4 Jan
2013
4 Jan
'13
6:58 p.m.
[overquoting because I'm not sure where to snip]
On Wed, Jan 02, 2013, Maia McCormick wrote:
That's a very interesting point! I'm a young dancer myself, and really
enjoy flourishes, both from the lead and follow perspective, and now that
you mention it, I think that's why I see there being so much of a
lead/follow dynamic. Yes, contra is a "team sport" where you need signals
and tension from both partners in order to make it work, but part of the
fun of the dance for me has been learning to dance lead, and be able to
flourish my partner this way and that and have them intuit what I'm doing.
On the flip-side, I know that if I'm dancing follow with an inexperienced
dancer, I end up "leading" a lot anyway--but there's a different quality
to
"leading" from the follow's end of things. It feels distinctly back-lead-y
to me, and less comfortable than leading *as* the lead--but then again,
maybe that's because of ingrained associations. Still, there's something
nice about dancing follow and not needing to worry about when the swing is
ending or what side you'll end up on because you know your lead is taking
care of you.
(This is a tangential point and probably related to the ingrained gender
roles at work, but as a female who leads a lot, I feel myself taking on a
somewhat different persona when I lead. It's this more in-control, sort of
gallant personality that for me is part of the fun of leading--I like the
sense of taking care of my follow, just as I enjoy being on the opposite
end of that when I'm following. It's having these different roles to slip
into that colors the dancing for me.)
Folks who don't experience the dynamic this way: thoughts? Does this seem
like an unwelcome way of viewing dancing, or a distraction from the purpose
of contra? Are there any out there who have experienced both sides of this
mentality, and can pinpoint the switch for us?
Someone made the point that the common-English meaning for lead/follow is
rather different from the social dance meaning. However, I think the
common-English meaning still does not contain the fluid nature of contra
leading and following -- so I resist the idea that we should try to
reclaim "lead/follow" for our purposes.
When I'm dancing (as a man) with other contra cut-ups, they'll often lead
me into flourishes, so it trades off constantly. Some will be "natural"
(such as twirling me when I'm on the outside of lines up/down the hall),
some are more awkward (such as flipping me around when I'm "leading" the
swing). It's all fun for me, and the surprise factor of not knowing
what/when I'm going to get it adds to the spice.
Then there are the weird ones, such as the person who likes rubbing zir
hands on my buzzcut hair, so when we're interacting (as partner,
neighbor, shadow, or whatever), we'll adjust the move and body position
so that zie has one hand free to do that. From my perspective, it's
somewhat like zie is leading, but it really wouldn't work unless we both
[implicitly] agreed ahead what we're doing.
Because of all this, I think I feel a bit less of what Maia does about
different roles/persona when swapping gender, but because contra cut-ups
generally comprise less than a third of a line, I do somewhat perceive
what Maia does when I'm swapped.
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