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(Music)

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(Applause)

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Trevor Copp: When "Dancing With the Stars"[br]first hit the airwaves,

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that is not what it looked like.

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(Laughter)

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Jeff and I were full-time[br]ballroom dance instructors

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when the big TV ballroom revival hit,

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and this was incredible.

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I mean, one day we would say "foxtrot,"

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and people were like "Foxes trotting."

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(Laughter)

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And the next day they were telling us

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the finer points of a good feather step.

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And this blew our minds.

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I mean, all of the ballroom dance[br]geeking out that we had always done

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on why salsa worked differently[br]than the competitive rumba

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and why tango traveled unlike the waltz,

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all of that just hit[br]the public consciousness,

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and it changed everything.

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But running parallel to this excitement,

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the excitement that suddenly,[br]somehow, we were cool --

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(Laughter)

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there was also this reservation.

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Why this and why now?

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Jeff Fox: When Trevor and I[br]would get together for training seminars

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or just for fun,

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we'd toss each other around, mix it up,

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take a break from having[br]to lead all the time.

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We even came up with a system[br]for switching lead and follow

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while we were dancing,

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as a way of taking turns and playing fair.

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It wasn't until we used that system[br]as part of a performance

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in a small festival

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that we got an important tap[br]on the shoulder.

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Lisa O'Connell, a dramaturge[br]and director of a playwright center,

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pulled us aside after the show and said,

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"Do you have any idea[br]how political that was?"

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(Laughter)

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So that began an eight-year[br]collaboration to create a play

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which not only further developed[br]our system for switching

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but also explored the impact[br]of being locked into a single role,

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and what's worse,

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being defined by that single role.

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TC: Because, of course,

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classic Latin and ballroom dancing[br]isn't just a system of dancing;

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it's a way of thinking, of being,

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of relating to each other

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that captured a whole period's values.

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There's one thing that stayed[br]consistent, though:

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the man leads

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and the woman follows.

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So street salsa, championship tango,[br]it's all the same --

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he leads, she follows.

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So this was gender training.

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You weren't just learning to dance --

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you were learning to "man" and to "woman."

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It's a relic.

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And in the way of relics,[br]you don't throw it out,

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but you need to know[br]that this is the past.

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This isn't the present.

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It's like Shakespeare:[br]respect it, revive it -- great!

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But know that this is history.

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This doesn't represent how we think today.

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So we asked ourselves:

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If you strip it all down,

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what is at the core of partner dancing?

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JF: Well, the core principle[br]of partner dancing

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is that one person leads,[br]the other one follows.

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The machine works the same,[br]regardless of who's playing which role.

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The physics of movement doesn't really[br]give a crap about your gender.

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(Laughter)

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So if we were to update the existing form,

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we would need to make it[br]more representative

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of how we interact here, now, in 2015.

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When you watch ballroom,[br]don't just watch what's there.

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Watch what's not.

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The couple is always[br]only a man and a woman.

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Together.

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Only.

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Ever.

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So, same-sex and gender nonconformist[br]couples just disappear.

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In most mainstream international[br]ballroom competitions,

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same-sex couples are rarely[br]recognized on the floor,

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and in many cases,

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the rules prohibit them completely.

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TC: Try this: Google-image,[br]"professional Latin dancer,"

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and then look for an actual Latino person.

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(Laughter)

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You'll be there for days.

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What you will get is page after page[br]of white, straight Russian couples

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spray-tanned to the point of mahogany.

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(Laughter)

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There are no black people,[br]there are no Asians,

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no mixed-race couples,

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so basically, non-white people[br]just disappeared.

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Even within the white-straight-[br]couple-only paradigm --

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she can't be taller,

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he can't be shorter.

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She can't be bolder,

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he can't be gentler.

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If you were to take a ballroom dance

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and translate that into a conversation

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and drop that into a movie,

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we, as a culture,[br]would never stand for this.

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He dictates, she reacts.

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No relationship -- gay,[br]straight or anything --

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that we would regard as remotely healthy[br]or functional looks like that,

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and yet somehow,

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you put it on prime time,[br]you slap some makeup on it,

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throw the glitter on, put it out there[br]as movement, not as text,

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and we, as a culture,

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tune in and clap.

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We are applauding our own absence.

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Too many people have disappeared[br]from partner dancing.

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(Music)

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(Applause)

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JF: Now, you just saw[br]two men dancing together.

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(Laughter)

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And you thought it looked ...

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a little strange.

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Interesting -- appealing, even --

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but a little bit odd.

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Even avid followers of the same-sex[br]ballroom circuit can attest

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that while same-sex partner dancing[br]can be dynamic and strong and exciting,

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it just doesn't quite seem to fit.

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Aesthetically speaking,

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if Alida and I take the classic[br]closed ballroom hold ...

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this is considered beautiful.

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(Laughter)

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But why not this?

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(Laughter)

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See, the standard image that the leader[br]must be larger and masculine

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and the follower smaller and feminine --

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this is a stumbling point.

