I Stealed This

I can't let a great post like this go without sharing. Straight from the amazing Hot Blog of Durham ( http://hotclub.wordpress.com/). You know Hot Club puts on a Lindy dance in Durham every Tuesday now, right? Check it out!


Latissimus-what??

November 4, 2009, 11:08 pm
Filed under: Science | Tags: Body Mechanics, Swing Dance, Technique

Using Your Lats in Swing Dancing

Let’s talk lats! The full name of the muscle in question is the latissimus dorsi (see figure 1). The full importance of using the lats properly is probably unparalleled in dancing lindy hop. It gives you greater control and connection, improving your ability to lead and follow almost instantly. As a beginner or intermediate dancer, how many times in a private lessons or classes has your teacher said, “Don’t let your shoulder out!” And how many times have you thought to yourself, “How the heck do I do that??”

Whether you’ve figured out the whole shoulder alignment thing or not, I’ll explain the structure and function of the lats as they pertain to lindy hop. Then you’ll dance better and get hurt less. And then you can tell your friends, because good memes should travel far and wide.

Anatomy

Latissimus dorsi attaches at the head of the humerus (the very tippy-top of your arm just below the shoulder joint) and down into the mid to lower spine, top of the pelvis, and the bottom few ribs. It even has a little bit of attachment to the bottom of the shoulder blade. The darker red region in figure 1 is the latissimus dorsi. But don’t ignore the gray stuff at the bottom! It’s connective tissue. When engaged, the lats are a direct connection from the shoulder joints to the center of gravity, your sacrum (see fig. 2).

Figure 1: Anatomy

Movements in which lats are crucial include climbing and pull-ups, and pressing downward as you would if you were suspending yourself between two gymnastic bars. Or if you were a massage therapist, sinking your elbow into a client’s hamstring.

Why use lats?

As mentioned above, the lats are a direct connection from shoulder to center, but only act as such if engaged. In swing dancing, the idea is to be connected center-to-center with your partner. Though you may have never stopped to consider it, “connection” has a very literal connotation. When you engage lats, a few things happen:

Figure 2

1. Your shoulder has a direct connection to your center (see fig. 2).
2. Your shoulder girdle remains centrally located in relation to your ribcage (as opposed to letting it come forward).
3. Only the range of motion in your ball-and-socket shoulder joint (the glenohumeral joint) is used. Essentially the same point as No. 2.
   

Center-to-center is not figurative. When you move (or are moved by) your partner in the swingout, you’re not signaling or making a suggestion, or as a follow, making an educated guess. Ideally you are both engaging your lats, and using your other core competencies (eg balance, pulse, alignment, etc) to move or be moved in a literal sense. In open position, full arm extension is limited by engaging the lats to stabilize the shoulder. Your hand then has a clean connection to the shoulder, which has a clean connection to your center. Voila. Now you can do less thinking.

Other muscles that help

Lats are the prime mover when pulling your follow or being pulled by your lead. When you push, or use compression, other muscles are at work. Most of the time in swing dancing, we use tension, or pull. Other muscles, synergists, assist the lats in stabilizing the shoulder girdle: Trapezius, Rhomboid, Pectoralis major. Pec major is the prime move in compression.

What if you don’t use lats?

You can connect to your partner without engaging your lat muscles. For example, you could use your upper back and chest muscles to stabilize your shoulder girdle in a number of positions. The trapezius muscles (see figure 1) attach all the way down to your lower middle spine (T-12). After that, it’s up to your lumbar spine and erector spinae muscles to connect down to your center.

If you don’t stabilize your shoulder at all, you’ll be relying on your muscles to engage at the last moment as reflex when someone begins to pull you. If they fail, you have many connections for the line of pull to travel through before it gets to your center… lower arm, to upper arm, to shoulder blade, to collar bone, to sternum, to upper ribs, to upper spine, through each vertebra, to the sacrum. Yes, there are that many bony connections between your hand and your center!

