Huck I agree with you 100% well said. In a message dated 10/12/2010 6:55:14 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: On Sat, Oct 9, 2010 at 5:39 PM, Phil Seyer <[email protected]> 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 _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
