I wrote earlier this year about adopting a whole new attitude toward my following journey. Treating it more as play than as work, and accepting that it will be a years-long endeavour.

But a couple of recent experiences made me realize that I have actually reached an important milestone along the way …

My earlier reality-check

Earlier this year, I contrasted the work I’ve put into leading versus that put into my following.

With leading, it took me about nine months to reach the point of feeling like I belonged on the dance floor. But that was nine months of taking 3-4 group classes each week, at least two or three privates a month, many practicas and milongas, solo practice every morning – and pretty much every workshop with an All Levels label ever offered in London!

If I contrast that nine months of frankly obsessional work on leading with the way more laid-back amount of time and effort I’ve so far put into following, there’s simply no comparison. It’s the equivalent of maybe a few weeks tops.

Essentially, I can’t expect similar progress with only very occasional lessons and practice.

One step at a time – literally

So far, I’ve been issuing extremely strict terms and conditions to my leaders: no pivots, just steps and rebounds.

I took this approach because I felt it was important to first reach the stage of being able to follow without having to worry about the additional technique needed to pivot at a follower level.

While there has been a certain amount of highly illegal leading, the majority of it has been exactly this. Additionally, I’ve mostly followed milonga tandas, where there simply isn’t time for my leading brain to get in the way.

And this has worked!

I had a couple of recent following experiences, one in Cheltenham, the other at Tango Secrets, and I realized a milestone had arrived almost unnoticed.

While I won’t claim my following was perfect, and my footwork certainly needs to be tidied up, the fact was that I successfully followed without any notable issues – and I really enjoyed it!

Previously, I’d experienced perhaps a minute or two at a time of free-flowing following, but now I’ve followed entire songs without any stumbles. Equally importantly, my leader brain wasn’t interfering. I wasn’t trying to guess what was coming nor thinking about what I would lead in this moment – I was just following this step and simply enjoying the experience. It really did feel like play, not work.

A friend captured a video clip of the end of the tanda with Dawn (thanks, Atul!). We’ll brush over my frequent failure to properly collect and focus on the fact that where my leader went, I followed!

Of course, the leaders in both cases deserve a lot of the credit for this. Both Sue and Dawn dialed their leading up to 10 as required. But even so, I’m certainly claiming my share of the credit.

I now feel ready for the next step

I’ve so far had mixed success in attempting to follow crosses, but this does now seem like a sensible next goal. They are generally less demanding than ochos and giros.

So … I’m now practicing crosses in my kitchen each morning, and we will see how long it takes to upgrade from steps alone to the inclusion of both classic crosses and the ocho cortado! Watch this space …