[Tango-L] Womans' Front Cross (was Expanding social dancing to exhibition level?)

[ceverett@ceverett.com]

On Fri, 24 Aug 2007 00:42:59 -0400, "Keith" <keith at tangohk.com> said:
>  Manuel,
> 
>  In that case, why does the woman's front cross only happen when the man
>  is walking outside partner on the right side?

This is not necessarily so.  I can lead a cross in normal foot
without walking outside my partner.

>  Why doesn't it happen [inevitably] during a left side walk?

The woman's job is to stay inside the frame set by the man. 

Let's say that the man walks to the outside of the woman to 
the left. 

If he twists his spine so that his chest points a bit to the 
right of the LOD at an angle, then she need not cross to keep
the frame.  In that situation, I would expect her to twist her 
to the right so our chests remain parallel while she walks in 
the direction I lead.  If so, when she steps back with her 
right leg, it will open a bit, and when she steps back with 
her left leg, she will cross in back a bit. 

If the man should decide he does after all want her to cross, 
then all he has to do is untwist his spine so that it points 
directly down the LOD again, and she must cross to stay in 
the frame.

So, to lead a cross without walking to the outside, the leader
simply needs to step forward to the outside about 10 cm with his 
left foot, while pointing his chest a bit to the right.  When
he closes with his right foot and point his chest directly down 
the LOD again she has to cross.

I know of at least five ways to the cross is taught, and all 
of them have the woman take a slight open step before she 
crosses.

>  IMHO the woman's left foot front cross, during her backward walk,
>  outside partner on the right side, has nothing to do with the Giro
>  [as much as I respect Gustavo]. It simply changes the partners'
>  positions from outside to in-line. That's all it's for.

The step before the woman's front cross is always an open step, 
which can be as little as one foots width of opening.  From the 
1st position of the 8CB then, we have open step, back step, open 
step, front cross.

It's very blatant in the cross-foot basic, because that back step 
before the cross is really a back cross.

It's like mathematics.  Not everyone can appreciate it (nor should
we think better of those who do), but it has a pristine symmetry 
about it I find deeply inspiring.

Christopher

>  On Fri Aug 24 10:42 , WHITE 95 R  sent:
> 
> >
> > Sorry folks, I should have said that one need not lead a front cross as 
> > opposed to a  back cross after an open or side step. Obviously the man
> > is leading the woman to take each  and every step, but it's her responsibility
> > to follow the code of the tango. Once the first step of a giro has been led, 
> >(direction and motion) the other steps come in a prescribed sequence.
> >
> >Manuel
> >
> >
> From: white95r at hotmail.com> To: patangos at yahoo.com; tango-l at mit.edu> Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2007 22:25:45 -0400> Subject: Re: [Tango-L] Expanding social dancing to exhibition level?>>>> The automatic crossing was what I found a little curious.>> When I started tango many moons ago, automatically crossing>> was the norm. In the States it is not for the most part.>> However, Jon indicated that in BsAs, it was still the norm.>> Any comments about this?>> Trini,>> Many very respected teachers have taught me the same thing.> The tango has a code which is that the woman dances around the man with the> grapevine pattern (open, cross front. open, cross back, etc.). when the man steps> outside of the line, he becomes the center of the circle. In the typical sacada of the> 8CB, the woman begins her giro with a side step to the right. Since the man> is going forward along the LOD, the nest step is obviously a back step. The next step is an open or side step but since the man is guiding the woman along the LOD, it> looks and acts like another back step. It is not, it's an open step... If one obeys the code,> the next step of the woman is a front cross...... It's inevitable, the cross at the 5th step> of the woman is the logical sequence of the molinete or giro.>> For some reason, the Americans have mystified the front cross and many teachers> teach all kinds of crazy contortions to cause the front cross and they also teach that> the front cross must be led in some mysterious way or the woman will just continue walking> backwards without crossing. This is wrong, it would be like having to lead every crossed and open> steps of the giro and that's obviously not the case.>> Regards,>> Manuel> _______________________________________________> Tango-L mailing list> Tango-L at mit.edu> http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
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