Hola,

 I was thinking about our class this Thursday, which is a lot of turning and pivoting.  It made me think it might be an opportunity to have leaders consider the conditions of and on the dance floor.  Pivoting is stressful for followers' feet even in the best of circumstances.  A nice, cushioned, wooden floor (like Allegro) or a hard floor (like the tile floor at the Rathskellar) means different things for a follower.   I think a good leader should choose different vocabulary for these two types of dance floor. They can lead just about anything on a nice wooden floor without much of a problem for their partner, but on a hard floor followers get very tired with lots of pivots and fast steps.  A concrete floor is the worst of circumstances. The balls of follower’s feet actually can go numb.

Let’s not forget the problem of pivoting on sticky floors.  It really stresses the feet and knees and takes more effort.   A slippery floor is easy to pivot on but followers may feel unsure of their footing and tense up. Slowing down and being stable and grounded will help the follower keep her footing.  A leader might not notice as much that a floor is sticky or slippery. However, if a follower makes a comment like "The floor is really sticky" or "There are slippery spots on the dance floor" she's not just making conversation. They should get the cue to modify the dance.

 What can be done to improve this situation (short of asking every place we dance to install a wood floor)?  Leaders can help by modifying what they lead. Minimize the number of boleos and pivoting ochos on hard sticky surfaces. Walking, the cross, turns of all kinds, and non-pivoting ochos are good choices.  We need to have leaders think about what they typically lead. Do they ask their partners to twist and pivot a lot? That's hard on your partners' backs and feet over time. We should see if they can substitute something that doesn't require much pivoting.

It could be a great mental exercise. It gets you out of your habitual way of leading. If you basically lead the same set of vocabulary to every song your partners will soon have your dance memorized and stop paying attention. I don’t think they want this to happen. Their goal should be to listen to each song and express what they hear by your choice of vocabulary and the quality of your movement…and the conditions of and on the dance floor.

FOLLOWERS: Be sure to thank the leaders who make an effort to help us with this situation.