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Welcome to Episode 69 of the Salsa Kings LIVE podcast
Today we have a milestone episode, an episode where previous episodes will come together for listening dancers. The culture has changed, going from men and women to leads and follows. Andres wants to go a bit further, to remove gender in the paradigm in the dance and how we interact with dance. Dance, like any relationship, has a culture of giving and receiving, Social dance should have that exact same feeling.
The word ‘follow’ should be replaced with ‘guest’ and ‘lead’ should be replaced with ‘server’. The goal should not be to command or to ‘manhandle’ follow/guest. It is the job of the lead/server to provide the dance. It is up to the guest to accept or refuse the offer. This is not about commanding the other, but in providing an experience to another. Servers should think of themselves more akin to waiters in a restaurant, offering dishes to the guest. Guests have the option to choose what they want on the menu, or even to refuse the whole thing outright.
It’s in many ways its own form of communication, a way to get to know them. What are their likes, dislikes? What are they proficient in? Through this communication a server can better serve their guest and allow them to give them the best dance possible. Rather than controlling or ‘leading’ the guest, they are learning about them, so that they can provide them with the best experience possible.
Similarly, Guests must be able to let themselves be served. A customer does not go to a restaurant intending to make the food, but to be served it. It can tempting to try and take charge, but to be a guest is to allow yourself to be served.
The point of the server is to adjust themselves to the guest, to make accommodations and to understand their needs and to provide accordingly. Refusing to do so makes one a poor server, much as a waiter who would insist that a customer have a dish that they like would be a bad server. The server needs to understand that theirs is a place of responsibility, not one of power, not one of command. Much like how its previously been stated that the server is a frame, this attitude is to let the guest show themselves off in the best way appropriate to them.
Rethinking the ideas around dance isn’t always easy, but it’s a good idea if you want to make for a better experience for both participants in the dance. By learning to communicate with one another better, you can create the better dance.
“This is the goal. To be able to give and share happiness through you, just by being you. By being so aware and so mindful and so conscious of your guest that they would want to continue to come back to you.”
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