Obvious connection, right? ;0 So, I'm a Balkan dancer - these are usually line dances from Bulgaria, Macedonia, Greece, Albania, etc., with one person leading a line of dancers. These range from the easy, Pravo Horo, to the more advanced, Jove Malah Mome. Notice in Pravo Horo that the leader calls out a new step - and the dancers, who know the dance, know to change the steps. These are choreographed dances, so there's a pattern to them - but not everyone knows the steps! In some videos, you can see the dancers looking at the leader's feet, and they either know the step, or try to figure it out while they're dancing! To see a lot of people who know what they're doing, check out the Folks Art Center of New England! (Try this one: 4th Saturday Dance, February 2009, with the Pinewoods Band).
Why am I telling you this? Because I saw a fascinating lesson in leadership in the dance group that I've been part of for over 10 years. There used to be 1-2 people who knew all the dances, and the rest of us deferred to them to lead the dance. That meant that we didn't need to learn them well enough to lead them - we relied on the 1-2 experts. But if they didn't come one Thursday night, we were stuck! and didn't know when to start or how to lead the dance. We weren't cross-functional!
Then those 1-2 experts stopped attending the dance - and guess what happened? We all learned how to lead the dances - and it's not just 1-2 people; there are 8-10 people who lead the dances, and there are several people who can lead any given dance. We're sharing the leadership!! So if Sue isn't there on Thursday night, Pam, Ruth and I can lead Sue's dances. Isn't that amazing - if you leave people to their own devices, they'll figure out how to lead, and they'll even share the responsibility. It's much more fun this way, because several people get to lead dances.
Not only that, lest we think that leadership and expertise has to reside in one person, we sometimes collaboratively figure out the dance steps - I may remember the first one, Dan remembers the second, Alan remembers the third. So we combine our knowledge, and voila! we have a dance. I love this approach, because we all take responsibility, and know that we have backup. At the Saturday night advanced dance, I'll often say to my friends: ok, you remember this part, and I'll remember that part, so we can bring it back to the Thursday night dance.
I'm thinking shared leadership is the way to go! :)
Friday, April 16, 2010
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love it! After reading your blog I became more aware of the extensive role of "shared leadership". As a folk dancer I always saw my fellow dancers as people from a same village. Now, I realize that the leaders of dances are also leaders of their village. Yes, we need more representation. Next time I work my way up to the front of the line, I'll know that I am sharing responsibility.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Nora