Last chance to pre-register for the Role Reversal Workshop to get the discount price of $15 for the two-hour workshop.
It will be at the Triangle Dance Studio (2603 S. Miami Blvd) Feb 6th at 1:00pm (Saturday). The intent is for followers to play with leading, and leaders experiment with following. The goal is for us to become better followers and leaders, by better understanding the opposite role. It should be a lot of fun. I've included what some leaders and followers have said about learning the opposite role. I hope you can make it.
If you pre-register, you get a discount on the 2-hour class.
No partners necessary.
Cost: $15 with early registration
$18 at the door.
Length: 2 hour workshop with plenty of time to practice and dance.
Cut/paste the below in your browser to pre-register.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dFN2Skp3enFCakJlYWlSNjc4cmV4QkE6MA
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What some Leaders are saying about the advantages of Following:
I discovered that following gives me time to listen to the music and enjoy the dance. It can be nice to let someone else worry about driving now and then.
Following is very fun and challenging. When you follow, you discover how important a good lead is. For one thing, a bad lead can hurt the follower. The best way to bring that lesson home is to experience how a bad lead feels.
It is fun to find a lady that also leads, and switch off in the middle of a number or do two numbers in a row and switch off. People do not look funny at you either. They tend to interpret you as a more advanced dancer if you can both lead and follow. I can also better show a move to a follower in their perspective if they ask. It has been a really fun experience.
Leading is communicating a request to the follower - would you go here and do that? What you think you are saying is not always what the follower hears. Why? The follower hears all your body language. How much is the leader saying? Try following and you will find out.
The best way to know what a good lead is, is to experience it as a follower. Following is also a really good way to find out how rough leads feel and what to avoid when I am leading.
Dancing is about connection. Connection is about more than just physical contact. To build empathy with your partner and improve your connection, try following.
It is surprising how difficult and fun Following is. It has really improved my leading.
As a follower, I found myself doing the exact same thing I complain about in my followers. I now know why she does that. People say mistakes are caused by the lead, but I did not really believe it. Now I know. And it has improved my leading techniques.
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What some Followers are saying about the advantages of Leading:
At first it was hard to get used to, but then it was really fun. I gained a new appreciation for my leader. I saw some follower habits in others that I share. And now I realize how those follower habits inhibits the leader – makes it more difficult for them. And they already have a difficult job. I sure don’t want to make it tougher on them.
Learning to lead is fun. I was afraid of it at first, but I took to it surprising well. You don’t know what you can do, until you try it. Now I do not ever have to sit out on my favorite song.
I think I am a pretty good follower, but I was getting bored with dancing. There did not seem to be enough good leaders out there to keep all the followers busy. So I was getting bored and even stopped going to some dances because it was all the same dancers. Learning to lead solved this problem for me. Dancing became exciting again. Even though it is the same people at the dances, I have a whole new group of folks to dance with. I improved my following and I think I will eventually become a good leader.
Learning to lead helped my following. It brought home the importance of some important techniques from a different perspective. Now I know why I should be doing this or that as a follower.
Now I realize how frustrating it is to dance with a follower that does her own thing without frame or concern for the lead. I realize that I have been that follower in the past. I am more careful now.
Before, when something went wrong – I really couldn’t explain the problem. Now, I can give more useful data. Even with the little leading background that I have, I can better explain what it missing.
Learning to lead has improved my following. It brought home the importance of waiting and holding back a little until you are sure of the lead. I now understand how it feels when a follower walks in on you or anticipates. That connection is momentarily lost and I can’t lead as well.