Butterfly Lead is a practice for moving in connection with another.
It lets you experience directly what it takes to lead and to follow — with surprising ease.
The practice originated in Eastern martial arts, where it is used to develop sensitivity: the ability to pick up on signals early, and adjust swiftly and seamlessly.
Margarita Steinberg has adapted Butterfly Lead first as a way into Argentine Tango, and then as an embodied exploration of leading and relating.
Participants in her workshops discover how leading and following in the body mirror human interactions everywhere — at home, at work, and at play.
Butterfly Lead practice - with someone encountering it for the first time
About this project
This is a short documentary film (5–15 minutes) exploring Butterfly Lead as a way into understanding leadership and connection.
The film follows participants encountering the practice for the first time — capturing moments of uncertainty, discovery, and growing attunement.
Rather than explaining the method, the film invites you to witness what happens when people begin to relate through connection, rather than effort.
What the practice reveals
At the heart of Butterfly Lead are two simple actions:
- Create a connection.
- Move you.
When connection is alive and vibrant, movement does not need to be forced. What is invited begins to feel like the most natural response.
This shifts how we understand leading and following:
- leading is no longer about making the other person move
- following is no longer about complying with instructions
- both become part of a shared, responsive exchange
What is usually invisible — the quality of connection between people — becomes tangible.
Context and development
Butterfly Lead sits within a wider body of work exploring embodied learning and leadership.
Margarita Steinberg has developed and taught this approach through workshops such as Dance of Leadership, where participants engage directly with these dynamics in practice.
Her work in this area is also reflected in her published chapter:
Steinberg, M. (2019). A Tango for Learning: An innovative Experiential Learning format using Embodied Learning. In Tab Betts, Wendy Garnham and Paolo Oprandi (Eds) Disrupting Traditional Pedagogy: Active Learning in Practice. OpenPress @ University of Sussex.
A glimpse of the film
The main footage will be captured during a live session with complete beginners.
Alongside this, the film will include:
- reflections from participants as they make sense of the experience
- moments of trial, adjustment, and discovery
- glimpses into Margarita’s approach to embodied leadership
Why this film?
Leading and following are often discussed in abstract terms.
But in practice, they unfold between people — moment by moment.
This film explores what becomes visible when that process is made tangible and experienced directly.
Follow the journey
This project is currently in development.
If you'd like to get involved — whether as a participant, collaborator, or supporter — you’re warmly invited to get in touch.
If you’d like to follow along as the project unfolds — or be among the first to see the finished film — you’re very welcome to stay connected.
Project updates
March 2026
Initial concept and development phase. Early design of participant sessions and filming approach underway.
(Future updates will be shared here as the project evolves.)