Using bony connections for a line of pull is generally a dangerous idea. The bones and joints are not constructed in a way that gives them great tensile strength, or weight-bearing ability for that matter. Bones are like the masts of a ship, held up and supported by numerous ropes which need to be properly adjusted (analogous to our muscles and connective tissue). You may have heard that people with loose ligaments are at risk for musculoskeletal (bone, joint, and muscle) injuries. The same is true when tensile force is applied to a joint while the muscles are unprepared to support it. If you have soreness in your shoulder after several hours of lindy hopping, I suggest getting with a qualified teacher to analyze your alignment and use.

To sum up, from a biomechanical standpoint, using the fewest number of connections between hand and center is going to give you the most control over your body, and the safest dance experience.

Finding and Using Your Lats

Now that you’re convinced about the necessity of engaging your latissimus dorsi muscles, let’s get acquainted with them in a physical sense. If you’re sitting now, stand up and assume your best posture. Take either arm and wrap it across the middle of your torso so that your fingers are resting on your side body, just under your armpit. To engage lats, you’re going to press your shoulder down toward the floor. If you were to see this in a mirror, you’d see your shoulder move a few millimeters in a downward direction. Now take a deep breath and stop thinking so hard! If you can’t feel your lats engage, here are a couple of things you may be doing wrong:

1. Are you moving your shoulder in a direction other than down? It may sound obvious, but check yourself out in a mirror. Is your shoulder coming forward or up toward your ear? Sometimes it takes a bit of messing around to figure which muscle in your body accomplishes down for your shoulder joint.
2. Are you crunching the side of your torso instead of keeping your spine vertical? If your shoulders are no longer level (again, see mirror), reset yourself and try again, this time keeping your shoulders parallel to the floor.

Now try engaging lats on both sides.* Explore the resulting range of motion in your arms. With your shoulder girdle stabilized in this way, you should not be able to (a) raise your arms fully over your head, (b) fully extend your arms at a right angle to your spine, (c) bring your elbows very far behind your back. You may have noticed that your range of motion corresponds with where your “frame” exists for swing dancing. It’s brilliant. Engage two muscles, and several other things fall into place.

*You’ll also necessarily be engaging the other synergists discussed above.

Even monks use their lats when dancing.

Lats and Dancing

I’d like to point out that there are times in which you cannot engage the lats, as to do so would restrict your range of motion in a way that’s not useful. For example, there are plenty of times you might like your free arm to extend over your head or behind your back. One notable example is a styling for drags in which the lead moves the follow’s right arm back and forth in a seemingly wild manner. Another example is the 7-8-1-2 swingout variation for leads in which they sweep their right arm over the top and around in a circle, applying their full range of motion and making beautiful lines. Engaging lats to stabilize the shoulder joint would be counter-productive, or potentially hazardous as in the first example.

However, the experienced dancer is ready to engage and connect when necessary. There are a number of connection exercises which can help you translate this into your dancing, which you can get from classes, workshops, and private lessons. Additionally, self-exploration and social dancing are great ways to practice connecting with your latissimus dorsi muscles. With enough attentiveness, you’ll start to get it. And then you may just be amazed at what you can do.

Rebecca Brightly is a Licensed Massage and Bodywork Therapist (LMBT #7763) in the state of North Carolina. She has owned her practice in Durham for the past 2 years. http://rebeccabrightly.com

Blues Muse

Time to write about Blues Muse! I've been back a full week from my New England adventure - and it was great!

Two Wednesdays ago I flew up to Boston. But Blues Muse is in Philadelphia, you might be saying. Well, you are right, but I had to go by way of Boston. I'd been telling an old friend for about a year that I would go visit her, but hadn't yet. Philadelphia and Boston are sort of close, so this seemed like the time.

