6.0 リードとフォローの感覚を磨く練習

出所　

http://www.eijkhout.net/lead_follow/

 

6.0 Sensitivity

6.0 リードとフォローの感覚

 

練習その１

 

While facing each other, place fingertips of each hand of the leader against the fingertips of each hand of the follower very lightly.

お互いに向き合い、リーダーの両手の指先とフォロアーの両手の指先をごく軽く合わせる。

 

This should make a light but tactile connection between the two dancers.

このとき、両者間では、軽く、しかしきちんと接触させること。

 

Both the leader and the follower should then move their hands around together (up and down, right and left, forwards and backwards) while maintaining constant pressure between the pairs of fingertips.

そしてリーダーとフォロアーは、ペアとなった指先に一定の圧力を保ったまま、一緒に手を上下左右前後に動かす。

 

This should also be done with the eyes closed.

同じことを目をつぶってやってみること。

 

With eyes closed, take a two handed open position hold and then ‘dance’ without music.

目をつぶって、両手でオープンポジションをとり、それから音楽なしで踊る。

 

The man should be able to lead, vary step size, and even vary the cadence of the dance all with the ladies eyes closed.

男子は、女子に目を閉じさせたまま、ステップの歩幅をいろいろ変えたり、ステップを変えたりしても、ずっとリードできなければならない。

 

Practicing lead/follow with your eyes closed is a good exercise but there is a visual component to some leads and missing a lead with your eyes closed does not necessarily mean you were anticipating with them open – see Sensitivity exercise 7.

自分の目を閉じたままリード・フォローの練習をすることは良い練習になるが、ただし、いくつかのリードについては視覚的要素があり、また目を閉じたことでリードを見失うということが、必ずしも．．．．．．．練習その７を参照すること。

 

練習その２

 

Both the leader and the follower place their hands on the other person’s shoulders.

リーダーとフォロアーはお互いに向き合って、相手の肩の上に手を軽く乗せる。

 

The leader should walk around and the follower should be sensitive to the leaders’ motion.

そしてリーダーは歩き回る。フォロアーはリーダーの動きを感じ取らなければならない。

 

They should maintain a constant distance between them and also close their eyes to “feel” the light touch that is needed to make a recognizable lead/indication and for the follower to hear the lead/indication.”

両方ともお互いの距離を一定に保つように練習すること。そしてさらにリーダーはリードを感じさせることが可能なだけの、かつフォロアーはリードが感じ取れるだけの、ごく軽いタッチになるようお互いに目をつぶって練習する。

 

（tama注）

 

原文には書いていませんが、役割を入れ替えて、女性がリーダー、男性がフォロアーになって練習することも試してみるといいかもしれません。

 

練習その３

 

Leader and follower place their hands flat (palms down) and alternating on top of each other’s hands similar to a ‘who will reach the top of the baseball bat first and be it… type method.

リーダーとフォロアーは、手を平らに開いて掌を下に向けて、互いの手を順番に交互に積み重ねていく。

 

Your hands will look like four stacked pancakes.

するとパンケーキが４枚重ねられたように見える。

 

Then the leader and follower take turns bending down and then jumping up.

そして交代に膝を曲げてその場でジャンプする。

 

The person not doing the jumping should “stay with” the person jumping.

ジャンプをしないほうは、ジャンプするほうに付いて行くこと。（tama注：手を付けて行く）

 

That is, maintain a constant connection with the person jumping and not impede the jump in any way or release the connection in any way.

これが、ジャンプするほうとの一定のコネクションを保ちながら、ジャンプを妨げたり、コネクションをはずさない練習である。

 

This allows both the leader and follower to feel when to be relaxed in their arm tension so during a twisting move, someone’s arm will not get yanked out.

これは、リーダーとフォロアー両方に対して、ひねり運動の際に相手の腕が引っ張られないようにアームテンションをリラックスさせる感覚をつかませる練習である。

 

（tama注）

 

この練習はラテン種目のためのものか？

 

練習その４

 

Try doing turns and dancing without touching hands.

お互いに手を触れずにターンしたりダンスをしてみること。

 

Pretend that there is an invisible force between the leaders and followers hands and do turns, etc.

リーダーとフォロアーの手の間に見えない力が働いているかのように、ターンしたり、いろいろやってみること。

 

This will help to maintain balance and keep yourself over the balls of your feet instead of having to rely on your partner to maintain your balance.

