|
I'm not fond of the term "following."
I don't like that term for two reasons. The less important reason is that this term still carries some negative baggage left over from the early 20th century:
After centuries of emphasis on dancing for the pleasure of one's partner the 1930s saw the emergence of a particularly disagreeable phase of ballroom dance, when the term lead came to mean "command" and follow meant "obey".
L. Ray of Chicago wrote in 1930, "Never should the so-called gentler sex be quite so gentle and acquiescent as when dancing. No matter what her views on suffrage and feminism may be, it is a woman's duty to let the man lead on the ballroom floor. His is the guiding spirit; hers, the following. He is the pace-maker; she is his shadow."
Suffrage and feminism?! Yes, this new ballroom dance attitude developed soon after American women won the right to vote.
|