The follower's arms and back are tools that both the follower and leader can use to make the lead/follow more effective.

Once in a while, David will be dancing with a student and he'll say to them, "you're doing that wonderfully well, but you also need to be able to do it in this less good way." It's a strange statement.

But, sometimes, one lead is great for an advanced follower and yet would fail miserably for a beginning follower or visa versa (a follow would do well for an advanced leader but wouldn't do well for a beginning leader).

This concept is good for both people who are leaders and followers, both advanced and beginners. It's a matter of the subtlety of pressure. It's you're more advanced, you can use this in a more subtle way and immediately from the beginning of the movement to enhance the togetherness.

If you're dancing with a beginner, then this is one of the most important techniques to make the dance feel good and to make the lead/follow work clearly, even though the other person doesn't necessarily have the strongest of skill sets.

Here's what no slack can look like.