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Originally Posted by Chef  Freestyles are, at my current ability level, quite a trial for me and I feel I I am not able to deliver a well lead, smooth and musically interpretive dance for followers. The accomplished followers on the scene are putting in their syncopations as I lead my basic moves and the whole thing leaves me confused and unsure as to wether they are finished and I should lead or just wait until they give me a quizzical look of "are you going to lead something". |
Well, I feel I have two out of the three but musically interpretive is still beyond me (and most other leaders in the UK IMO) - I think it's no coincidence that J&T focussed so heavily on this aspect of the dance yesterday. In terms of your uncertainty, advice I was given from someone I respect (and indeed also from an accomplished follower who likes to do a lot of 'playing') when I had the same concerns is that if you feel ready to lead then just go - give them a good '1' and they'll follow it. Sometimes as a leader it's easy to get hypnotised by some fancy footwork and feel unsure of when to commence your next pattern. Equally there will be some less experienced follows who are still experimenting and not yet able to fit their playing within the lead and follow framework (much as I, as a leader, find my lead and/or rhythm struggling when I attempt syncopations, etc) Assuming you are in time and not a yanker I would bet the ladies standing out (esp. at a gender imbalanced event) would prefer to be dancing with someone finding their way than to be standing out.
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Originally Posted by Chef I have spent two years, a lot of miles and money trying to get to grips with this dance and it just isn't fun for me yet. Every time I meet a new set of teachers there is a new way of dancing the basics. I try to learn what one set of teachers tell me and get it into my bones and then a new set of pros come over from america and I am supposed to unlearn everything and learn it over again in the new way. Having to learn and unlearn stuff 9 times over is getting me fed up. |
This is frustrating at times I agree. To take two examples from this weekend
1. The hand grip - In pretty much all my UK classes the 'pistol' grip has been advocated. J&T advocated a different hand grip and specifically mentioned the pistol grip as being 'different'. I don't know if they would describe it as 'wrong' as such but definitely not favoured by them. Tatiana also spent a fair time in my lesson with her talking about hand-hold and the importance of it to the connection.
2. Prepping on '1' - I have pretty much always been taught not to prep on '1' but to lead direction/length instead. Yet in the session covering sweethearts and folds Jordan mentioned very specifically that it was a double prep. I guess sometimes this issue gets confused by those whose preps are unnecessarily huge and sweeping but that's a separate issue to whether a prep on '1' is favoured or not.
There are more examples of variations in teaching but these two came to mind quickly. However, as frustrating as I find this, I am coming to terms with the fact that there is no one, specific 'correct' way to do these things - different teahcers have different preferences and I just try to take what I can from each one that works for me when dancing socially.
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Originally Posted by Chef I really think it is time for me to accept defeat. |
I hope not. UK WCS needs more leaders not fewer.