I am working on a choreographed routine, so I had some time to think about dance for a show.
When we watch dance, our attention tends to be caught by flashy show/competition moves.
There are dances with strong social roots such as Argentine Tango, West coast swing or Salsa. People who dance the dance socially know what they see on social dance floor. The moves are the basics, and sometimes intermediate moves. We judge dancers by how well they perform the basic and intermediate moves, but not by what kind of advanced move they attempted. I still would't call them advanced if they attempted an advanced move and did it poorly.
On the show/competition, we will see "modified", advanced version of the basic/intermediate moves. It's an "ah-ha" moment.
But, how much can you really lead and follow the flashy move?
If you choreograph the move beforehand with your partner, anything is leadable/followable. If we assume that you both are capable of doing the move, then the execution is just a matter of sending and receiving a cue to initiate, and executing it with necessary support.
If you dance socially with a new partner, your success rate depends on the partner and her knowledge and willingness. Pure "lead/follow" may get you to a certain point of the move, but you cannot expect complete execution of the move. It's just like that.
This practicality rule is simple. But some show-oriented dancers (usually not very good ones I'd say) forget this. They expect the choreographed move would work with anyone they grab at the social party. No, it doesn't work that way. And it is your fault to have such unreasonable expectation.
Follower-Dancers with long history of social dance can have great ability of following. Yet, it is unlikely that her true ability starts shining at the very first dance. She is observing you at first, and assessing the new leader-partner whether he is trustworthy or has the ability to perform lead with care.
So, in short, no, you cannot lead the show move with certainty on the social floor. I want this to be a "common sense".
Leaders, don't assume too much. If you want the move to be done with a new partner, make sure you can lead the move correctly and she can follow the lead first. In social floor, leaders who are solid lead for basics and intermediate moves are received much better than leaders of failing flashy moves.
In fact, the same goes for followers. If her feet are not quick enough in WCS for example (meaning her basics are still developing), yet she tries to do some dance (body rolls etc), she can feel awfully heavy and resisting. Since her correct positioning is unlikely to be done on time, I don't expect the dance would look good. [I'll talk about this in a later entry.]
For me, social dance is fun, because we don't know each other well at first. The way the partner move, the smoothness, and the feel,....all the figuring out and knowing process is a major part of the fun. And if she is good, knows the flashy move and is willing to perform it, it definitely adds fun, too.
