I've studied Barbara Mettler work through my mother most of my life. One of the golden rules, she's told me time and time again is that a GROUP DANCE is an entity where there is NO leader.. where the group movement grows and evolves... on movement growing out of another.. the group dynamic a cohesive whole. In other words, the ENTIRE GROUP feels the next movement and where the group is supposed to go in its' improvisational group creation.

Then, witness my shock and frustration when, and we were in the middle of a group movement.. I felt the group literally YANKED in a direction, and one pretty much different from where I felt the "group flow" was supposed to go.

I felt hauled about.. I felt as if our group harmony had been sheared off, and that we were YANKED in that new direction.. that we weren't growing, weren't shaping something together.. but were BEING SHAPED.

Before this, I felt every single group member's participation and could FEEL the group's dynamic force.. almost as if it was an EM field. I could feel what the group was doing, what it was about to do....

This person had danced formally with Barbara for years and years. But I didn't like how he just "grabbed" the group like that.

He's coming back for an evening.. and I know he has intentions of dancing... and I'm a bit apprehensive that he'll do again what he's done before.

I'm not LITERALLY saying, "Where does he get off" but I guess honestly, that is going through my head.

It IS possible for the group to create, move, feel, flow, evolve without it being commandeered like that.

S.

Why don't you just yank back? Group movement always includes conflict.