I’ve been taking dance lessons. Maybe you have too. We all show up to learn a new dance and many of us are strangers. All
dances require certain steps in order to achieve goal, and involve two people working together toward this goal. We’re there to learn how to do polka, for instance, but it involves more than just where to put feet. There are many times in life when we work in pairs, and lessons we learn at dance school can help us with this special kind of teamwork.
1.The Frame. This refers to how man holds his upper body, arms and hands in order to hold woman. He must apply just enough pressure to woman’s shoulder blade, and she in return has to lean into it so he can guide her. She also has to place her hand on his right shoulder “just right.” In this way they can move together.
In dancing, they say man (the leader) is frame, and woman (the follower) is painting. It's man's job to make lady look good. APPLICATION: Every duo working together must be able to feel other person enough to know what’s going on without being mauled. It’s about being assertive, not passive and not aggressive. In an interchange at work, we state our opinion in an argument. We don’t withdraw or bellow and intimidate.
It's leader's job to make follower look good.
2.Leading.
Any dyad that hopes to accomplish something has to have a leader. The man is in charge of what’s called “the sequence.” You don’t sit down with a flow chart or outline to find out what’s going to happen. It’s up to man. The woman has to be able to pick up cues. APPLICATION: To accomplish something, someone must be in charge. The others must be willing and able to follow lead, which doesn’t have to be heavy; it can be subtle.
3.Following.
The woman’s job is to follow, and she has to have a leader. Two people with two different ideas of what’s going to happen will work at cross purposes, and nothing will be accomplished. Even if man doesn’t know steps and isn’t dancing in time to music, you must follow. APPLICATION: Following and leading go hand-in-hand. Each person must know which is their role and do it. Sometimes you won’t know what leader is doing, or won’t agree, but it’s still your job to follow. 4.The Basic Steps.
You start by learning basic steps of dance – where your feet go, where hands and arms go, how you move, and when. After you’ve mastered basics, you can embellish and improvise. APPLICATION: Every large job we do is composed of small, basic steps. To write a story, you have to know how to write a chapter. To know how to write a chapter you have to know how to write a paragraph; for a paragraph, a sentence. If you get overwhelmed, go backward to smaller steps. Count like you do for a dance, “one, two, one, two, three.”
5.The Rhythm.
First you learn steps and then you have to put them to music. APPLICATION: In a teamwork task, it won’t work if you get out of step, out of rhythm. If preparing and eating a meal, cooking, settle table, and doing dishes must all be done in rhythm, at proper time. At work, keyboarder can’t enter data until she receives it. The CFO can’t do budget until department heads provide figures. It’s a great source of stress when people get out of synch, out of rhythm. It messes up dance. 6.The Music.
