[Tango-L] Brian and Jake Directional Notation Analysis

[WHITE 95 R]

While this is an interesting discussion, I question the value of developing 
and dwelling in a complicated system of nomenclature. I think that all these 
things are quite useful and perhaps even invaluable to the advanced (I mean 
"really" advanced) dancer, they are wasted or even an impediment to the 
beginner or even intermediate dancers.

Having taken many workshops with Gustavo, Chicho and Fabian, I too became 
interested in the subject of positional descriptions. I had the most 
problems understanding Chicho's descriptions of "crossed" and "open" steps 
as they relate to the leaders position. Eventually I found this to be 
interesting and useful but at first, I was mostly lost in the maze of 
possibilities and names of steps that Chicho described and discussed as he 
moved around Lucia while producing the most elegant and difficult sacadas, 
ganchos and boleos with seemingly effortless ease...

It seems that a simple way to describe relative positions of the man and 
woman is by alluding to the "open" or 'closed" side of the embrace (left or 
right of the man). Alternatively one could establish that "right" and "left" 
are the mans right and left sides. As for the denomination of the steps, I 
much prefer to use the basic code of the tango which is that the woman 
generally dances around the man, and the man dances around the pista. 
Furthermore, the woman turns around the man in either direction by using the 
grapevine or "molinete" steps (Open, front cross, open, back cross, etc.)

This would theoretically simplify things a good bit, but in reality, even 
this concepts prove to be open to argument and might cause confusion. For 
instance, the old argument about how to lead the cross step from the 8CB 
salida (or even whether it's a led step or not...), we can obviously (?) see 
how the code works. The man leads the woman to take an open step her 
right... If he stayed in place and turned to his left her next step would 
inevitably be (due to the embrace) a back cross followed by an open step, 
followed by a front cross step, etc. After the salida, the code requires the 
next step to be a "back cross" step, but since the man has moved toward the 
woman, her steps appears to be a "back step".. as he keeps moving the next 
"open" appears to be another "back step" and the "front cross" step occurs 
in line producing the familiar "cross on the 5".....

Now, if one plays around with this and the man moves to different sides of 
the woman at each step (you have to stop at each step of course) and 
considers in which direction the woman would move next, a big range of 
opportunities become available and that particular step could be any of the 
three steps available in the grapevine.... Of course, if you try to explain 
to a beginner woman that the 3rd and 4th steps of the 8CB are really a "back 
cross" and an "open step", you might just produce a big confusion.....

Simplified dancing for all,

Manuel

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www.tango-rio.com




>From: "Nussbaum, Martin" <mnussbau at law.nyc.gov>
>To: tango-l at mit.edu
>Subject: Re: [Tango-L] Brian and Jake Directional Notation Analysis
>Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2006 13:39:41 -0500
>
>This discussion is by far the most interesting I have seen on this list in
>ages, and a useful frame of reference for anyone interested in studying 
>with
>any of the named superstars in Brian's post.
>I have a question for Brian and Jake: why not simply use the term clockwise
>and counter-clockwise, not just for the situation where both are turning,
>but also for the center and circumference situation described in paragraph 
>4
>of Brian's post ?  If one person is not stepping that must already be 
>noted,
>thus anything the partner does at that point can be thought of as part of a
>turn around the stationary,  just as would be noted in any other move, and
>the clock reference seems to universally apply.   Also, Brian, have you 
>seen
>Chico's old video on changes in direction?  I was under the impression he
>spoke of it as you did in the first draft of par 4, from the point of
>reference of the person in the center of the turn, rather than the leader.
>Seems more intuitive to analyze from the center of the turn, as he explains
>what is done to shift to a new center at any given point. Please correct me
>if Im wrong.
>Martin
>
>Brian Wrote:
>After re-reading I'd change #4 to be as follows:
>4) If one partner is stepping and the other is not, one partner is by
>necessity "orbiting" the other, creating a center-and-circumference
>situation.  The direction of that turn is commonly referred to as "to the
>left" or "to the right" of THE LEADER.  If the leader is in the center, the
>follower is going to his left or to his right around him; if the leader is
>on the circumference, he is going to his left or to his right around her
>while facing her...
>
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