Thursday night, my friend dropped me off at Blues Union in Somerville outside of Boston. It was a great night to be there! Andrew Smith from Portland was in town, also going to Blues Muse by way of Boston - see, I'm not the only one! I also met a few of the very nice locals. It's a small scene, but they seem to be making headway in their blues endeavors.

Tina, a local and well-traveled dancer (I met her at Austin Blues Party this summer) took me back to her house for the night to drive us to Philly in the morning. Side note: I still find it amazing that dancers take in strays they hardly know....

We left the next day at about 11am. It was raining and soooo unbelieeevably coooold! For an NC girl, it felt like January! We picked up Kelly outside of RI, and between rain and traffic we didn't get to Philly until 8:30pm. Once we got downtown and parked, a bar was the next destination.

That bar knows how to mix a drink! I entered the Ethical Society - where the dances and classes were being held - slightly tipsy. Haha. And of course that was when I saw my Philly host for the weekend, the same gentleman from DCBX, if you remember that post. So yeah, I confess, I was a bit silly the first hour-ish of the evening.

As always, Friday night dances are always about greeting old friends. For me, it was also about working the front desk to earn my volunteer hours. And it involved the Jack & Jill prelims. (A Jack & Jill is a contest where dancers are paired randomly several times and voted on independent of their partner.) We had 40 contestants and the competition was tight. I found out the next morning that I didn't place, but that never really matters to me. To me, it's about overcoming the nerves involved in dancing in front of people in a competition setting. It's a challenge.

I slept through the first class of the next day, but made it in for "Active Following" with Mike the Girl. It was about feeling the right and wrong weight of the follow in a dance. The best activity in this class was the race to the other side of the room where the follows and leads both pushed each other in opposite directions. A very extreme example of being too forceful, but really funny.

Lunch was on our own out in the cold, wet streets of Philly. I went with a group to grab a wrap, but stopped at a produce store on my way back. Walking back to the venue alone I was filled with the wonderment some people get from big cities. How nice it is to be on vacation, how good the freedom of walking around somewhere new can feel. It was really refreshing, especially on a trip that involved me relying on so many other people.

The next class was "Lines of Dance" with Abby, Julie and Topher. I took away several things from this class, mostly in postural alignment, but then taking that even further by using proper posture to create beautiful lines with your body. After 3 years, I figured out how to do a fishtail without sticking my butt out - if nothing else, I learned 1 very important lesson at Blues Muse. Hurray!

I worked the door (and at my wrap) during the next class, but a few girls and I had peeked into the men's movement classes earlier in the morning. So now that it's women's movement time downstairs, the boys start threatening with cameras and the like. Sometimes, we're just very large children. :-)

The Saturday night dance began with a live band, The Ursula Ricks Project, that I didn't like much (too much of the same type song on repeat all night - and very, very loud). I hung out upstairs where the djs were playing, and tried my first absinthe courtesy of Asian Alan. We nearly missed the girls/guys routine, but here it is on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHYXGiwntSA

The Jack & Jill finals were scheduled to happen at 1:30am. Well, it was midnight and it seemed high time to head out to a bar with some friends. We found Rum Bar a few blocks away. It's kind of hard to explain what happens when 8 dancers show up at a "normal" bar. We drank, took Myspace-type pictures, drank some more, and when we discovered that the J&J had been bumped to 12:30 and Birdy had missed her dance, we broke out into Top Gun for her. Yes, it was an amazing adventure. I have several new, close friends from it, and a lot of silly pictures.

There was a late-late night after the 3am stop time, but my host and I went home instead. There was lots to do on Sunday and we had to be ready for it! No classes for me. Instead I toured Philadelphia - saw the Liberty Bell - and froze, and hence went home and slept from 6pm to 9pm.

The Sunday night dance was at a place called The Power Plant. I think it's a photography and arts studio during the day, but for us it made a really nice dance venue. Smaller than Ethical Society - not everyone stays for Sunday night dances, so a big space wasn't necessary. Note to anyone else going here for a dance - eat before you go. We wandered a good half dozen blocks before we were able to find an open restaurant at 10pm on a Sunday night. And what we did find was a bar with food (not very good food) that turned into to a clubby club. Bleh.

