you feel you want to go there. I have followed many men who failed to understand this. I have, for example, experienced the forward ocho ‘lead’, which began with leading me to the cross, then died completely. My leader wrongly assumed that he had done all that was needed to get me to step into the forward ocho. There I was, the good follower, patiently waiting for ‘la marca’ for something – anything – please! Nothing.

Another leader I know thinks that the lead involves tilting his shoulder downwards on the side he invites the ocho. More common would be the ‘head lead’, which involves the leader looking round to one side or the other. Bizarrely, one person who leads me from time to time accompanies the head lead with the entirely opposite chest lead! By far the worst lead for the forward ocho, however, is the ‘head twitch’; the sort of movement you might make to your dog to send it scampering off or that silent gesture one might make to a mate in the pub to suggest we both leave now. When the ‘head twitch’ fails to produce the desired response it is always repeated, suitably amplified. After all, as most British people are prone to believe, if a foreigner has not understood you, you just say the same thing louder. At least I have never experienced the ‘head twitch’ accompanied by a whistle."

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