[Tango-L] Directional notation

[Jay Rabe]

Like you said, Jake, it may not be possible to find such a universal 
notation. In my own studies, I've defaulted to "leader does this, follower 
does that."

A couple of points, however:

* I have no problem using the terms "forward" and "backward" to describe 
step directions. I use them to always refer to the step direction in 
relation to the person stepping. So if the leader is facing line of dance, 
then his forward step and the follower's backward step are both in line of 
dance.

* I try to avoid using the terms left and right as directions. I use left 
and right to refer to which foot I'm talking about, and there does not seem 
to be room for ambiguity in that, except for those people who say they have 
"two left feet". So I might indicate a leader stepping L-side, and while 
that does mean a step to his left, really the "left" as a direction is 
redundant information, since the step is fully specified by saying he is 
stepping with his left foot and moving to the side.

* However when either leader or follower is stepping "outside," I find it 
useful to say things like, "leader steps r-fwd outside of follower's right." 
And while I would agree with you if you find such description cumbersome, at 
least it is not ambiguous.

* I use the terms CW=clockwise and CCW=counter-clockwise to clarify 
direction of turns. I'd think there would never be any doubt that CW and CCW 
refer to direction around axis of rotation, while 'right' and 'left' could 
by convention refer to either leader's or follower's frame of reference.

* I think in terms of there being 6 possible "basic steps" from any given 
position: front, back, side, in-place, front cross (ocho), back cross (ocho)

* Regarding the 8CB and numbering of the steps: I have heard instructors use 
the numbers more to refer to the position of the feet than the actual steps 
needed to get there. So if I am standing with my feet together, and my 
follower has her left crossed in front of her right, we are in position #5, 
regardless of what steps we just did to get to this position. Note that with 
this interpretation, positions 1, 4, and 6 are all substantially identical, 
as are 2 and 7.

          J
          www.TangoMoments.com



----Original Message Follows----
From: "Jake Spatz (TangoDC.com)" <spatz at 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


_______________________________________________
Tango-L mailing list
Tango-L at mit.edu
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l

_________________________________________________________________
Talk now to your Hotmail contacts with Windows Live Messenger. 
http://clk.atdmt.com/MSN/go/msnnkwme0020000001msn/direct/01/?href=http://get.live.com/messenger/overview