But anyway, the Sunday night dance was fun. Speaking of food, have to say that the organizers did a fantastic job keeping us fed. There weren't any trinkets at this dance - I really miss the days of fancy wristbands - those stickon things just don't make it! Overall though, the event was very well attended with a good mix of beginners and advanced dancers.

I left for the airport on Monday at 11am and arrived back in Raleigh exhausted. I slept 11 hours on Monday night. The entire vacation was fantastic, as was Blues Muse. I absolutely recommend it to anyone who hasn't been. I probably won't be there next year because I want to go to Emerald City Blues (can only afford one!), and there are so many other cities out there that need me to sightsee and dance in them! But you never know - Philly's a pretty nice town.

What to Pack?

I've been awfully lackadaisical about posting. Sickness, life, work - things seem to get in the way. Oh well. I'm back.

I'm mentally gearing up for Blues Muse in Philly on the weekend of the 16th. Gearing up so much, that a few days ago I was thinking *this* weekend is Blues Muse. I was sad to realize my mistake.

So how about a "What to pack for an exchange/workshop" list? It's my blog, so I think that's a great idea! Haha.

1. Are you flying or driving? That's going to make a big difference. It's a lot harder to bring your own air mattress when you're flying (though I've seen it done). But if you can bring an air mattress and sleeping bag, do so because your host will appreciate it.
2. Bring your host a gift! My perennial favorite is toilet paper. If you're going to be in a house with a lot of people over several days, trust me that will come in handy. Or you could go the more sophisticated route - booze.
3. Socks. Plenty of socks, because you'll be wearing them with your dance shoes (most likely at least), and you don't want to wear the same sweaty socks twice. Yuck.
4. Underwear. Because it's smart to have.
5. One or two more shirts than you think you need. Or at least 2 shirts for every dance. More than that if you're a boy, because boys seem to sweat straight through their shirts - and no, you cannot rewear that nasty shirt tomorrow.
6. A plastic grocery bag to put all nasty clothes in.
7. Toiletries. Be prepared with your shampoo (unless you plan on using someone else's) because you'll be washing your hair a lot. After the classes, after the dances. That's about 2 hair washes a day.
8. A mix of light and heavy pajamas. I bring shorts, a shirt and a tank top. Sometimes people's houses are freezing and I bundle up. But I've been in places where I was dying from the heat, where the less I could get away with the better.
9. A jacket. For the freezing houses, etc. A bathing suit if you think you might be around a hot tub... unless you're at one of thooooose blues parties. ;-)
10. Your dance shoes! That's the whole point of your weekend anyway, right? Don't forget those.
11. A towel. Two towels if you're going to the beach (one for the beach and one for the shower). If there are 10 people at your house, it's unlikely your host will have 10 towels. Do him or her a favor if you can.
12. I take a gamble and leave my hairdryer and flat iron at home. Those are two things that aren't critical in my life, and almost always another guest or the host has one. If your bag needs space, that's the thing to leave out.

Have I left anything off the list? Oh yes, yes I have. Your nighttime eyemask and ear plugs. Nothing says good night's sleep like I can't hear or see the rest of you people. :-)

So happy packing - there will probably be one more post before Blues Muse. If not, see you there!

Personal Space Issues

The picture from my last blog of 13 of us on a futon prompted me to write this next entry. What is it with dancers and their personal space issues? Why does it seem that the more we pile on top of each other, the happier we become?

This is not a limited phenomena - these things have names. Cuddle Puddle, Lindy Pile, Puppy Pile, the Cuddle Couch. Why are we so driven to sprawl out all over each other?

