From time to time, you’ll see the technique of ‘Apilado’ actually put to use. Sometimes we use the technique to create a dramatic step, a specific look, in time to the music. One effect of Apilado is that it creates a long step in the Follower. As you can see from the supplied image it creates this gorgeous, long, clean line on the Follower’s back step, it does the same with the Lead’s forward step too. It should be noted that it appears from the video and from the image that the Follower is sticking their ‘Ass Out’. Nothing could be further from the truth. Which is to say, bullshit! That’s just how this particular Follower’s body is built. While there are quite a few teachers out there that do teach ‘ass out’, and there is a reason for it, in this instance trying to contort your body to resemble what this particular Follower does is absolute lunacy! This Follower doesn’t need to do this, because their body does this naturally…ahem, read that as ‘booty’. So what’s the singular reason why someone would teach you ‘Ass Out’ ? It’s because some people’s bodies are designed to bring their hips forward thus creating an undesirable line in the dancer (Lead & Follow). So we need to correct for it, and the ‘Ass Out’ technique is really just a correction…nothing more than that. No one is meant to dance that way. Ever. Think of the correction as overdoing it. The reasoning is that if you overdo the ass out, that you’ll under correct and thereby correct for the problem. It doesn’t always work out that way, as people tend to go back to what is comfortable for them…repeatedly. And this is not a comfortable position to contort your body into.