Hello. I am a leader and have almost exclusively been training from another leader. I have found this arrangement to work very well.

Think of it this way, it is most likely that when a follower teaches a leader, they will teach the leader to do things the way they prefer to be lead. However a leader teachs what will work best to lead all of the followers they have danced with. Odds seem better with a leader teacher.

I will also add that your teacher has to be open to this idea.

In addition if you get stuck, don't hesitate to switch to another teacher more familar to the opposite point of view. They will most likely be more receptive to what you are doing wrong.

Best of luck

Sandy

Around here, most leads take lessons from followers and vice versa -- but our most experienced instructor also teaches lots of leader students as parts of couples. Most leads are male and do not like to dance with a man doing the follow part; also, how would you do pro-am that way?

That being said, we do not have a highly experienced female pro here, and as a result we have a lot more good female dancers (with the male pro) than good male dancers (who are left over from the previous female pro, or who go to other venues for instruction and come back to social dance). We do have a new, less experienced female pro here now, she can improve the man's existing skills but may for a while yet be limited in how much she can teach new moves.

I am doing pro-am with my instructor this year and he does a way better follow part than I do , so I am comfortable with how I will progress. I do now and then take lessons from other follows though, to get the more feminine things like arm movement.

--Bell