Start Here – The Perfect Follow

I care a lot about being a good follower. A lot. And I have picked up on some techniques here and there. I have, honestly, a reasonable amount of dances with advanced dancers who compliment me specifically on the quality of my following in some way or another. This happens most often in bachata, but also in the other dances.

But there are so many better followers than me, so many more experienced followers, that its ridiculous. I know that I come from a specific place, have a specific dance background, have very particular opinions about what one should care about and do while dancing, and have oceans worth of ground left to cover in my explorations of these dances. It is, in fact, a journey that I believe never ends. I may have some insights, but I am a beginner in terms of how much farther I have to go.

I am not just saying this. This is a conviction that lies deep in my heart.

So I definitely miss out on some important things. I miss out on perspectives. I err. I simply don’t know a lot of stuff. I get some leaders who like my dancing, but there are others yet still (though I am always working on this) with whom I don’t quite click or can’t quite get the hang of yet. I would never say that my following is good. It is not. But it is getting better.

So I do not claim to have all the answers. This blog is simply an exploration of the world of dance.

I am not a doctor

This blog is not meant to be an authority on anything.

Much like my blog on nutrition, in which I disclaim that I am not a doctor, in this blog here on dance, I disclaim that I am not an authority. This is simply a place where I share my opinions.

I do so very much welcome your feedback. I hope that insofar as I am able to help people with their dancing (fingers crossed), I will be able to learn from you as you contribute to the discussion, too.

Heteronormative language in dance

I most of the time use ‘they’ as the singular form of the gender pronoun. I also in some posts will elect to use the singular form, and alternate between ‘he’ and ‘she’ throughout the post. Sometimes this may get confusing, however, so I default to ‘they’ and then will occasionally use ‘he’ and make note of the heteronormativity.

If I err and use heteronormative language, it’s just a fact of my own experience having danced 99.9% of my dances with male leads. Very occasionally I may do so intentionally but the vast majority of the time intend to avoid this kind of language.

The photos…

There are far too many photos of me on this website. The problem is that you need featured images for blog posts, and stock images of dancing get boring. If I want to use photos of pros I could but it’s hard to get a reliable source of good ones (and technically) I should ask for them. Using photos of my friends seems weird. So I use photos of me. Alas.

But partner dancing comes in twos. If photos are up on facebook in an album of dance photos I assume they are fine for public consumption. If you find a photo of you / the two of us that you do not like having up on this webpage and I am the worst because I didn’t tell you about it beforehand, let me know and it’s down in a heartbeat.