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TC: So we wanted to look at this[br]from a totally different angle.

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So, what if we could keep[br]the idea of lead and follow

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but toss the idea that this[br]was connected to gender?

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Further, what if a couple[br]could lead and follow each other

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and then switch?

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And then switch back?

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What if it could be like a conversation,

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taking turns listening and speaking,[br]just like we do in life?

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What if we could dance like that?

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We call it "Liquid Lead Dancing."

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JF: Let's try this with a Latin dance,

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salsa.

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In salsa, there's a key transitional step,[br]called the cross-body lead.

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We use it as punctuation[br]to break up the improvisation.

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It can be a little tricky to spot[br]if you're not used to looking for it,

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so here it is.

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One more time for the cheap seats.

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(Laughter)

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And here's the action one more time,

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nice and slow.

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Now, if we apply liquid-lead thinking[br]to this transitional step,

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the cross-body lead becomes a point

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where the lead and the follow can switch.

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The person following can elect[br]to take over the lead,

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or the person leading can choose[br]to surrender it,

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essentially making it[br]a counter-cross-body lead.

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Here's how that looks in slow motion.

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And here's how it looked[br]when we danced it in the opening dance.

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With this simple tweak,[br]the dance moves from being a dictation

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to a negotiation.

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Anyone can lead. Anyone can follow.

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And more importantly,[br]you can change your mind.

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Now, this is only one example[br]of how this applies,

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but once the blinkers come off,[br]anything can happen.

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TC: Let's look at how Liquid Lead thinking[br]could apply to a classic waltz.

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Because, of course,

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it isn't just a system of switching leads;

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it's a way of thinking

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that can actually make[br]the dance itself more efficient.

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So: the waltz.

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The waltz is a turning dance.

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This means that for the lead,

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you spend half of the dance[br]traveling backwards,

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completely blind.

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And because of the follower's position,

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basically, no one can see[br]where they're going.

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(Laughter)

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So you're out here on the floor,

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and then imagine that coming right at you.

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JF: Raaaaaah!

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(Laughter)

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TC: There are actually a lot[br]of accidents out there

0:11:01.092,0:11:03.334
that happen as a result[br]of this blind spot.

0:11:04.080,0:11:07.322
But what if the partners[br]were to just allow for

0:11:07.346,0:11:09.495
a switch of posture for a moment?

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A lot of accidents could be avoided.

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Even if one person led the whole dance[br]but allowed this switch to happen,

0:11:17.117,0:11:18.503
it would be a lot safer,

0:11:18.527,0:11:21.571
while at the same time,[br]offering new aesthetics into the waltz.

0:11:22.221,0:11:25.654
Because physics doesn't give a damn[br]about your gender.

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(Laughter)

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JF: Now, we've danced Liquid Lead[br]in clubs, convention centers

0:11:31.179,0:11:34.007
and as part of "First Dance,"[br]the play we created with Lisa,

0:11:34.021,0:11:36.363
on stages in North America and in Europe.

0:11:36.387,0:11:38.070
And it never fails to engage.

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I mean, beyond the unusual sight[br]of seeing two men dancing together,

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it always evokes and engages.

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But why?

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The secret lies in what made[br]Lisa see our initial demonstration

0:11:49.604,0:11:50.907
as "political."

0:11:50.931,0:11:53.506
It wasn't just that we were[br]switching lead and follow;

0:11:53.530,0:11:56.587
it's that we stayed consistent[br]in our presence, our personality

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and our power, regardless[br]of which role we were playing.

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We were still us.

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And that's where the true freedom lies --

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not just the freedom to switch roles,

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but the freedom from being defined[br]by whichever role you're playing,

0:12:09.527,0:12:12.083
the freedom to always remain[br]true to yourself.

0:12:12.457,0:12:15.557
Forget what a lead is supposed[br]to look like, or a follow.

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Be a masculine follow

0:12:17.160,0:12:18.383
or a feminine lead.

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Just be yourself.

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Obviously, this applies[br]off the dance floor as well,

0:12:23.614,0:12:26.153
but on the floor, it gives us[br]the perfect opportunity

0:12:26.177,0:12:29.474
to update an old paradigm,[br]reinvigorate an old relic,

0:12:29.498,0:12:33.687
and make it more representative[br]of our era and our current way of being.

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TC: Jeff and I dance partner dancing[br]all the time with women and men

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and we love it.

0:12:39.407,0:12:43.970
But we dance with a consciousness[br]that this is a historic form

0:12:43.994,0:12:48.304
that can produce silence[br]and produce invisibility

0:12:48.328,0:12:51.022
across the spectrum of identity[br]that we enjoy today.

0:12:51.820,0:12:53.314
We invented Liquid Lead

0:12:53.338,0:12:58.503
as a way of stripping out[br]all the ideas that don't belong to us

0:12:58.527,0:13:02.822
and taking partner dancing back[br]to what it really always was:

0:13:03.830,0:13:06.756
the fine art of taking care of each other.

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(Music)

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(Applause)