It's not a sexual thing. It's usually not a precursor to sleep. I'm going to hazard a guess to say that you have to have more than 3 people to have an official pile. One person sits or lies down, and then another person sits fairly close to the first, then somebody else joins in, and before you know it there's barely any room left so people are left with no choice but to begin sitting or lying somewhat on top of each other.

You might think "normal" people would see a too-full couch and say, "Oh, not enough room for me!" But not enough room is an invitation to a dancer - especially the blues dancers I have been around.

These piles can last 10 minutes or hours. People sometimes rotate in and out. There's certainly no form. What is the function?

I think we are driven to be physically close to one another. Most humans have a desire to physically connect with someone, but dancing is a body and sweat intensive activity, and, done well, it requires a lot of emotion. Yeah, I know that's the definition of sex too, but here it's more like an extension of your friendship with a large group of people. There is fun and laughter and comfort in a cuddle puddle - like a big group hug.

I used to have personal space issues going the other way - unless you're a family member, you should stay out of my space. Once I became comfortable dancing, and quickly and easily comfortable with dancers, most of my rigid personal space boundaries went out the window. Now I have to hold myself back from potentially scaring a non-dancer with my overt physicality. It makes me wonder what a pack of dancers looks like to the outside world.

That picture from DCBX is on my Facebook. I've gotten several comments from dancers about how fun it looks, and how wonderful it is to be a dancer. But no comments from the outside world... not that I actually have any non-dancer friends. ;-)

As always, I wait to hear your thoughts. Why do we Cuddle Puddle, why do we love it, and if any non-dancers are reading this, what do you think when you see the pictures?

Dirt Cheap Blues Exchange

I am so tired. I am so tired each keystroke is taking effort. I'm on the day-after of the Dirt Cheap Blues Exchange in Virginia Beach.

If you don't know about exchanges, it's where one town invites everyone from everywhere to a dance event that they are putting on. Dirt Cheap, or DCBX, is probably my most favorite exchange of the year. I have been going since 2006, making this my 4th DCBX.

I got out of work at 5pm on Friday and waited for Kendall and Beckie to arrive - the three of us were taking my car, and I was the last stop for everyone before hitting the road.

The drive was uneventful - great conversation, a food stop, some singing of Rent. We got to Norfolk to our hosts' house about 9pm. Kendall left with her boyfriend, and Beckie and I stayed at the house to attempt a nap. The nap didn't really happen. For me, I think it was too much excitement and anticipation for midnight when the late night dance was starting. Instead, I put my stuff into one of the private rooms and set up my airmattress (for 2). I figured that with the 10 people in our house I'd be sharing the space somehow.

Friday night dances always seem to be about catching up. How many people you can possibly scream "Heeeeeeeeeey!!!!!" at and hug while jumping up and down. I got some great dances in, told a favorite dancer friend that his wedding engagement has left me heartbroken, and danced some more... until I finally pooped out at about 3:30am.

Drove home and got into bed about 4:15 - after the very necessary shower. Around 6am I woke up and heard some noises in my room, even though I wear ear plugs and an eye mask. But there was no one in my bed. I was confused and asked the person in the room to announce him or herself (since it sounded like a guy was talking). After some gibberish and then not responding to me, I said I would turn on the lights and flashed my cellphone at him. Turns out it was Robert and Jenn sleeping on eggcrates in the corner of the room.

The official wake up didn't happen until about noon. Food, coffee and bathing suits and we were on our way. When we got there, I went straight to the beach even though there was a bandstand with live blues where sometimes dancers hang out. But you can hear/feel the music from the beach, and as I don't get to beach every day, I had priorities.

The waves were merciless on Saturday and Sunday, but worse on Saturday. I have a large bruise on my right hip now after being thrown against the bottom of the ocean from a wave knocking me down. It wasn't as hot as last year, but still perfect fair weather for a day at the beach.

