I don't agree with the comment that competitive dancers ' often memorize their own parts so a strong lead is not necessary'.
A GOOD (not strong) lead is even more essential in competitive dancing, otherwise the couple can't dance together through complex figures to a high standard. And what happens when they're blocked? And can't follow a memorized sequence of figures?
Social dancing involves a limited range of figures that are relatively simple to lead. You can't dance with a stranger and expect the same level of contact that would occur with a regular, competitive partner.
Having said all this, my experience is that i would have benefited greatly from being given more good information about good leading right from the start of my dancing.

I find your comment about "good lead " at the beginning kinda interesting.

I, m sure that most experienced teachers will give a fairly detailed account about the fundamentals before one even begins to move; as in body contact, frame , poise, hold, etc.

I also know from my own teaching experience, that the majority of the info. imparted in the very early stages, escapes the early memory.

Dance, in the early stages, is a memory test, and the body does not always respond to commands given, to which it deems foreign .

Now lets compound that problem , by putting a partner in front of you ....

Hi, in my earlier days, I was never told that lady should lean or push especially with any arm. I was told that when two people are dancing together, there is give and receive relationship. It is a mistake if one thinking that lady moves forward and man must moves back like hide and seek.

The connection is from the hips of both partners and never from arms. When lady walking forward, man should feel the movement of her hip (either the right hip or the left hip depending whether doing CBM or CBMP or just move with NFR). Man than receive her into his hip and move along with her the direction that she wants go. This Way, lady will have no tension from any part of her body during movement. When man move forward, lady should receive man in the same way.

Lady's posture is very simple. Keeping head to left (except PP) nose over the left breast, and left shoulder is slightly behind the left hip. Don't exaggerate the position and relax when move. The rest of the body should move freely without tension.

I dont know where you are getting your info. from, but some statements are not correct .

Contact is NOT from the hips.. we dance from the "core " .

And actually, if you are positioned correctly, it would be nigh impossible to make contact with the "hips " .

GarryFong. Listen to the advice given by Terence. Contact is Not from the hips. From one of your other writting I beleive you come from a teacher from the distant past at a time when it was taught that there was a conection of the hip.

Please have a care to note that Gary did not say that the connection was at the hips or that the hips were touching, he said that the connection was from the hips rather than the arms.

Obviously the arms *are* touching, but the opinion expressed was that they are not the source of connection (I would say they are more a conduit)

Many people would say that the center is the source, and I'd probably agree that it is the primary one. But especially at a higher level of dancing, about half the worlds dancers will use their hips in relation to their center as an important secondary source. The other half prefer a style that uses the ribcage more, and minimizes the use of their hips.

Again, this is speaking of the source of the information as an action within the body, not the body parts that are actually touching.

One needs to be very careful when advocating the " use " of the hip/s , particularly in Tango ( which should not happen.. one of Lens peeves ).

The inherent danger of such advice may promote newer students dancing " under " their partner .

And actually he did say " and the connection is from the hips ".

I don't think that it is generally helpful to use a vocabulary that you don't define.

'Core' means nothing at all to most beginning dancers. I have never heard an instructor attempt to say what they mean. Most probably don't actually know (not Terence, obviously).

I must point out again to terrance that gary did not say there was contact in the hips or even that the connection was AT the hips. Rather he said that the connection was FROM the hips, and not from the arms. As there is obviously contact AT and of the arms, itc is clear that there was a distinction being made between physical contact versus the connecting through of body parts to facilitate their coordinated use. My computer is connected to this website, but nowhere near the server.

As for tango, the lack of swing and sway would somewhat limit the usage of the hips in contrast to the center, though they remain important for one of the two schools even in tango.

Obviously, the "hips are part of our anatomy.. but.. their " usage " for want of a better term, should be only thru the result of the primary action, the Core.

To Intentionally portray and use "them" as an initial source of power or direction, would be contrary to good dance physics as needs to be applied in the closed position dances .

The only time I have heard a direct usage of the Hip, is in Tango when one has danced a link, and the advice given ( or should be )is to ensure that the hip of man and lady is slightly raised from the prom. side .