I've been thinking about my following (in a dance/Lindy hop context) a lot over the past few months. I reached a certain level round about September where I had taken all the classes in the normal series from the Jam Cellar, and it had come to a point where I was responsible for my own improvement. I didn't have instructors telling me things to improve on every week, and I had to figure out on my own where I wanted to take my dancing.
I did some reading online, and decided "interesting shapes" was my missing piece between intermediate following and advanced following. I became fixated on my arms, on jutting my hips during the rock step, and on trying to develop "feminine lines." I have lots of thoughts on why that was not a good direction for me (some of which I wrote about in my "Dancestravaganzaaa" series), and those will just have to wait for another time. In the meantime, I'll just say this: fuck feminine lines, I just want to DANCE.
(A version of this was originally posted to the r/swingdancing forum, and was mostly written between 1am and 2am after an awesome night of dancing.)
I've basically distilled my (current) overall following philosophy down into two main points:
Point 1: Mirroring (+10%)
I'm using the term mirroring here instead of matching (though they are really similar) because I learned about this concept in a non-dance context first.
Mirroring and matching are pretty basic follow tactics. Mirror the lead's frame. What does the lead do with their arms? Where does the lead want the tension to be, and how much? Where is the lead's center? Mirror the lead's musicality. How much footwork is the lead doing? How is the lead reading the music? A good follow should mirror and react to all of those things.
Also, especially in Blues, I tend to try to respect the tradition from which the lead is coming. People who feel like lindy hoppers, I'll follow more like a lindy hopper. If the lead feels like a ballroom dancer, I'll adjust my frame. Same with Tango and Salsa-- I feel like it allows me to better follow the moves they throw in and also creates a better experience for the lead.
Now the +10% part. Basically, to communicate effectively with someone, you can mirror them: smile for smile, srs business handshake for srs business handshake. This comes naturally to most people. What comes naturally to me, and is another tool for communicating even more effectively, is mirroring +10%. Other party in the conversation is smiling? Smile a little wider. Other party is telling a joke and giggling? Laugh out loud. Other person is frowning? Neutral expression.
In the context of dance, this happens in two ways. One is energy level-- I try to always be energized in my dancing and always pushing, just a little bit beyond what the lead is giving me. I find it really amps up the dance for me, even if occasionally I'll get a comment like "Whew! Do you ever stop?"
BUT! If I'm dancing with a lead who also gives a +10% and the song is rocking, our dance can build and build on its own energy until we're whirling around on the dance floor and nothing else matters.
The other place to use the +10% concept is skill level. If I'm dancing with a lead who is below my level, I'll try to insert a few very basic stylistic variations that won't throw the lead off, but will get them used to a follow doing a thing. A couple of minor swivels, a small kick here or there, etc. I feel like one of the reasons follows have it easier than leads is that leads rarely get the chance to learn from follows, whereas follows are led in more and more complicated moves all the time, forcing us to adapt. I try to be the best follow* I can be for every dance I dance, and sometimes that means a little bit of on the fly schoolin' for the beginners.
Oh, also, if you look thrown off by a fast swing rhythm, you best believe I'll have a strong pulse in the beginning.
*First and foremost I try to be the best dancer I can be.
Point 2: Be water.
Are you ready to get deep? Why the hell not, it's after 1am for me, I just had a great time at the dance, and I'm in the mood to ramble some more. The other day, I saw this clip:
It was illuminating. Lee says, "If you try to remember you will lose. Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless. Be water, my friend." That's how I try to follow, as best I can. I try to be water.
(There's been a lot of talk over the years about analogies for following and how they are often bankrupt. This one is no different. It's just how I think of it, and, for the record I think the same can be said of a good lead, except initially the lead is only "formless and shapeless" until he or she hears the music. Then the conversation begins and we both begin to transform ourselves into that which is not water.)
I try to be the most honest follow I can be, and that means not anticipating moves. It means interpreting the music within the structure the lead sets up. It means being able to react as quickly as possible to a new concept a lead introduces or switch directions as soon as the lead "mentions" it.
In a very basic sense, it means that I will Charleston with you for the entirety of "Lavender Coffin" even if I know that it's a terrible idea. It means that I will try to follow the rhythm you're interpreting, even if I can hear the downbeat and phrasing much better than you after a year of dancing and ten years of percussion and music instruction.
HOLY CRAP I love this song.
At its best, social dancing is a conversation between two people and the music. Each one brings different philosophies, styles, and ideas to the table, and hopefully each one comes away satisfied. When a dance feels like it clicks (for me, at least), it's usually because the way we interpreted the music was similar, our dancing styles lent themselves to each other and improved our conversation, and, here's the kicker, I didn't have to work very hard to make sure that happened. I didn't have to think about interpreting the lead's frame-- it was obvious. I didn't have to worry about my stylings messing the lead up; it was clear that they wouldn't. I didn't have to figure out a discrepancy between the musical phrasing that I was hearing and what the lead was telling me to do.
One last point: for me, a dance clicking is a different feeling between blues and lindy. With blues, it feels a little bit like neither of us is actually leading-- we're letting our bodies and our connection create the interpretation of the space and it's all kinds of counterbalance goodness. With lindy, a dance clicking is like the most fun day at the carnival ever. It's me getting to really grind into my swivels during the exact right chorus, it's us being playful with the music, and it involves a ton of movement and motion and preparation and followthrough. I laugh a lot when I dance lindy, and it's because of the energy and playfulness and just plain delight I find inherent.
Dancing is life. Good Lindy hop is indistinguishable from sheer joy.
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