There is a tendency amongst the more technical amongst us to look to science to settle disagreements, even within dancing. Sometimes, we might not even actually disagree so much as just want to make sure that there is some nuance present in the discussion of different bodies moving differently. With that in mind, I want to produce a single axiom, which I propose we call The Hoffberg Principle for reasons that will become clear entirely soon enough. The Hoffberg Principle stat

I've been thinking about this for a while -- the original date on the post is February 25, and it's now March 20. I was struggling with what I wanted to say, and how I could say it, so much so that I all but stopped writing about dance for the last couple weeks. Anyway, one night, about a month ago, my dance partner exclaimed suddenly, "I need to trust my follows more!" Partner dancing involves a lot of trust, even when you don't think of it as such. As leads, we have to trus

There are a metric fuckton of philosophical posts about following out there. I've been thinking about my own understandings ever since one of the raddest lindy hop follows I know, Jenna Applegarth, posted a mega post a while back. I couldn't be typing them without the thoughtful conversation I had with Cindy Lyons (Tampa) and Avery Finn (Denver) in the wee hours of the morning after Lindy Diversion this past weekend. Credit where credit's due. I'd like to suggest that when li

When I only followed, I used to frequently feel that my lead friends didn't make time for me the way I made time for them on the dance floor. I felt like maybe I was misjudging what seemed like mutual affection for our dances, since I always had to seek them out. Now, these thoughts were born of my own uncertainty of my personal skills, but I have heard follows espouse similar thoughts. I have watched follows hunt down leads that they want to dance with because they won't get

I have found that even wearing a tuxedo doesn't stop men from assuming that I follow. (Perhaps they are not assuming. Perhaps they have seen me follow with someone else earlier in the evening. Perhaps they are asking everyone dressed in a tuxedo and are really not making any assumptions because pants do not imply leading.) I have found that if I wear a skirt, I am invisible to most followers in new scenes. If I am wearing a skirt and leading, I have to be more proactive for t