Ghost,
Here is my response to your questions in the comments of
my
"Hearing through my Partner" post.
Altering the conversation
(from this follower's perspective)
When a leader leads a
movement, there are varying degrees of energy, speed, fluidity etc. he
or she can lead the movement with. That tells me about the structure I
have to work within. This is an area where I think perhaps some nuevo tango
teachers might be doing a better job explaining certain dance concepts like energy exchange, compression, and expansion etc.
I'm trying not to generalize, but I've noticed that this topic comes up
more in nuevo-based classes, which I think has a lot more to do with how
nuevo developed as
a teaching method, rather than the actual sequences and moves that are taught and then associated with "nuevo tango".
There are so many factors in deciding how much I can contribute,
before I even get to what the music might actually call from my body to
do. That's why this post has taken so long to write - and even now I
think I've only gotten the tip of the iceberg. And as long-winded as this post is, the amount of time I actually spend actively thinking of what to do when while I'm dancing seems like the blink of an eye. It's only in retrospect that I get a picture of why something worked, or didn't work.
Regardless of the music, ask yourself,
"Is this a conversation?"
First, as a follower, I have to decide if I'm actually
having a conversation with my partner - or rather, am I being invited to have one. On only one occasion have I felt that I was allowed
no
input of my own into the dance. An out-of-town dancer was visiting
Austin for a weekend with his partner and I had the opportunity to dance
with him a few times during classes. The first time I danced with him
was the first time I felt tango, as it is often cliched, as a
fight. We
were dancing to a song I liked very much and I wanted to have a part in
its interpretation. He was having nothing of it. I felt like I was in
an iron cage. I couldn't have mis-followed his lead even if I had tried.
When I gave resistance of any kind, he simply moved and placed me where
he wanted me to be. This is the surprising part - he never actually
hurt me or caused me physical discomfort. His embrace was very firm,
nearly rigid - but not painful. How he managed that, I have no idea. It
was just very restricting. I felt a bit like furniture. The only time
he relaxed the embrace even a little, was when I glued
myself to his body from my temple to my hip. I don't mean just connected
- I mean glued, without a sliver of daylight between us. When I was
able to do that, he relaxed a little. The point is, we were not having a
conversation. I was going to dance to his interpretation of the music,
period. In that situation I had to decide if it was worth it to adapt,
or chose not to dance with him. Maybe it was my Leo personality, but I
saw it as a challenge, and continued to dance with him several times
that weekend to try to figure him out. I learned a lot, but I think I
would have to skip dancing like that in a social setting.
Second, do I have the skill?
Pretty self explanatory. I may hear a beautiful triple toe tap
opportunity or something, but I'll likely never get that in my
repertoire.
Third, do I have the time?Even if my leader is
willing and able to give me freedom in the dance conversation, with some
pieces (like milongas) I'm not going to have much time. My window of
opportunity is going to be very slim - though some leaders still manage
to somehow give incredible freedom and space even in the fastest
milongas. If I'm not sure I'll be fast enough, or if I don't know my
partner well, I'm likely to skip adding a lot of my own interpretation
into the milonga - at least until I know my leader's style and
preferences better.
Fourth, do I have the space?This comes in two parts.
One, is he or she giving me the space I need to do things I would like
to express the music? I won't fight my leader for the space - if he
gives it, great. If not, I work with what I have. Second, are the floor
conditions conducive to what I would like to do with the music? My
partner could be giving me the room for the the larger, sweepy move I
hear in the music - but if I can feel the hem of the follower's skirt
behind me (for example), I'm going to play it safe and small.
Fifth, do I have the energy/momentum from your leader?I've
heard from leaders that one of the worst feelings they can experience
from a follower is that they are being used as almost physical leverage
for the follower to do her own movements. One gentleman told me that, at
best, he felt sort of irrelevant when that happened, at worst, dragged
off balance and a danger to other dancers on the floor. If my partner
isn't providing the energy, or the momentum for the movement that I'm
feeling in the music, I skip it. Maybe he doesn't feel the energy in the
music quite the same way. Maybe he's afraid the the resulting movement
will be too big or take too long. Whatever the reason, the
opening/invitation isn't there.
For example, when I have the momentum from the lead and the
inspiration in the music, I like to occasionally decorate a front ocho
with a rulo (see Jennifer Bratt's demonstration
here). Once I hear the opportunity in the music, how the leader leads the ocho determines if:
1.) I have the time,
2.) the momentum, and
3.) the space.
As often as I have heard the opening in the music in the 2 years I've
danced (and was led the necessary front ocho), outside of practica or
class, I've probably only executed this particular step about half a dozen times. And at
least two of those - I should have skipped it because I didn't have the
time I thought I did, and I could feel it interfere with the leader's
timing. Lesson learned.
Which leads me, sort of, to my last point: Are we, as followers, thinking (only) with our feet?
There
are limitless ways to express the music that having nothing to do with
our feet. Closing my eyes, moving my shoulder slightly, smiling,
changing my breathing - all of these things, and so many more, reflect
how I'm feeling the music. I can feel the same things in my leader's
body, so we really are sharing a conversation Best of all, since most of
these things are invisible - they are messages expressed to, and for,
my partner - not for an audience at large.