A few hours in, Bryan asked me to help do the demo with him up at the stage, where we were filling space between bands and trying to teach the music listeners how to dance the blues. I was excited to help, and excited to have been asked. It was a lot of fun, even though Bryan managed to scrape the side of my foot against the concrete (grrrr... if you're reading this, Bryan :-P ).

The cameraderie at the beach was outstanding - I hung out with old friends, and made several new ones - including a very cuddly boy. What would exchanges be without weekend flirtation and romance? I know some people won't find that very appealing, but there's something special about being a part of a pair at an exchange, whether or not it's going to last beyond those two days.

After the beach we drove back to our hosts' house for a "private" dinner party - meaning about 20 people were invited, but about 60 actually showed up. There was food, drink, and a futon in the back room that somehow managed to fit about 13 people on it for a spooning/puppy pile. Finally, there was dancing. I've realized how little I enjoy parties where I am not intensely engaged in conversation with people or doing an activity. It bores me and makes me feel awkward when I feel compelled to go around a room trying to find a conversation to join - I'd much rather be alone at that point. But the dancing kicked off and life was great! There were probably 10 couples dancing at a time in the house - I don't know how we all fit!

At about 2am the house began to clear out so that we could all make it to the real late night (not our guerilla one) and hear Bryan's set. I saw more old friends, and made the rounds to all of my favorite leads, but by 5am I realized dinner had worn off. My gentleman friend and I went to a very classy breakfast at Denny's, where by the time we left at 6am the retirees were showing up for their Sunday morning meals.

I had decided that this year, rather than going with the end-of-Saturday-night breakfast crowd, I wanted to join the watch-the-sunrise crowd. Except this year, there didn't seem to be a crowd (at least I never found one). I was told not to go because it was already about 6:20am and by the time I got to the beach the sun would have come up - but I went anyway.

In fact, the sun had already done something when I got there, but what exactly I'm not sure. There was a cloud cover, making it still somewhat dark on the beach, but light enough to realize that the sun had already done and/or wasn't going to do a show. Very sad! And very unimpressive! It was very lovely though sitting on the lifeguard bench watching the waves come in while snuggling to stay warm.

By the time I left it was 7:30am - and about a half hour drive back to my house. I do not recommend doing that kind of driving at that hour on so little sleep. Probably my most un-thought-through moment of the weekend. When I got to the house, all of the sleeping spots were taken. Fortunately Robert was in the hallway and offered to blow up his camping airmattress for me. It was very kind of him.

A little after noon and the whole house was up and at it again. You can tell when it's the last day of an exchange. People are wacky. Best quote: I went to a Lindy exchange and got the Hop-on. At least it's better than swine flu, right?

Slow going Sunday morning with all of the packing etc, but we made it to the beach about 2:30pm. It was wonderful and I was happy - although really tired, and progressively more so. For me, that means becoming more and more emotionally charged as the day wears on.

At around 5pm, I decided to head out to a nearby hotel shower. When the sand literally falls out of your bathing suit, a shower is a beautiful thing. Afterward, I was sitting in the room enjoying the view when I got a phone call from Rachel and Beckie on the beach. They wanted me to walk back to the beach (6 blocks) so they could get their clothes out of my car. They hadn't planned ahead. Seems they needed their clothes because they were going to Norfolk for dinner - didn't make a whole lot of sense to me since Virginia Beach has good food too, but I found out later they were going to a particular pizza place.

It was suggested that I let them take my car, and since I figured we were all meeting up around 8pm at the next dance in Virginia Beach I thought that'd be a good idea. Then they wouldn't have to wait on the other people to get back of the dance, and we'd be able to get on the road back home.

My dinner friend and I decided that we needed some good, straight out of the ocean seafood. A place called Tautog's was recommended, and it was in fact delicous, with some very wonderful she-crab soup.

After dinner, we strolled the boardwalk to the dance. Funny that the sun didn't technically come up for us that morning, and the moon wasn't exactly visible that night. I decided the celestial objects decided not to cooperate that day.

