[Tango-L] Directional notation

[Michael]

Jake:
A dancer's direction is based on the direction their hips
are facing. (My ballroom teacher says direction is based on
the direction my feet are facing.)
For example, let's say I'm going to do front sacadas while
the woman does a molinete to my right. To begin, I lead her
in a front ocho to my left. After her pivot on her left
foot, she steps (to my right) forward on her right foot. I
step forward toward her trailing foot. Both of us are
stepping forward but our forward is in a different
direction. It's like cars on the Washington Beltway. The
cars are going forward on both sides of the median strip.
Some are going clockwise and some are going
counterclockwise, but the cars are going forward. Now, for a
New York example. The Staten Island ferry only goes forward
because wheelhouses are built at both ends. It NEVER has to
be turned around.

Michael Ditkoff
Washington, DC
Away from Washington for the holidays. Amtrak was only 30
minutes late today into New Haven.


> 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
> 
> 
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I'd rather be dancing Argentine Tango