この練習は自分のバランスを保つためにパートナーに依存する代わりに、自分のボールのうえにきちんと乗ってバランスを保つのに役に立つ。

 

It will also make your realize the importance of the communication that is done with the hands and arms.

この練習は、また手や腕により行うコミュニケーションの重要性を理解させることになる。

 

A good dancer can turn effortlessly on his or her own.

上手なダンサーは苦もなく自分のボールの上に乗ってターンすることができる。

 

練習その５

 

Stand on one foot (either will do) and take the lady into dance position.

片方の足の上に立って女子をダンスのポジションに導く。

 

The lady can then easily determine which foot she should be on (the natural opposite).

女子はどちらの足（男子と反対側の足）に乗るべきか容易にわかる。

 

From here the man should change weight with a light side to side movement.

その位置から、軽く男子が反対側の足に体重を乗せ換える（ウェイトチェンジする）。

 

If you watch, ballroom dancing competitors always do this before they begin dancing as a way to establish the connection between partners.

注意して観察すると、ボールルームダンス競技選手達がダンスを始める前に、パートナー同士のコネクションを作り出すための方法としてこのウェイトチェンジをしている。

 

The ability to “lead” a weight change while not moving down the floor is actually the most basic principle of lead/follow technique.

床に沈み込む（ロアー）をしない状態でウェイトチェンジへリードする能力は、実際のところリード／フォロー技術の最も基本的な原理である。

 

In ballroom dancing, the leader decides which foot to start on.

ボールルームダンスにおいては男子がどちらの足から開始するか決定する。

 

The starting foot is established before dancing, by the leader firmly placing his body weight over the supporting leg; his partner follows this movement, so she ends up with her weight on the natural opposite.

スターティングフットは、男子がサポーティングフットに完全に体重を確実に乗せることで、きまる。パートナーは、男子と反対側の足の真上に体重を乗せたところで終わるように、この動きをフォローする。

 

This is why good dancers don’t care which foot they start on.

これが上手なダンサーがどちらの足からスタートするか気にしない理由である。

 

It’s all in the lead.

そのリードの中にすべてがある。

 

Beginning dancers can start fast swing with 1&2, because a sideways movement is easier to lead.

初心者のダンサーは．．．．．．なぜなら横方向の動きのほうがよりリードしやすいからである。

 

More advanced dancers can start on rock-step.

もっと上級のダンサーはロックステップからでもはじめられる。

 

All weight changes must be led and followed.

ウェイトチェンジはすべてリード／フォローで行わなければならない。

 

The partner who changes weight first effectively changes weight for the couple.

最初に効果的にウェイトチェンジするパートナーが、カップルのウェイト・チェンジを行う。

 

If the lady changes first, the man simply cannot lead her.

もし女子が先にウェイトチェンジしたら、男子は女子をまったく女子をリードできない。

 

練習その６

 

この項はウェストコーストスィングに関する記述らしいので省略

 

Connection in WCS – One of the exercises we (Enio Cordoba) teach our beg & intermediate levels is to dance open hand palm to palm with a Federal reserve bill held by counterpressure. If the lady lets the hand separate she buys him lunch. The guys are always told to use the biggest bill they have which will determine where he gets lunch. Ladies sure understand the value of money because few bills ever hit the floor.

 

練習その７

 

この項はウェストコーストスィングに関する記述らしいので省略

 

Build yourself a “Couple Developer” as described in Swing Dancer by Craig Hutchinson. It consists of a “spring scale” – often called a “fish scale” – with a handle on each end. You have each partner hold a handle and apply a light tension – as in a WCS anchor step – and you read out the force level on the scale dial. Or you can tie one handle to a doorknob and use it by yourself. The goal is to be able to maintain constant, light force level no matter what you are doing. You can build a spring scale couple developer out of a $6.00, 50 lb fish scale (available at walmart or kmart), by popping open the back of it, and replacing the stock heavy spring with a light spring available at a hardware store. This makes the fish scale read 2 pounds full scale, and then it will be great for practicing WCS syncopations while you try to keep the needle at the 25% mark.

 

For moves where you need to apply a compressive connection, cut off the D-handle from an old snow shovel (or just go buy a replacement shovel handle and cut it off) and, holding the D handle, place the cut end of the handle perpendicular to the thin edge – the thickness direction – of an open door. This easily shows whether or not you are pushing straight along the handle (and thus your partner’s arm) because any sideways force will cause the door to rotate on its hinges, and any time you pull on the handle, you will become separated from the door.

