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Don't anticipate — no lead means no follow.
Don't hold on
Don't let go.
Following is the art of interpreting a lead, without anticipating a lead. Unfortunately, the human mind is designed to identify patterns and sequences and to fill in any missing gaps, especially when the sequence is “obvious”. For example, try not to complete the following sentence: “Happy birthday to…” when just about any name or pronoun would complete the sentence in a syntactically valid manner.
Followers are not passive, they are active in almost all aspects of the dance, including: floor craft, and most importantly in the interpretation of the invited lead — which has to be compatible with the leaders intentions, but does not necessarily need to match the leader's precise expectations. Note your following will also affect how you are (subsequently) led — the smoothness of a lead may depend on the timing and how well the previous move was followed.
Dance with your partner. Follow your partner's style and timing — adapt your dancing to match them and you will look more like a couple dancing together, rather than two individuals.
You should follow your hand when dancing in an open dance hold, i.e. when the leader isn't holding your body. When the leader moves your hand/arm, you should move your body so that the hand/arm remains in the same relative position. Hence, your hand/arm shouldn't travel significantly towards/away from your body, and your arm shouldn't significantly move at any of its joints. Some dance styles suggest that you should try to keep your navel directly behind your hand (this is often useful in a double handed hold) while others suggest that you should keep your forearm at right angles to body (with the elbow tucked in) — but both these conventions simply mean that you will “follow your hand”.
In an open dance hold, your should try to match your hand pressure with that of your leader. If a leader is pushing towards you, then you should also push towards them. Conversely if a leader is pulling away from you, then you should also pull away from them. Obviously, you should try and match the amount of force that the leader uses, e.g. a gentle lead with a small amount of force should have a gentle “follow”, and a strong lead with a greater amount of force should have a strong “follow”.
The hand closest to the lady`s body does the leading.
Lead me! Lead me, now!
With apologies to “The Little Shop of Horrors”
In order to follow, you must be prepared to be led, i.e. be prepared to move when led58.
Followers shouldn't restrict the leader's leading options — don't lock yourself into positions that you can't easily be led out of.
In particular, the leader needs a dance frame or handhold to be able to lead you. The leader cannot lead your body if there is no connection because your arm is limp, they will only be able to move part of you easily (normally just the arm). Conversely, if you are too rigid, then the leader will still not be able to move you quickly, as you will be “rooted to the spot”.
Followers should avoid keeping their left arm low when the leader tries to come in to a dance hold, as this will (inadvertently) prevent the leader taking up a (comfortable) “closed dance hold” with their right hand on the follower's back. If a follower finds that their left arm is under the leader's right arm in a closed dance hold, the follower should bring it in between both partners and place it on top of the leader's right arm — as there is no way for the leader to lead the followers left arm without releasing from the closed dance hold.
Don't dance on autopilot (and anticipate) — try to listen to the lead. If the lead is not clear, stand still and do nothing — don't guess. If you anticipate, you will make it difficult if the leader tries to be creative and tries to dance a variation.
Sometimes it can be difficult dancing with a (beginner) leader, and it can be tempting to dance what you anticipate, rather than following their real lead.
Unfortunately, anticipating for (beginner) leaders won't help them learn to lead well; they will be lulled into thinking that they are leading, when in fact you are simply performing the move.
Similarly, forcing, or preempting the lead (even to dance the move on time) may actually interfere with the leader's learning process, as it breaks the link between their “intention”, their muscle movement and the follower's subsequent movements.
If your leader is having trouble with a move in class, then rather than forcing the lead or anticipating, it is probably more useful that you suggest that you show or tell your leader how the step should be danced. An explicit demonstration gives the leader time to learn and concentrate on “the shape of the move”, without confusing the leader's idea of “the lead for the move”.
Followers should take the idea of the musical tempo from their leader, since the leader may not follow the “naive” musical tempo. For example, a leader may dance to fast music at “half time”, or conversely dance to slow music at “double-time”.
Followers should “follow the leader's chest” at least in dance hold / circling moves, e.g. if start parallel then stay parallel, if in a “V”-position, don't open or close the angle, unless there is a definite lead to do so.
Even out of (closed) dance hold followers should “watch the leader's chest” — as this is a good indication of the leader's (future) movement.
If a leader isn't leading you, then you should stay “on the spot” — this doesn't mean that you necessarily need to stand still, you can add your own decorations while waiting for a lead, e.g. arm styling, hip rolls, body ripples, wiggling, etc.
If a leader leaves you in a particular location, then they will expect you to remain there until they lead something new. For example, if a leader disconnects and dances a spin, then they will expect to be able to reconnect and lead you in the same location that they left you. If you start to wander around then this will affect the timing of the reconnection and the subsequent lead and follow, since the leader will take longer to return to a position from which they can lead you.
Newton's first law of motion following
An object A follower at rest will stay at rest and an object a follower in motion will continue moving at the same speed and in the same direction, unless acted upon by some external force their leader.
