"Natural" Motion and Cross System

[Subliminal]

 ok, so I had a "duh!" moment last night. I was practicing my walk, and thinking about ways to get in and out of cross system. And suddenly it occurred to me that the reason cross system feels awkward isn't the footwork and the offset, it's the mismatched natural motion of the leader and follower's torsos. I know, this is probably obvious to some of you already. And it also came to me that this can be used to your advantage when starting a pivot, that the leader returning to a natural torso movement is all that's needed to lead an ocho. And then it came to me that I was already doing this.  I think my teacher brainwashed me, and I'm only now just figuring out what she did.

I have to wonder now, what does cross-system walking feel like to a follower? Maybe I'll ask my practice partner tonight.

[QPO]

from my liminted ezperience in AT, I agree that all the leads come from the mans chest, that is the driving force of the dance, of course then where you turn your hips will also determine the direction of travel... but very interesting to have one of theose Duh! moments

[TangoDancer]

ok, so I had a "duh!" moment last night. I was practicing my walk, and thinking about ways to get in and out of cross system. And suddenly it occurred to me that the reason cross system feels awkward isn't the footwork and the offset, it's the mismatched natural motion of the leader and follower's torsos. I know, this is probably obvious to some of you already. And it also came to me that this can be used to your advantage when starting a pivot, that the leader returning to a natural torso movement is all that's needed to lead an ocho. And then it came to me that I was already doing this.  I think my teacher brainwashed me, and I'm only now just figuring out what she did.

I have to wonder now, what does cross-system walking feel like to a follower? Maybe I'll ask my practice partner tonight.

Great. Have to caution, though, that when the crossed system is danced, the torsos should remain centered, which would mean that there isn't a misalignment.

I do agree about the ocho being led simply by returning to center. It has been difficult to get persons to understand that the ocho is not this big figure 8 thing, but simply a swivel. For the lady, it's basically simply returning to the man, where he will either redirect her into another one, or move out of it.

[TangoDancer]

from my liminted ezperience in AT, I agree that all the leads come from the mans chest, that is the driving force of the dance, of course then where you turn your hips will also determine the direction of travel... but very interesting to have one of theose Duh! moments

Just for clarification... many say to lead from the chest, but this can be misleading (pardon the pun). It doesn't always refer to an actual physical chest touching/moving lead. It simply means to lead from the sternum center. Many persons misunderstand this.

[QPO]

Yes that would make much more sense and I think V did that

[Subliminal]

Great. Have to caution, though, that when the crossed system is danced, the torsos should remain centered, which would mean that there isn't a misalignment.

That makes sense. I guess the lead for cross-system walking comes a little bit more from partner reference rather than natural torso motion? Hmm. I haven't had any follower complain yet about my lead in cross-system, but I don't know exactly how I do it either! That kind of bugs me.

[Bordertangoman]

Great. Have to caution, though, that when the crossed system is danced, the torsos should remain centered, which would mean that there isn't a misalignment.

That makes sense. I guess the lead for cross-system walking comes a little bit more from partner reference rather than natural torso motion? Hmm. I haven't had any follower complain yet about my lead in cross-system, but I don't know exactly how I do it either! That kind of bugs me.

well if its working it s okay; if your torsos are angled slightly but you are moving forward then alls well; doesnt matter what your feet are doing; or face to face you do what Homer Ladas calls snake walking.