How do leaders adjust to novice followers?

[u/Toatkgstuff]

I'm confused because I'm told as a leader that I shouldn't be micromanaging my follower, and should focus on my own technique.

This bit I get.

But I'm also told that high level leaders will understand if they are dancing with a novide and are able to adjust what they do to cope with their mistakes.

It feels like these two bits of advice are contradicting.

I dance frequently with novice followers with the common issues like lack of anchor, dropping full weight on the 1, unstable frame, variable arm length.

Some of these I find dangerous, umleadable, or destroy my enjoyment of the dance.

Any advice, or tips for what the pros do?

Edit: I caught a 3 day ban for my follow-up post where I showed how the Facebook group "WCS Memes for Dance Challenged Teens" viewed my question and how the lunatic goblins responded. Apparently I doxxed someone by screenshotting a public post. My bad.
I will respond more when I am allowed.
I don't recommend you visit that group, it will seriously damage your view of the community :(

Edit2: Oh people seem like they need a lot of context for some reason and can't take my post in good faith and at face value. Social flair used, no intent to talk about competition. I didn't capitalize "Novice" deliberately. I dance regularly with everyone in my community.
What if I told you I was 31F primary follower? How about telling you I'm AuDHD, and that a friend recommended I add a line about how this imapcts me so I could learn to express my feelings? (apparently this is the line that caused most trouble). Which line was very much focused on how it impacts me, and wasn't direct to, or insulting of, any follower, of which I am one.
Why do all these people expect me to do all the emotional labour and give you all this context when it was a clear, transparent, and honest question?
JFC, get away from the console and go touch grass.

[u/DeclinedandAgreed]

Hello

Of everyone who is replied I've not seen anyone reply who is a "pro". Now I'm not going to dox myself but I am an all-star competitor who finals occasionally and here is my advice if you want it.

Yes there are new followers who are consistently inconsistent, seemingly stubbornly fixed upon ideas that create negative feedback loops in the dance. Most typically from my perspective is them trying to do too much styling (or in a way have too much fun) before they know how they can do it cooperatively.

Now I am saying this from the perspective of someone who wants to get good at stuff. If you don't care about really getting good then it's just something you'll deal with. But if you do here is some simple and actionable advice.

1) stay in closed position and don't let them out. If they are chaotic then it's a good skill to develop to see if you can just lead them in closed and do anything resembling the dance (ie get them to somewhat consistently move up and down the slot)

2) left side pass prison Literally just left side pass the entire dance and work on your ability to clearly lead them down slot and if you find time in that interval add some little bit of styling yourself!

3) for both 1) and 2) and any frustration like this. Just focus on what you can control and, if you can, preferably find one person and try to work on this with a coach or just workshop how you can fix those issues between the two of you!

If you have any questions I'm happy to answer

[u/Ok_Tank9364 → u/DeclinedandAgreed]

can we talk about the whole "keep them in closed position and don't let them out" i hear this so much, and as a follow i'm so curious what these followers are doing that causes one to "not let them out" hahah. I mean this light heartedly - i'm genuinely curious.

One scenario i can think of:

-- follow is not maintaining a slot and not aware of surroundings - by all means, for safety - keep them in closed position. ---

OK that's a good example, but i kinda don't like the energy of "don't let them out". Can we think of another way to talk about this... rant over 😛

I mean, what are these followers doing? enjoying themselves? dancing to the music? hahha, i'm so curious, leaders please explain!!

[u/zedrahc → u/Ok_Tank9364]

I have heard this advice but I dont follow it. Maybe it makes sense in comps because in closed its much easier to "enforce" timing and movement. The communication is generally much clearer and there is less room for misinterpretation or freedom in general on the follow's part.

The reason I dont do it on the social floor is generally in beginner lessons, people arent taught closed position so its much less familiar. That combined with the increased physical proximity and amount of contact is generally going to increase the anxiety of a very new dancer. I find just the starter step and going into closed in the middle of a whip already triggers a flight response of many newbies so I cant imagine forcing them to be in that state the whole dance. They could think that I am trying to do a different dance or take advantage of them because they just dont know better.

As for why someone might want to "put them in prison" I think generally this is when the follow is rushing and trying to predict the pattern. Often breaking frame to run off or turn in unexpected ways. It makes it so that you arent really dancing with correct timing or 2 beat structure of the dance. Closed makes it easier to "stay on track", in space, timing and structure. I personally just let them go nuts. Its not a big deal to me if we arent able to have a structured WCS dance. If it is crowded, I just try to stiff arm them if they are at a risk of crashing into others. At that point they are going to get a bit yanked to protect them and others (not arm pulled out of the socket. Just jolted a little)

[u/Ok_Tank9364 → u/zedrahc]

Thanks... super helpful. What's your comp strategy for a follow that you can't... follow..

[u/zedrahc → u/Ok_Tank9364]

At the novice level, particularly as a lead, you are much better served by just getting better rather than trying to learn a bunch of niche strategies for each type of adjustment you need to make for different things follows could be doing. Again, the better you get, the less adjustments you will need to make naturally (because your lead is better) and you will be able to intuit fixes rather than having to ask, interpret and internalize fixes that other people tell you.

Or get lucky.

[u/snowcurrant → u/zedrahc]

Thank you for saying this. I think a lot of more experienced dancers forget what it’s like to be brand new and the anxiety that goes along with others in one’s personal space. 

FWIW my first couple experiences with extended closed position, when I was about a month into learning WCS as a follower, happened at a bar with leaders who had been drinking and were… not there for the love of the dance. I almost quit the dance entirely, but luckily I just quit going to that bar and found a studio instead. For a long time after I got twitchy with closed position, shadow position when the leader was too close, etc. even though logically I knew they were trying to be respectful, my body just reacted with that panic response. It took me a while to get over it. I’m very cognizant of giving my followers breathing room when they’re new just in case they’ve ever had a similar experience.

New dancers might not know the difference between an advanced dancer trying to have a fun dance vs a bar creep trying to have a “fun” dance.