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

[WHITE 95 R]

This is due to a couple of reasons. One is convention and the other is because of the embrace. Actually, the embrace makes many steps to be more difficult to perform symmetrically because the embrace is asymmetrical. However, if the woman is led to do giros around the man in  a CW direction, she will still obey the code and will do a front cross after the open step if the previous cross step was a back cross....

If you consider what is happening when the man walks outside of the woman on either side, it's possible to see than in one case the man is inside the circle and the woman is going around him even as he proceeds along the LOD. OTOH, when the man walks outside the woman, he is going around her and she's not doing the giro. For some reason that I don't know, when the tango cruzado came to be, the man stopped doing the giro or grapevine step. It is probably because when the LOD is followed and the embrace is maintained, it's simply easier for the man to walk along the LOD while inside, and the woman continues to try to go around him in the giro to the left (CCW). 

Eduardo Arquimbau (among others) teaches that in the old days, the tango was danced without any regard for the LOD and both partners danced the grapevine steps while dancing sideways. Later they danced sideways along the LOD with the man in the inside of the circle. It was only later that the tango changed and it's danced with the man walking forward and the woman backwards along the LOD. If you ever get a chance to take classes with Eduardo and Gloria, you'll get a much better (and more fun) explanation of what I'm trying to convey.

Regards,

Manuel


visit our webpage
www.tango-rio.com

> From: keith at tangohk.com
> To: tango-l at mit.edu
> Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2007 00:42:59 -0400
> Subject: Re: [Tango-L] Womans' Front Cross (was Expanding social dancing to	exhibition level?)
> 
>  Manuel,
> 
>  In that case, why does the woman's front cross only happen when the man is walking outside partner on the right side?
>  Why doesn't it happen [inevitably] during a left side walk?
> 
>  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.
> 
>  Keith, HK
> 
> 
>  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 responsability to follow the code of the tango. Once the firts step 
> >of a giro has been led, (direction and motion) the other steps come in a prescribed sequence.
> >
> >Manuel
> >
> >
> >visit our webpage
> >www.tango-rio.com ----------------------------------------> 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 s!
>  t!
> > ep> 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
> >_______________________________________________
> >Tango-L mailing list
> >Tango-L at mit.edu
> >http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Tango-L mailing list
> Tango-L at mit.edu
> http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l