[Tango-L] Directional notation

[Jake Spatz (TangoDC.com)]

Hi all,

I'm wondering if anyone out there has found a more useful way to 
describe direction in tango, since "left-right" and "forward-backward" 
easily become confusing when two dancers are facing each other in the 
embrace.

I've heard one teacher use (on occasion) the terms "open-side" and 
"closed-side," to refer to those respective sides of the embrace. Those 
terms, however, are already used to describe the distance between the 
dancers, so they're not that suitable. I've thought of using "hand-side" 
and "body-side," but that takes a moment of calculation, and I'd like 
something better.

I've also tried using the old salida numbers from time to time-- 2 and 
7, for instance, describe consecutive sidesteps-- but they have a very 
limited application, and only to parallel-system at that. (There being, 
to my knowledge, no cross-system salida.)

Compass points such as North and South don't really work, because each 
partner is tempted to consider themselves facing North. Same goes for 
the clockface system (which is already used for rotation anyway). (The 
compass system may come in handy for describing the couple in relation 
to the room, but that's another matter.)

Ideally, I'd like a set of terms that can explain *to both partners 
simultaneously* what direction everything's going-- relative to the 
couple, but not oriented according to either partner-- during complex or 
asymmetrical movements (e.g., overturned back ochos) as well as in 
simple ones. I've considered using Spanish terms as well as English, but 
that just creates a translation issue and complicates matters for 
bilinguals.

Any suggestions appreciated, unless you're one of the schmucks who was 
in charge of naming quarks.

Jake Spatz
DC