Interesting…another post from the Tango discussion list I subscribe to about ways of leading.

Well, there are leaders, and there are leaders. There is the one type of leader who may be a great dancer, but his lead demands absolute “obedience”, meaning, following at all times, no space to insert little firuletes, no way for the woman to slow down on a step and add some suspense. This may still be a good and enjoyable dance, but he demands that the woman be part of “his” dance at all times.

Then there is a second type of great leader, the one who really dances for the woman, he leads, but in a way that makes the woman melt and let go in his arms, so that she surrenders and will follow him gladly and blindly in whatever he does, and the space between them has become blurry, and you don’t really feel anymore where one ends and the other one begins. (this is who I think of as the genuine “macho” in the Argentine meaning).

And then there is a third type of good leader, who I call the “creative leader” and he may be one of that “new man”-generation. The kind of leader that is very sensitive to the woman, and notices all the little things she would like to do. If she wants to insert an adorno, he gives her time and space. If she wants to change the speed of a step before she closes her feet, he will join in with that variation joyfully. And if she wants to insert an extra step, or start an extra turn, or alter his lead in whatever other way, he feels it and plays along with it, smoothly.

I feel a little bit uncertain about the melting blindly blurry bit…makes walking in stilletos a touch difficult methinks! ;)