----- Original Message ---- > From: Ming Mar <ming_...@yahoo.com> > > Mario writes: > >In this video we see two very experienced and capable > >social dancers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbUai1Lv5-0 > I find it interesting that after he does 6-7-8 of the > basic, the next step is a back step. I also find it > interesting that he sometimes takes three back steps. > While some people might dislike the back step, it is > evidently authentic. > This video provides a very good example of how experienced dancers navigate in the milongas of Buenos Aires. Almost every man who has any sense of navigation in the US proceeds around the floor walking facing forward in the direction of the ronda, using turns when forward progression is no longer feasible. This is how we have all been taught - walk forward and turn if you can't walk forward anymore.. I have never met an instructor who has taught otherwise for tango, although I have met a rare few who teach a different (perhaps optional) mode of progression for milonga. In Buenos Aires milongas with experienced dancers (the Lo de Celia milonga shown in the video is a good example), the men start the dance facing the tables, with the woman with her back to the tables. The man typically starts the dance with a back step on the right foot that moves back towards the center of the floor (side left is another option). The second step is typically then side left, which progresses in the direction of the ronda, but not facing in that direction. The dance then progresses in the ronda to a large degree with side steps and forward steps towards the tables. The man brings his feet together (first right, then left) when near the tables and then starts the sequence again with the right foot backward towards the center. This creates a rectangular pattern, a 'basic' 1-2-3-4 (back right - side left - forward right - collect left to right) that is the backbone for navigation. This is sometimes (rarely) taught as a basic for milonga in the US. (I believe I have only encountered 3 instructors who have done so, and 2 were Argentines.) The orientation (angles) of the rectangle (technically now a 'quadrilateral') can be modified somewhat (e.g., diagonal forward towards the tables). This basic rectangular navigational pattern is interspersed by turns; in this case Ruben uses mainly counterclockwise turning back ochos into a molinete to the right. Also note that the only cruzada from a walk (as opposed to the ocho cortado) that Ruben leads is in crossed feet, i.e., as a transition out of a back ochos sequence. One rarely sees the 'salida - cruzada' (1-2-3-4-5 of the "8-count basic") in the milongas of Buenos Aires. Despite this navigational strategy used by milongueros in Buenos Aires, virtually no one teaches this is the US and thus virtually no one dances this way in the US. Ron _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l