Dancing as a man

[Genie]

There's fussy, and then there's impossible

[Freya]

Well....!!

In that case i'm doomed to spinsterville!!!

Freya xXx

[Nessa]

Originally Posted by Lynn

Last night there was a visiting Scottish dancer and I asked her up as she didn't know anyone, explaining that I was a beginner lead. And she actually followed what I led. It was a very different experience from dancing with a beginner lady who follows the move she thinks you are doing, rather than the lead you are doing. If someone follows what you actually lead then you can see where you are going wrong in the lead.

I know, I know all the guys know this of course but it was very enlightening for me. Another one of those things I knew in theory but had an impact when I experienced it.

Good on ya Lynn!!

It's very educational isn't it?! I know my first experiences as a guy-dancer/lead were greatly influenced by a bloke dancing at my venue who had a very clear lead. Even when I was a pretty raw beginner I had little trouble dancing blind with him.

Anyway last night I had a similar experience, dancing with some of the most advanced lady dancers in Sydney and just feeling them respond EXACTLY as I had intended. And when they didn't it was always very clear to me what I'd done wrong (usually a choice between- I had no idea what I was doing/lost concentration for a mo, and was trying some move I'd only ever seen and didn't have the feel of it right yet).

It was awesome also feeling these girls hijack the lead with confidence, it was something that I was then able to pass on to the other less experienced gals I danced with afterwards. Having first-hand experience of what a great follow/lead feels like makes it so much easier to replicate!

Big kudos to my gals, one for having the guts to dance with me to Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen (sensually slow to ridiculously fast) when nobody else would, and another brave lady who trusted me to lead her into a couple of challenging dips without damaging her...

[Lynn]

We had loads of extra ladies this week and when my friend Ruth (whom some of you have met) arrived partway through the class she decided to try the lead. Which she did really well I later got her up for a dance and let her lead for the first part. Hope she continues, someone else to play lead steal with.

Oh and I managed to dance several tracks as lead, using only about 10 or 11 moves and far too many man spins....but I'm improving!

For some reason a man spin is my 'Help, what do I do now!' move. Handy as its good for a change of hands but doesn't buy me a lot of thinking time!

[Frankie_4711]

Originally Posted by Lynn

For some reason a man spin is my 'Help, what do I do now!' move. Handy as its good for a change of hands but doesn't buy me a lot of thinking time!

That's my 'panic-mode' move too! And I really don't know why, because I always end up catching with the right and then struggling to think of a right-handed move!! My right-handed 'panic-mode' move is the Catapult, so I end up with a routine (if you can call it that!) jam packed with Man-spins and Catapults!!!

[Ghost]

Originally Posted by Frankie_4711

That's my 'panic-mode' move too! And I really don't know why, because I always end up catching with the right and then struggling to think of a right-handed move!! My right-handed 'panic-mode' move is the Catapult, so I end up with a routine (if you can call it that!) jam packed with Man-spins and Catapults!!!

Slo-comb - lots and lots of thinking time and you can come out of it with any hand combination

Take care,
Christopher

[Andy McGregor]

Originally Posted by Lynn

We had loads of extra ladies this week

This "loads of extra ladies" is a phenomenon of new classes and is mostly caused by advertising. In my experience advertising attracts women and couples. Guys come because women have asked them to. Encourage the women to bring a few guys and the numbers will soon sort themselves out.

Speaking for myself I started MJ at the invitation of one of my wife's friends. About a year before I went for the first time I'd actually seen a busk in Worthing and had decided I didn't fancy learning what they were doing. It seemed really basic compared to ballroom and latin. I'd been going to MJ classes for about a month before I realised it was the dance I'd seen in the street. By then I was hooked

[drathzel]

I spend most of my time dancing as a man in my classes as, lynn mentioned, we have loads of women. I enjoy it and i like it when i get the opetunity to dance as a women,but dancing as a man lets me know how the women in my class are progressing so i know what to include for the women in my teach. It also means there are people dancing as teh class havent entirely grasps the "freestyle" part of the night. I am really grateful to the women who dance as men in my class as it helps "even" out things a bit more.

[DianaS]

When I read this I realise how naive my earlier posts were. I didn't know the simplest things. "Dancing as a man" should ofcourse read "dancing the lead".
I am enlightened
At last