[Tango-L] Barridas, sweeps, drags, etc

[Trini y Sean (PATangoS)]

--- On Thu, 11/20/08, Sergey Kazachenko <syarzhuk at gmail.com> wrote:

>> Speaking of barridas, sweeps and drags...
> How do Argentinians define the difference between a barrida
> and an arrastre?  I've heard one teacher saying that an arrastre is when
> the foot goes linear past the lady's standing foot, while a barrida
> is when the swept foot goes around the lady who is pivoting on the
> standing foot. However, most others show the linear move and call it a
> barrida.


Interesting question, Sergey.  I did a check on the Tango-L archives.  The earliest use I could find of the term "arrastre" was in 1996 when Ernesto asked the same thing.  He didn't get a clear answer, either.  The concensus seemed to be that the terms were interchangeable, though that could very well be out of ignorance than an informed opinion (e.g. there was a suggesion that a lleveda was the same as a barrida, but it's not.)Others in that thread were even questioning standardizing terminology.

Searches through later 1997 and 1998 indicate that "arrastre" was a common term.  It was also the term Daniel Trenner used in his teaching videos (specifically vol. 3) and workshops.  I don't have his videos, so I don't know what he shows.

However, a detailed post describing a 1998 workshop by Pablo Pugliese on arrastre's (toward the bottom of the page) might offer you a clue, as well as, give you a pointer on arrastres.
http://pythia.uoregon.edu/~llynch/Tango-L/1998/msg00031.html

The ladies position is not mentioned.  However, if we assume that Pugliese's final position indicates the final desired position of the woman (they would be facing each other), then it would seem that the usage suggested to you would certainly fit.  

In fact, the words "drag" and "sweep" is most often used as your teacher described.  "Arrastre" translates to "drag" and "barrida" translates to sweep.  I do remember the two terms being used differently (as your teacher described) when I first learned the moves in the mid/late 90's.

My guess is that the term "barrida" rose in popularity, at least in the U.S. because it's a lot easier to say.  Also, tango dictionaries do not differentiate the two.  Since these dictionaries were not put together by professionals in the field (linguists?), they might not stand up to rigorous testing.

Hope this helps.

Trini de Pittsburgh