[Tango-L] Line of Dance

[HBBOOGIE1@aol.com]

Huck 
I agree with you 100% well  said.

In a message dated 10/12/2010 6:55:14 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
tempehuck at gmail.com writes:
On Sat, Oct 9, 2010 at 5:39 PM, Phil Seyer  <professionalsguild at gmail.com> 
wrote:
> I've seen many tango master  instructors, dance against the line
> dance for a while.  It's  necessary for many dance figures.

Any "figure" requiring travel against the line of dance either
needs to get  chopped into parts redirecting all movent to align with
the line of dance, or  far more likely, relegated to the performance
stage where such figures  belong.

> In my opinion, the key is to
> know when it is safe to  do so,
> and to keep it in moderation, while continuing to  progress,
> most of the time down the line of  dance.

Uh oh.  We've agreed on  so many musical topics in the past, but
I must regretfully disagree with you  on this:   As a dancer, you are
entitled to the space of perhaps  one backstep, if you keep it very
short, and the space to direct the woman  around you in a tight
molinete, maybe if you are lucky.  You are not  entitled to turn 180
degrees and  set off in a backward direction "in  moderation", or as
long as you don't do it "most of the time" or if you "only  do it when
it's safe."  You are not to do it ever.  You have  progressed down the
line, and that space now belongs to the couple next in  line in that
lane.  It is not yours.

> One instructor points  out in one of his videos that it's safe for him
> to dance backwards into  a certain space because he knows the
> space is available since he has  just been
> there himself moments  ago.

I would hope this  instructor is only talking about trivial
movement such as taking a rock step  forward and then immediately
rocking  back.

With regard to any  considerable space, the leader next in line
in the ronda knows it is there  too, trust me (he's likely even waiting
for it like a voracious dog about to  be fed), and he rightfully
considers it to be *his* space because it has been  vacated.  Once
you've progressed down the line, any space you've vacated  no longer
belongs to you, it  belongs to the next couple in line, and  you have
vacated it forever.  You do NOT get to turn around and set  off
backwards because "you know you just came from there."  Or  "because
it's safe."  Or for any other reason, including the next leader  in
line appearing in your humble opinion to be too clueless to
immediately  fulfill his responsibility to take up the space vacated.
If you do set off in  a backwards direction, you are stealing something
that does not belong to  you.

To be clear, obviously I am not  talking about trivial movement
such as taking a forward rock step and rocking  right back.  Or facing
backward with a leg extended so your partner can  step over it.  I am
talking about the sorry practice of leaders actually  turning around
and taking a series of forward steps against the line of  dance, as if
they were Don Quijote setting off to conquer windmills.   And I am also
talking about going backwards more than one  step.

Following these and other  codigos might seem overly strict to
some, but in my opinion doing so is the  only way to acheive the goal
of the entire floor cooperatively dancing as if  it were one organism,
rather than a bunch of individuals viciously scrapping  for any free
space in a contest to see who is the most  dominant.

Huck

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