 

Develop resistance by falling against solid objects, breaking the fall with both hands being careful to not let the elbows go beyond the centerline of your body, and push yourself back to balance. You will quickly find the feel you like and that a Leader or Follower will appreciate.

 

練習その８

 

この項はウェストコーストスィングに関する記述らしいので省略

 

Non-contact Leads – maintain eye contact with your partner, and W/O hand or body contact, practice dancing.

With the leader “leading” visually, and no music playing, start and stop together, rotate the basic together, even change tempo together!

Then switch roles. Remember, don’t look down at the floor because that connotes a visual lead for the woman to move to the spot that you are looking at!

練習その９

 

（tama：注）

 

ウェストコーストスィングに関する記述らしいが、参考になりますので翻訳します。

 

Debbie Ramsey recommends practicing with both partners grasping a man’s tie (or a piece of rope) rather than each other’s hands directly to help the leaders understand how to lead from their centers and to help the followers understand how to stay within that lead.

デビー・ラムゼイは、パートナー同士が、お互いの手を直接持って練習するよりも一本のネクタイないしひもを持って練習するのを推奨している。というのはそちらのほうが、男子に対しては自分の重心からリードさせるやりかたを、女子に対してはそのリードのコントロールの範囲にとどまるやり方を、理解させるのに良いからである。

 

(For you physics and engineering types, a rope is a tension-only, 2-force member; the line of action can only lie along a straight line drawn from endpoint to endpoint.)

（もしあなたが物理学ないし工学の素養があるなら、ひもはテンションをかけている時だけ二つの作用力点を持つ物体として働くというように説明しておく。）

 

Since a tie will go slack if there is no tension on it, it is readily apparent when “leverage” connection is lost.

もしテンションがなければ、ネクタイはゆるむので、影響を与えるコネクションがなくなった時に、そのことが明白になる。

 

 

All of the suggestions on improving dancing are very good.

ダンスの改善についてのこれらの提案はすべて役に立つ。

 

Implied in these suggestions is PRACTICE.

これらの提案が暗示するものは＜練習＞である。

 

This is the single most important thing to do if you want to improve.

このことは、自分のダンスを改善しようと思うならこれが唯一最重要なものである。

 

The more you practice, the more natural the moves become, the more graceful you are, the more desirable a partner you become.

練習をすればするほど、動きはより自然になり、より優美になればなるほど、より好ましいパートナーとなる。

 

Yes, you should know how to do the moves right & that will take some lessons.

そう、誰であれ動きを正しく行う方法と、それを知るためのレッスンが必要であることを知るべきである。

 

Take everything you’ve seen here & add practice, practice, practice.

ここで読んだことをすべてを把握して、練習、練習、練習をすること。

 

This cannot be over-emphasized.

このことはいくら強調しても強調しすぎることはあり得ない。

 

I have seen to many beginners get discouraged but after investigating the facts I would discover that they never practiced and always had an excuse as to why. I practiced a lot at first because I wanted to get to a point where my dancing was comfortable for me and any prospective partner. I prefer to practice by myself at first. I also did not need a studio, instructor, partner for practice purposes. To make the styling, footwork, and even lead feel natural I would always practice it by myself at first. Then polish it up with my instructor later. Consider something one of my dance teachers told me a while back. “Practice doesn’t make perfect, practice makes PERMANENT”. It takes a lot more time to learn to dance correctly if you spend a lot of time developing bad habits first. Good instructors teach the way they do for a reason. You might ask them what those reasons are. I pride myself on being 100% consistent. Everything that’s in our curriculum and on our tapes has a reason, and I can give it to you. Of course, sometimes advanced students can really put you on the spot. But I haven’t had one yet that I haven’t been able to figure out an answer that was consistent with my basic technique concepts. That’s the nice thing about dancing by rules and not by rote. All too many instructors teach things a certain way because that’s the way THEY learned it, not because they’ve really studied it, given it some thought, and decided it was really the right thing to do. A great way to get your money’s worth is to ask the teacher what you are doing wrong and WHY his way is right.

