1.1 On Nomenclature

The leader and follower are not necessarily a "man" and "woman" respectively. While roles are often switched for teaching, in competition EVERY pair is man-leader/woman-follower. The terms "leader" and "follower" seem SO politically correct (I actually saw a large group class once taught with the terms "the person who dances the part traditionally danced by the man" and "the person who dances the part traditionally danced by the woman", which resulted in a very wordy lesson). Many English coaches seem to use "boy" and "girl," which raises a few hackles, but many fewer than the combination "man" and "girl." Also the traditional International pronouns of "man" and "lady" seem mismatched. The counterpart to a "lady" is a "lord,". Unfortunately, while in modern usage the term "lady" has come to mean "woman of good character and social standing," as well as referring to a specific rank in the noble hierarchy, the term "lord" has come to have only the latter meaning, or God. So it wouldn't go over too well to say "lords and ladies." The modern term for "man of good character and social standing" is "gentleman." The terms "gentleman" and "lady" would probably cause the least objections from a sexist standpoint, and they reflect the atmosphere that ballroom dancing promotes; a bit more than just normal, day to day social interaction. Anyway, the point here is that you will find most all these terms used in this compilation (except all occurrences the words "boy" or "girl" which have been changed) as they have been traditionally defined. If any of this gets your sensibilities in an uproar, I'm sorry - partner dancing is politically incorrect anyway :-)

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This file is part of the lead/follow FAQ list. These are articles compiled from the newsgroup rec.arts.dance by Mark Balzer. Html-isation by Victor Eijkhout, victor at eijkhout dot net. See also the Rec Arts Dance FAQ list Copyright 1996/7/8/9 lies with the compiler, the maintainer and the contributors of various parts.

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