4.5 Tricks For Leaders In WCS

1) If she's heavy during the anchor-step, the man can lighten it up by taking a slightly larger step on 4 or by doing free spins on the anchor. She will stop trusting you to hold her up and will maintain her own balance. This helps both partners since they are both free to play on the anchor without giving away balance to the other partner, but you must regain the connection on 6&. If she's too light during the anchor-step, the man's foot can be moved can be slightly back on the "step" of his "anch-or-step" to tighten the connection.

2) If she's heavy on 1, the man may be making too large of a lead on 1. Try taking a smaller step (while retaining the body lead.) She may be more comfortable taking smaller steps.

3)If she's like a puppy on a long leash, i.e. uncontrollable, you have to lead the entire move, rather than just 'opening the door for her' Keep your frame. This is important for the follower who gets past you by the 2 count. You can't even do a simple tuck if she's already at the end of the slot.

4)If she's lost in her own little syncopation world and letting the connection fail, put her into multiple spinning moves. It will make her concentrate on the connection. And when she's in a neckwrap she can't go for her personal record of 50 body waves in under three and half minutes.

5) If she walks out of her anchor step early, or comes in on 1 ahead of the lead, and the man reacts quickly he can a) stop her, or b) take extra walk-walks back. When a woman tries to walk in early, leave her out there for two more beats. She will never stop doing it if you try to fudge for what she is doing by leading her in on the 6 or 8. Besides it could become a habit that could be hard for a leader to break. It also could (and will) put you off time. I would think the best thing to do would be to lead a lot of basics and keep adding the extra two counts just to get her out of the habit of trying to come in on her own or early.

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This file is part of the lead/follow FAQ list. These are articles compiled from the newsgroup rec.arts.dance by Mark Balzer. Html-isation by Victor Eijkhout, victor at eijkhout dot net. See also the Rec Arts Dance FAQ list Copyright 1996/7/8/9 lies with the compiler, the maintainer and the contributors of various parts.

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