 

Here are some practicing tips: 1.) “Practice doesn’t make perfect–*perfect* practice makes perfect.” If you disagree with your partner about something , do not spend a lot of time in a power struggle trying to be right. Save it for your coach. Agree to do the step, even if it is wrong. Your coach can fix it in minutes. You probably can not fix it in hours. Don’t waste your time. It’s hard to fix things on your own because you are not a dance expert, and because you can’t observe yourself dancing. Even world champions have coaches. If you are having a specific problem, try three times using the dance knowledge you and your partner have to fix it. If you can’t, then just put the problem aside after that and take it up with your teacher. If you are trying to instruct and are not really competent to do that, find the very best instructor and take a private and have them dance with each of you. Let the instructor do the correcting. Private lessons are usually easier on your partner’s ego, and the partnership/friendship/relationship because your teacher points out his/her flaws and attempts to correct them. Feelings are much less likely to get hurt this way! It makes it nicer and easier if you don’t have a relationship with them too. Also try to have more than one practice partner. Write up an agenda for when you go to the instructor and communicate your concerns and desires with your dance partner.

 

2.) If during a practice session, you and your partner feel you are not accomplishing anything (e.g., you are tense, angry, tired etc.) go to the mirrors and practice basics. Do some ankle lifts, exercise your top-line by flexing and bending your body parts. Do simple movements until you are able to continue or, as a last resort, abort and come back another day.

 

3.) Some strengthening exercises may also help. Pay attention to your body. Not everyone uses their feet, ankles, and knees in the same way ballroom dancers do. Many men can lift 200 pounds but still find if awkward to keep their right arm up in dance position for 10 minutes. If you notice limitations during a lesson take a note. Don’t compromise your dancing for lazy ankles, practice toe raises and ankle rolls until you can do better.

 

4.) (a) recite steps and patterns, (b) listen to music… You may also find that there are particular isolated moves or techniques that you observe with partners (or instructors point out) can be worked on or strengthened by yourself.

 

5.)If you’re serious, taking notes helps. It also changes the way you pay attention in class. You DO want to practice EVERYTHING you recall from a lesson. You DO want to try to breakdown and practice isolations of any technique you can understand. You DO NOT want to practice wrong steps and bad technique for hours on end until it feels correct. Listen in class for things you can practice. Then, try to practice what you learned in class. Take your questions back to class. I find that if I practice about 1 hour for each class hour I learn MUCH faster.

 

6.) Practice basic, simple moves to perfection. Not mechanical perfection, but essential perfection. Forget about choreographed floor-space hogging step sequences. When a fancy step sequence is being taught, evaluate it in terms of leadability and practicality on the dance floor. Don’t bother with anything that you can only dance with someone who has taken the same class, or with something that is inconsistent with considerate floorcraft. Measure your progress in terms of the quality of your dancing (style), not the quantity of step patters.

 

7. When observing excellent dancers, look for the essence of what makes them excellent, and seek to emulate that. This essence is often marginalized as style (or styling), spirit, rapport — things that are rarely taught, especially in group lessons.

 

8. You might want to seek out a dance that is not so crowded. Sometimes “singles” dances have few attendees (and even fewer dancers) resulting in a spacious dance floor — paradoxically, exactly what you want if you are a couple 🙂

 

9. A technique to use for waltz and foxtrot: Set up chairs or other obstacles at random in your practice path, and work around them intentionally.

 

10. As a helper-over-the-hump (but turn loose of it as soon as you can), string together some of your favorite steps as short choreographed sequences that you practice as routines. This will help you keep dancing even when you’re too distracted to think of another step right at the moment. Your body will remember the next three things that come after you do a crossover (or whatever), so that you don’t have to think about those next three things. I say turn loose of it as soon as you feel comfortable, because you don’t want to be so dependent on choreographed routines that you can’t vary your combinations to suit the music. You’d also be training your partner to *anticipate* the next three things, instead of following. When you _are_ able to think of it on the floor, occasionally do one or two of the middle steps without starting with your usual pattern. This will help keep your partnership in the habit of lead and follow.

 

11. KEEP DANCING. Dance as often as you can, at as many different places as you can. Dance when you’re intimidated, dance when you’re terrified. The more you do it, the easier it becomes.

 

12. Keep a “cheat sheet” to refer to of newly learned moves and patterns (reduced and laminated, in a shirt pocket) until they’ve become ingrained in your repertoire.

