It is often said that the woman is doing essentially the same thing as the man in many dances, only backwards. However, this is not EXACTLY true. There are at least two kinds of symmetry involved.
The first is analogous to looking into a physical mirror - like east coast swing, where the woman steps back for a rock step on her right at the same time as the man steps back on his left, just like if he was observing his image in a mirror. The second is more like a mirror in time: the follower does the second half of a symmetrical pattern, like a box or VW turn, while the leader does the first half, and then vice-versa. A common teaching tool in a beginning class is for everyone to learn the full basic together, then get followers to start doing it at a different point than leaders.
The second kind isn t present in 6-count swing, which doesn t have symmetry within the basic, but it s in most of the other ballroom dances. Sometimes the two types of symmetry happen at the same time, as in Cha-cha crossover breaks. In 2 Step, NC2S.
, Cha-Cha, Waltz, Foxtrot, etc., the followers and leaders (at least basically) are doing mirrored steps; so when first learning these dances you can adjust a misstep or timing error simply by observing where your partner is in relationship to you. WCS is more difficult to initially learn than most, because the leader s foot body movement is so different from the follower s.
For the most part you must KNOW the basic and can t just follow someone. Also because of the amount of time spent in an open position, the lady must learn to follow (and the man must learn to lead) more precisely than one can get away with in other dances. There are many aspects about WCS
to befuddle the novice dancer.
In particular of the basic whip there seemed to be as many ways of doing it as there are teachers. It took me a while to figure out the logic behind each of them, and why ultimately they were all defensible.
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