Well and truly told off. I get the analogy.

I have asked in a class not at a milonga "Did you get my lead or were you being kind?"

Love you too Anthro X

I often ask - How much did I get right? Bless those white lies.

Aye too true Henry.

I found this radio programme on Argentine Tango. It is in Spanish. Pretty interesting if you can follow it.

http://youtu.be/nKi5N6Yu5dc

I love dancing with people I know well precisely because of that "conversation" that you can have, passing the lead back and forth a bit, sometimes sharing knowledge, sometimes deliberately challenging each other.


Most irritating song I danced to (well, it was a gymnastics routine really) as a kid was a medley of The Spectrum Song (minus the spoken part at the end) and Mr Piano man, please. The first half involved people wearing the named colours and exchanging hats. For the second song we were, collectively, a piano keyboard. I was a black piano key. *sigh* I think everybody who danced as a child has at least one of those, don't they?!


Oh goodness, yes. It can be a cautious business, trying to suggest to a leader that maybe they're not entirely correct. Both leading and following are very much about communication and there are people on both sides who do the equivalent of "shout and point and get angry when that doesn't work" or "feign lack of comprehension unless you've said spoken the exact words with perfect grammar and an excellent accent."


*Applauds* Following's great fun but it's a skill as much as leading is if you want to do it well. The last salsa place I went to encouraged those of us at Intermediate level to spend at least a couple of lessons doing the opposite of whatever we normally did just so that we could feel what it was like on the other side of things, and take that into account when we switched back again.

You have my sympathy! I also once danced wearing a Chess piece on my head (I was a Bishop) to One Night In Bangkok, that was an experience although the show itself was fabulous, a pastiche of some of the greatest songs from the greatest musicals set against the story backdrop of man as a survivor of a nuclear war.
We had four Acts, Man as a Dreamer, Lover, (can't remember) and Fool and we had songs from musicals like The Rocky Horror Show, Aquarius, Jesus Christ Superstar, Camelot, Cabaret, Chess, Evita, Godspell, Grease, Oh What A Lovely War!, High Society, Kiss Me Kate, Bugsy Malone, etc. It was the last show I did at school, aged 17, and it was such an amazing experience.
I also got to sing/dance Columbia's part in Time Warp, played Emcee in Money Money, danced the Greased Lightning routine with my boyfriend Andrew who had had his collar bone broken during a rehearsal of Turn Back Oh Man! It was epic

A bit like conducting / playing in an orchestra. "Do you want us to play the score recognisably or follow you?"

Yes following (with eyes shut) is valuable for leaders. Sometimes inevitable if sufficient women don't turn up. But no close embrace for me on those occasions.

That could be the follower's chorus.

Do you want me to do what you asked for or something that resembles dancing?

Too many bleeding experts on here with their own agendas, it spoils it for people like me who just want to enjoy chatting about the enjoyment we get from the programme, not have every move dissected. I remember now why I've not logged on in yonks.

Quite. A withering pained look would be sufficient through ...

I know virtually nothing about dancing (other than the Strictly University I've attended for the last few years) but I do love Harry Belafonte! Jump in The Line is a joy but it has actually been used on Strictly already - Anita and Robin used it for a salsambcha (nominally a salsa) in series 9.


I hope the dance experts on this thread will ignore this post. It might, of course, be an attempt at irony, but I fear not. Reading informed opinion about dance technique isn't going to spoil my enjoyment of dances that might not be technically proficient, and I love to learn, so please KEEEEP ON TEACHING!

Good post

Yes, of course they did, for some reason I didn't spot it on the Ultimate Strictly song list.

The reason is that Ultimate Strictly, despite being an absolute Godsend for nerds like me, does occasionally made a mistake. They have the song listed as 'Shake, Shake Senora'. *insert rolling eyes smiley*

That's why I missed it yes, I was looking for the "proper" title, same as it pees me off they have Dance of the Knights down as Romeo & Juliet

I do my utmost to follow, no matter what is being led (but if they are really new, I might try and let them know where the 1 is, or do perfect basic footwork so they can copy, or even speak it out for them, 'Rock step, triple step, etc, etc'). Sometimes this means it does not resemble dancing, and occasionally I've been asked, 'why did you pretend you couldn't do it when you were dancing with me?'

Peeve, I'd blanked that one out! Great song though, much better that Scarlet Ribbons.




Oh, and just because I'm an honest sort of person, I feel the need to point out that my tap dancing horror to Footloose isn't a childhood memory, it was last year. I was 36

At least Footloose is a top song to jig about to though Betty!

How do you cope when you are dancing with a guy that is completely off time. I find myself flip flopping between dancing with the man and dancing with the music. Some part of me is desperately trying to reconcile the music and the lead and it can't be done. It feels unsettling and jolly weird.

Oh and I always assume that it is my timing that is off.
Last edited by An Thropologist : 18-12-2013 at 02:30

I follow him and think of it as a test of my skills

Then say thank you, politely, and run off to someone that I know has great musicality for the next dance, as an exorcism, whilst making a mental note to only dance with non musical lead to non favourite tunes in future


If he's super new I might verbally say where the one is, but I would tread carefully as to whether he wants that help. Not worth crushing a lead's spirit for the sake of 2 mins 30 secs!

LOL It seems we have more or less the same strategy ( although I do have a vision of you muttering one.....one.....one all the way through a dance.

In salsa I do much of the asking to dance because that way I can get the right lead for the track. There are two main styles in salsa Cuban and... well... I am going to call it Cross Body. Some tracks lend themselves much more to one than the other.

For example I absolutely adore a Cuban style called Timba http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9vm_Xnds5s and to dance Cross Body style is enough to make me want to cry all the way through the dance - it feels so wrong.

Compare this track which makes me want to dance Cross body http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtmYoW6F14A. Some guys lead exclusively in one style or the other so getting the right guy is worth putting up a bit of a fight for.

I also ask the guys who are lovely but off time to dance when I don't much care for the track. But for my favourite tracks I have perfected the nonchalant sprint across the room to get the guy I want.

I hope nobody I know is on this forum because I will be so rumbled.

The BIB sounded so familiar. Found it.

AL DELORY - "Song From M*A*S*H" (1970) one of my all time favourite films form which I regularly quote

http://youtu.be/oNciEpZYC_E

Ok I'll book a "cross body" on your card

And yes it was my beer that you knock over in the rush to get over to that bloke ...

Suicide is Painless? I didn't know he wrote that. Great tune and one of my favourite ever TV shows. In fact I watch ITT and follow it up with an hour of M*A*S*H at present.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_is_Painless

I have never watched much of the tv series. Great movie though.

According to the record information, he didn't. It was written by Johnny Mandel and director Robert Altman's son Mike (then 14), wrote the lyrics.

I agree it's a fabulous movie and the TV show was just as good and a brilliant theme song though

Sorry Cadiva for jumping in with that seconds before you