Synergy
The venerable Thich Nhat Hanh
A guest post by Reed Colver
“Drinking a cup of tea and the tea being drunk is a distinction that evaporates. Drinking a cup of tea becomes a direct and wondrous experience in which the distinction between subject and object no longer exists.”?-Thich Nhat Hanh
When I read Thich Nhat Hahn’s words about tea, I immediately thought of the relationship between the lead and the follow.
We talk about ‘light leads’ and not being a ‘heavy follow’ in class. We talk about not gripping each other’s hands for fear of accidentally letting go.
If we do – so what?
One of the great things I’ve been learning is how to work with the lead, or as a lead with the follow, so that together we are visibly neither on the dance floor, but we are a unit. So if you do accidentally let go, read each other, have a fun moment – play! – and reconnect.
One of the unique elements of learning at Paso is the synergy created between follow and lead that creates a shared dance. To sense and feel one another as dancers. We are both responsible for the moment, and sometimes that means having to improvise. And have fun.
Recently, I was out dancing on a Saturday night with a non-Paso crowd, and there was one, experienced, lead who did the following when I missed his lead:
Stopped dancing
Dropped his arms
Shook his head -slightly
Then started over in open position.
He did this throughout the dance, and by the time we finished I was somewhere between mystified and irritated.
Regardless of who missed what, every time he dropped his arms in the middle of a move I was: confused and standing (not dancing!) in the middle of the dance floor; frustrated because I felt I was missing something – I just didn’t know what; and not enjoying myself.
Learning to follow, and learning to lead over the last two years has given me great respect for the shared experience on the dance floor. In many ways isn’t the follow or the lead’s dance, it’s our dance.
We each have our moments, but when the lead is aware attentive and in tune with the follow, and the follow is aware, attentive, and in tune with the lead, and the two have found their rhythm, their pace, their flow with one another – the distinction between lead and follow evaporates and creates that ‘direct and wondrous experience’ where both become dancers.
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