[Tango-L] dreaded back step

[Alexis Cousein]

Sergey Kazachenko wrote:
> Charles Roques wrote:
>> You start there and build from it
> 
> In, for example, cha cha, you start from the basic step and keep adding to it.
> But the basic step itself is a legal figure that can be danced on the floor.
> The tango 8CB step the way it is usually taught - starting from the
> back step - should not be danced at all.
> 
Why not? You can dance the "back" step without being against the line of
dance (or simply in place if you don't have even a micrometer of room behind
you or are not sure), just like you can dance "forward" steps against the ronda
(yes, I do see people who chant "no back step" as a mantra but still manage
to make a mess of things, just because they think that mantra chanting protects
them against all evil spirits and ills).

There's too much emphasis on the "step sequence" in all this criticism and too
little on navigation (i.e. awareness of context) -- and a lot of unwarranted
fundamentalism as a result.

The "dreaded" "back" step is a part of the illustrative pattern simply because
the pattern serves to show some possibilities - stepping inside, stepping
outside, stepping sideways, a cruzada, and yes, to show that the leader
doesn't *always* *have* to march incessantly onwards to *his* front.

If you're teaching it so that it causes navigational issues, it means you're not
providing proper context or making people aware of navigational issues, but to be
frank, if that's the case, your pupils will be able to make a mess of things with
*any* pattern; after all, most dance floors have corners, and they're bound to
get lost as soon as they encounter one, and once they start doing any gyrating
moves, you can be sure that no awareness of context leads to "front" steps against
the line of dance anyway.


The Golden Rule: don't step where you don't know you have room, or adjust
the step length to make sure you do have the room. Whether the
"step" is sideways, to your back, to your front or turning doesn't change that.