The Follower Forward Step. Re-read the title again. Note that it says “The Follower Forward Step”. Note the LACK of ownership of the word “Follower”. Meaning that it’s not the Follower’s (see ? ownership) that we’re talking about. Which lead’s one to believe that the title of this PTA is a misleading (no pun intended). It was a bit long in the tooth of the actual title. So, we shortened it a bit. But the more that we thought about it, we realized that it’s actually quite an apt descriptive of a piece of what’s going on. But only a piece. What’s the actual title ? The Lead’s Follower Forward Step! Which is more than likely going to make you ask WTF is THAT ? Before we get to that part, we have to set this up which happens for Leads at a very particular point in their dance and development. Some of them never get over it and end up making this issue a staple of their dance and it becomes a ‘style’. Uuuugh. Other Leads power through it with their arms, literally. Which is as you might imagine is not exactly desirable. And years later they still have to be reminded not to do that.
The scenario: You’re dancing with your partner through a series of Traveling Ochos, from the Open Side of the Embrace Traveling Ocho to the Closed Side of the Embrace Traveling Ocho. It’s on the Closed Side of the Embrace Traveling Ocho where the Lead will attempt to invoke the Follower’s Molinete. Which should result in an slightly over-rotated Back Ocho leading into the Follower’s back step of their Molinete. And that’s where Today’s Practical Tango Advice begins – The Lead’s Follower Forward Step.
What does “The Lead’s Follower Forward Step” mean ? In the scenario above The Lead’s Follower Forward Step is when the Lead fails to communicate the Over-Rotation of the Follower’s back step of their Molinete that must occur from a Traveling Ocho. And instead they end up generating a Forward step out of the Follower. To their credit the Follower follows what they felt. Which was a rotation of the Lead’s torso which typically indicates a diagonal forward step across the Lead’s body meridian. Just as a side note, it’s important to recognize that a Lead sometimes (ahem) pushes (or pulls – depending on which side the Follower is stepping across) their Follower with their arm/hand and this is NOT desirable. They’ll also co-combine this with the opposite hand/arm compression. Uuuuugh. Moving on. The problem is that the Lead hasn’t quite learned, and then mastered that they must disassociate properly to create a clean piece of information that the Follower can hear…err ‘feel’ as an ‘OHHHH that’s a back step! Not a forward step!’.