 

13. A lot of dancers shun the beginner classes and move on to intermediate and advanced classes right after their first beginning lessons. If you watch, you might notice that some of them they have picked up very little of the advice given in the beginning lessons. What I did was to take the beginning classes over and over from many different teachers, until I not only knew the basic steps, but was picking up the little hints that the good teachers were throwing out about how to do the basic movements. A lot of advice that some folks say you can only get from expensive private lessons is actually said in group classes by the better instructors. There just isn’t the time in group classes to make sure the students really heard and understood what was said. And most students are much too busy, figuring out which foot to move where, to have any time for these tidbits of advice. But they’re there, if your instructor is good. Listen. Write them down in a notebook; review before you next go dancing; it might help.

 

14. An exercise: Stand in open dance position (no music) and practice giving her slight, consistent, smooth, deliberate leads. (Not necessarily to do patterns that you know, but to send her in different directions, positions, etc.) Then, switch roles.

 

My studio places a lot of emphasis on grounding in Latin dances. I spent part of one group class trying to keep paper towels under my feet while doing basic steps–it was actually a very enlightening exercise. I always THOUGHT I was keeping my feet near the floor, but there was a big difference between what I knew I should do and what I was actually doing. Even though they emphasize grounding, they still want weight changes to occur. However, while weight is centered over the supporting leg, the other isn’t just flapping in the breeze out there 🙂 As a dancer, your whole body must always be toned – sort of like steel beams, covered in a velvet glove 🙂

 

I was having a LOT of trouble learning the basics of ECS when I first started – and this was single-time, the easiest form of all (step, touch). I had two left feet and couldn’t find either when I needed one. I started listening to appropriate music in my car, and simply counting the steps in time: “Step, touch, step, touch, rock, step”. I’d do entire songs end-to-end this way. After a few weeks of this and attending classes two nights a week I had no more troubles with the basic step. (There have been several studies that show that “mental practice” — i.e. visualization — is almost as good as, and certainly a great supplement to, actual practice for physical skills. One famous one involved people doing basketball free throws. They took four groups of players and measured each’s skill. The control group did no practice. One group practiced free throws but was advised not to think about the experiment otherwise. A third group did nothing but *visualize* themselves practicing free throws, for the same amount of time that the second group was actually practicing. The fourth group did both actual practice and visualization. At the end of the experiment, skill levels were measured again. Of course the fourth group improved most of all, but the second and third groups had improved by about the same amount, even though the third group had done no actual practice! The reason, I think, is that when you visualize you can visualize yourself doing it *perfectly*, with none of those bad muscle-memory habits to get in your way… visualization can actually form new muscle habits, literally without moving a muscle.) Visualization for swing dancing is effective proportionally to the amount of detail visualized. I do it all the time, but it can easily take longer to go over a move this way than even with an imaginary partner, so I reserve this method for situations where I’m stuck waiting and can’t try the stuff for real. I think a large part of the benefit is to have spent the time recognizing the details involved. When there is nobody around to practice with and you’ve grown tired of your imaginary partner, try some Country Western line dancing. For a beginner, it can really help with timing. For intermediate dancers, it can help you ingrain those syncopated steps that you only use occasionally. If they aren’t in the particular line dance you’re doing, throw them in there. Doing them a lot isn’t overuse and it will give the less experienced line dancers a chance to figure out your new variation. Use line dances to practice spotting, work on pivot turns, do lock-step footwork, practice cha-cha and ECS Latin motion, work on balance and weight distribution and generally have a good time. Since you can’t always do those kind of things with a partner – line dances are a good opportunity to work the bugs out of new techniques as you learn them. Use them to get your heart rate up and turn your evening of dancing fun into an aerobic workout. They really do help one’s endurance. Line dancing serves another purpose:

 

Do you feel “mechanical” when dancing? FEEL is not mental. Period. It’s physical. Losing the mechanical feel so that you can move gracefully takes time, stretching (stretch regularly – it’s difficult to flow if you’re body is constricted) and practice. After you know the moves to the point where you can dance & converse simultaneously, and you understand the music’s structure, then you canstop dancing like a robot. This takes a few minutes in some people, a few years in others. When you have music on at home, as you move about the house, move in count to the basic step of the dance your choice. What you want to do is teach your muscles the count so your mind doesn’t have to worry about it. They will _never_ forget! See if you can move body parts in isolation. Does cocking one hip up cause everything from ankles to neck to move? It shouldn’t. Can you flick a foot and keep the thigh quiet? You need to be able to. Being able to move just the part you wish to is a major breakthrough in learning how to move to the music as opposed to just doing the steps.