 Photo by Axel Grewe About 10 years ago, there was an unwritten rule that excellent followers were the ones wearing special "tangowear" and gorgeous comme-il-fauts. This is no longer the case, as tango-tailored clothes have become widely available. The outfit really is not as important as the aspiring followers think. Neither are the artificial adornos.
It all starts with the follower's body posture. She constantly employs subtle inner tension that sustains the core of the body and enables her to have a very relaxed shoulder-neck area and to make confident, grounded steps. An excellent follower also has a touch of inner elegance that translates into softness of movement. Beautiful tango clothes can accentuate the softness and keep the movements free, but they certainly can not replace them. On a more technical note, an excellent follower attains great spiral flexibility of movements around her spine. In other words, the dissociation of the upper and lower body halves enables her to dynamically align at all times. A very good indication of her groundedness is also the fact of putting her heel down when taking a back step, as opposed to dancing on tiptoes all dance long as many beginners tend to. Finally, to complete the technical mastery, an excellent follower is also willing to surrender, to close her eyes and intimately connect with her dance partner. |