When I arrived in the UK, I was very surprised that the men were called ‘leaders’ and the women ‘followers’. The thing is, this is a convenient translation but probably not the best one…
In Argentina, they say ‘hombre’ (man) and ‘mujer’ (woman). They don’t use the words ‘llevar’ (to lead) and ‘seguir’ (to follow) in the context of tango at all. Somehow, something seems to have been lost/added in translation when tango arrived in the UK.
This is a problem because it puts men and women in the wrong mindset. Women think that they Only Have To ‘Follow and do not realise how much space they have to express themselves, even beyond embellishments. Men, on the other hand, are focused on the Important Task of Leading and forget that they too have to follow their partners.
Maybe we should all be called followers. Or partners.