Similarly, the lead and follow can break down if the “follow” gets ahead of the lead, this can lead to a vicious circle where the leader attempts to speed up to “overtake” the follower, who then speeds up. If a leader doesn't indicate a direction to move, then the follower should remain in-place — the most difficult lead is to lead “nothing”. If a leader indicates a direction to travel, then the follower should move in that direction and continue moving in that direction until the lead changes. Note, that some moves rely on the follower continuing to follow a “previous” lead without an explicit handhold, e.g. Glide.
The lead indicates the direction of travel, rather than providing “motive power”, so followers shouldn't rely on their leaders propelling them. It is important for followers to put their own energy and impetus into the dance — several moves rely on the follower's momentum being used (and redirected) by the leader. Similarly, followers should be able to brake and stop themselves — rather than moving (quickly) and relying on the handhold (and the leader) to stop them, as this makes the lead and follow jerky, e.g. when partners step apart.
Some organisations suggest that follower is responsible in keeping their hand(s) in contact with the leader's hand(s) — until the leader releases that hand. At the very least there is a shared responsibility to avoid the handhold(s) separating.
Keep arms “free” — when wrapped into the leader's side keep your free hand over the joint hands, to avoid it trapping the arm.
Let go when the leader releases your hand — if you are led into a spin and keep hold after the leader releases you, then it will probably put you both off-balance, and slow your spin down. If hands can be released quickly, then leaders can easily lead fast hand changes, etc.
If the leader actively offers his hand, then the follower must take it — either with her free hand, or with the hand that is closest59 (or the right hand if there is a tie, or if the lead is unclear). For a hand to be offered actively it must be placed in a position so that the follower can easily see it and can see it early, as they finish a particular movement. If the leader wiggles their fingers then this is a “subtle” social dance cue that the hand is “actively” offered for the follower to take. Similarly, a hand that is palm up, or palm facing the follower, is also likely to be being offered actively. For example, one cue that an offered hand will lead a follower into an extra turn (anticlockwise if left hand is offered, clockwise if right hand is offered), is to offer the hand palm facing towards the follower with the thumb pointing down — since it is clearer that the offered hand is not only going to take up the handhold.
If the leader doesn't actively offer his hand, then the follower should not take his hand. Simply because the leader's hand(s) is “available” this shouldn't be interpreted as an invitation for the follower to take one or other.
An offered hand should be the highest priority for a follower to take — even if the requested arm might be used for styling it should still take the leader's offered hand.
Some teachers encourage the follower to keep their right hand (arm) available, by using the following phrase:
The lady is always right.
However, while it is generally the case that the leader will want to catch the follower's right hand, there are other (rare) situations. Ideally, the follower should try to keep both hands available for the leader to catch.
It is the leader's option to catch the follower's hand (which should be available — or should eventually become available, e.g. after the follower finishes an (unexpected “sabotage”) multiple spin). The leader should catch or actively take the follower's hand, unless the catch is out of their sight, e.g. behind the leader's back as in Confident Hatchback. If the follower tries to catch the leader's hand (to “help”) it makes it harder for the leader to catch a hand moving “unpredictably”. Alternatively, the leader may have decided not to catch the follower's hand, as they are leading something unexpected.
If you let your free arm drop to your side when you are in a hammerlock position, then you have effectively locked yourself. The leader won't be able to lead you to rotate and unwind out of the hammerlock, because your free arm will stop your rotation. This style of move is more often seen in dance styles like Salsa, but should also be leadable and followable in Modern Jive
Similarly, if the follower is facing the leader in an open position and has placed their (the follower's) hand on the leader's shoulder, or chest — then this will also act as a lock preventing the leader unwinding the follower by pulling their hammerlocked hand.
In a dance hold (or similar side-by-side positions) the follower should keep their left arm free when they are turned, or spun out. For example, if the follower is on the leader's right side and leaves their left arm across the leader's back, e.g. with their left hand on the leader's left shoulder, then they are likely to hit the leader with their left arm unless they are careful in raising it vertically upwards, just before they are turned, or spun out. Followers must both recognise that the leader is preparing them to turn or spin out, and quickly raise their free (draped) left arm vertically upwards as they turn or spin out — leaving the arm straight up until they are away from the leader.
If a leader places the follower's hand(s) in a particular locations, then the follower should should leave their hand(s) as they are placed by the leader, e.g. on the leader's shoulder if placed there during a Comb until the leader steps away, or otherwise indicates that the hand can be released.
For example, a leader may place the follower's hand on their own waist — the follower should then keep their hand in contact with the leader's waist if the leader dances a spin. This technique allows the leader to easily find the follower's hand as they finish dancing the spin.
Similarly, the leader may place the follower's arm in to a hammerlock position — the follower should leave their arm in that position until the leader makes a different request, e.g. offering a hand. This technique allows the leader to release that hand and “disconnect” from their follower, and then to easily take up that hand in the same position that it was released and “reconnect”.
When offering a free hand, then keep the hand slightly cupped — almost as if it was in a handhold — this will make it easier for the leader to take your hand, without fear of the handhold slipping (as might be the case were you to offer a flat hand).
58It's probably easier to ask your partner if you want to dance specific moves or a particular routine, rather than trying to force it to be led.
59Unfortunately, because most Modern Jive moves are taught with the follower using their right hand, many followers are reluctant to use their left hand to take the leader's offered hand — even if it is nearest.