At 8pm the dance was already going on - it seems they had to start early because the band that was supposed to be there had canceled. When I got there, I discovered that Rachel and Beckie weren't back from Norfolk yet. And then the texting began, and my phone started to die. Kendall was back from Busch Gardens and was waiting in the car with her boyfriend. I was waiting to hear why my car (literally) hadn't come back yet.

It was decided that since Kendall's ride was headed toward Charlottesville anyway, going to Norfolk wouldn't be a hassle - but I was already pissed that we were going to be getting on the road much later than planned. When we got there, I found that 2 people had been left (not sure how) and needed to get back to Va Beach. There was no way that I was going back, but fortunatley, the car that left returned and they squished everyone and their stuff in and went back to Va Beach - but by then it was about 9:30/10pm. My emotions were high, I was pissed and massively tired, so I climbed into the back and made the other two drive. I felt bad for Kendall as she had been absolutely punctual and had to take some of the driving punishment (for lack of a better word).

We didn't get back to Durham until about 1:30am. I fell into bed at 2, but my body was still on exchange time so that despite the extreme tiredness I couldn't fall asleep. I had work today, and my two car buddies had early classes - as well as Beckie having an additional hour and a half of driving.

My primary lesson learned this weekend is that from now on I want to be responsible for myself, and no more than one other person (a buddy system). But I won't lend my car again. If this all had happened on Saturday, no big deal, but with 3.5 hours of driving ahead of me, I don't want to be herding cats.

I thought that everything else about the weekend was wonderful. The people, the dancing, etc. There were many complaints about this being the Not-So-Dirt-Cheap Blues Weekend. I too was annoyed at being charged $60 for djed dances and not receiving late night dance snacks, a welcome bag, or dinner on Sunday. Those things have always been nice touches. However, I didn't feel so cheated that I refused to go - it's just too much fun. If the price goes up again next year, I might not do the late nights - or I expect there will be a general rebellion with more house parties and fewer people at the event dances. Nevertheless, I will always go to Va Beach on this weekend as long as other people are coming too. It's so fun, and there's no other event where you can dance to the blues while you're out in the ocean. If you haven't Dirt Cheaped, you need to get on it.

Dance No-Nos

This is too cute not to post! Thanks, SwingCville!

Following: What It Is and Isn't

Fairly regularly, I dance with girls. The question that always ensues is who wants to lead. Interestingly enough, a lot of girls say, "Oh I don't feel like thinking. You lead."

When did following become a non-thinking occupation? If you already are a follower, I can understand that it can be very taxing to lead and have to come up with the moves you want to do next. It's even harder when you haven't spent your dance career as a leader. And frustrating too - to have wonderful dance skills, but only mediocre leading skills. I can see why one would shy away from leading. You're not as good at it!

But who cares? It would be wrong to imply that following is easier as a rule. I've danced as lead with many guys just to watch them trip over their feet. Just like us girls, they somehow forget how to dance at all - and almost always want to go back to leading because it is what they know best.

A great follow is strong, and is very crucial to the imagination of the dance. We are given a movement to choose to follow. A dance is usually better when you follow what your lead has given you, but it doesn't have to be boring or expressionless. The time that a blues follow takes with her movement and the amount of feeling she puts into will directly affect the next move that a great lead will offer her. At it's best, leading and following in a dance is a crackling non-verbal conversation.

What about feminism? Believe me, my skin crawls every time I think of the world of dance being somehow male dominated. In dance, men are traditionally the leaders. Does that mean lead means boss? Does it mean the follow submits blindly? Not necessarily, especially in blues.

Many dance styles are dominated by men, where the woman adds flourish. One of the reasons I love blues so much is that in it I find myself as a very active participant. I am as obligated to talk (put in my own interpretation of the movement) as I am to listen (accept the movement I have been offered). The couple takes the first step together, and if either partner is under the assumption that it is totally his or her dance, the dance is a crash waiting to happen.