Lead and Follow
Traditionally the man set the pace, established the length of stride, and decided when to change step, and the woman followed. A woman having more dance skills sometimes provided a tactful guiding push or pull, as long as it wasn't obvious. As soon as the man learns the routine, he takes the lead by combining firm, but gentle (never obvious) pushes and pulls. The leader should move assertively, and the follower should duplicate the countermovements, or perform her part of the dance. A photograph from one early "stag" dance shows a "closed" dance position, with the "man's" right arm around the back of the "woman".
In frontier days men danced with each other when women were not available. According to an early settler in Texas, "The gentle sex were few in number at the dance... Two men had to dance together to make a set." Another account states that "due to the scarcity of young women, a number of young bachelors who were either smooth shaven or wore polished shoes were designated as ladies." There were also "stag" dances with no women. "Heifer branded" men, those dancing the woman's role, wore handkerchiefs tied around one arm. At other times men dancing the role of the woman wore aprons. Miners in the California Gold Rush danced with one another if ladies were not available.
Read more about this topic: Country-western Dance
Famous quotes containing the words lead and/or follow:
“Women, because of their colonial relationship to men, have to fight for their own independence. This fight for our own independence will lead to the growth and development of the revolutionary movement in this country. Only the independent woman can be truly effective in the larger revolutionary struggle.”
—Women’s Liberation Workshop, Students for a Democratic Society, Radical political/social activist organization. “Liberation of Women,” in New Left Notes (July 10, 1967)
“It is a thorny undertaking, and more so than it seems, to follow a movement so wandering as that of our mind, to penetrate the opaque depths of its innermost folds, to pick out and immobilize the innumerable flutterings that agitate it. And it is a new and extraordinary amusement, which withdraws us from the ordinary occupations of the world, yes, even from those most recommended.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)