My following adventure had some rather large gaps, caused by a mix of general life stuff, and two of my teachers fleeing the country. But a third one hadn’t yet reached that level of despair, so the fun had recommenced.

In my last lesson with Filippo, I’d managed to follow him surprisingly well when he stuck to steps and rebounds and upped the speed, and Irina subsequently led me in a milonga song at Tango Secrets, also with remarkable success (all in relative terms, you understand!). It was now time to see what magic Mabel could muster …

I mentioned in the main Feast post that I had a small but somewhat important issue with following pivots – namely, not being able to immediately determine whether I was being led a forward or back pivot. Filippo is working with me on this using an industrial-sized lead in open embrace, and Mabel had a go at a normal-ish sized lead in close embrace.

I also referenced a need to recalibrate my progress as a follower, and the role Mabel played in that. We always start by simply dancing a song or two, and then she opens with the good news – and that was especially welcome in this case.

She declared four wins so far. I have a lovely embrace (although I’ve never explicitly learned how to embrace as a follower, it seems mirroring my leader embrace works, as Emma said the same thing); I retain my musicality when following*; my pivots are much improved; and when something goes wrong (which is rather often), I don’t panic and hang on the leader, I remain in my own axis while re-organising my body.

*Not anticipating remains a huge challenge, and listening to the music through the leader’s body is very much an ongoing project. But when it comes to moments when I control the timing – like a parada – then I dance it the way I would when leading.

With what felt like enormous ambition on Mabel’s part, she declared that we were going to work with the cross. And not just one style of cross – oh no, that would be too easy – but two different styles! There was, of course, method in her madness, as the two styles involved different pivot directions.

For the classic cross:

• Once I detect a cross is being led (if I detect a cross is being led …), take a diagonal back-step instead of a linear back-step, so that when I cross I do so in front of the leader, rather than offset

For a cross with a contra-rotated lead:

• My left foot stays put, and I then pivot (not step) into the cross, pivoting right before crossing, and then left with the cross in order to again end up square to the leader

As with most things in tango, preparation is all. My fundamental issue with pivots is that I’m not really ready for a pivot in either direction, and so the moment I detect any sign of a pivot – and before I’m clear about the direction – I panic, and start rushing to do one. If I can instead be ready, and calm, then I can wait until I’m 100% certain of the direction before I respond.

Actually, Mabel strongly dislikes the word ‘waiting’ when applied to a follower. You are never waiting, she says; you are always active. Active at my level means running a checklist of readiness to respond:

• Hips over my heels, to create space
• Ribcage over my toes to remove weight from my heels
• Standing leg soft
• Free foot on the ground but without weight on it
• Check four points of contact (heels, calves, knees, thighs)
• Free foot tilted in toward the standing foot

With all of that to focus on, it would seem unlikely I’ll have any mental capacity left over for anticipating a lead!

Mabel’s work with the contra-rotated cross also made me realise something else. Since I should be dissociating with my chest before anything happens with my feet, and I could contra-rotate in my own pivots, then even if I mistake the direction to start with, I still have time to correct it before stepping. When I combine this with Diego’s advice to be late and slow, then in theory I have lots of time before my feet need to do anything at all.

The follower technique class gave me an opportunity to get some practice; some reassurance that I’m not alone in finding the journey a challenging one; and an ankle flexion exercise which is carried out while sitting down with a crossed leg. It can even be done while drinking tea; my kind of exercise.

One week to go before my next private with Filippo.