Close embrace

An exception: If you are leading an ocho in a molinete sequence in milonguero style, you can rotate your chest so that the follower steps around. Does that make sense?

For instance.. you are starting a CCW sequence. You might:

Lead a regular side step to your left. (she also does a regular sidestep on her right foot) Then with your weight over your left, rotate your chest/shoulders/torso/ whatever (don't want to get bogged down in THAT argument) Your rotation should send her into the back ocho if she's connected to your chest. (so you took a sidestep and then rotated... she took 2 steps - a side step and a back ocho)

In this case, your rotation does not result in the same type of pivoting ocho that you might do with dissasociation and open embrace. It propels her to make the ocho as a milonguero ocho, but she has pivoted as a whole unit to do it around you rather than directly side.

Does this make sense the way I'm explaining it? It's SO easy to demonstrate and so hard to write about.

You may do a backward ocho the way you want but what I'm telling from the beginning is that sending back the leg diagonally (what I see too often) is not the most elegant way. Look at how Cristina Ladas is performing in milonguero. She's doing right by dissociating first before making the step. That should be the only way to make backward ochos whether you are in open or close embrace. You may be told by instructors to just cross your legs in milonguero but that's just because it would be too difficult for an average dancer to do it properly.
 
I was being sarcastic. La Crusada is one of the most important steps in AT. One of the (many) ways to get into it is to draw back to it diagonally.

You're wrong. It's not to be done diagonally. The leg must move back perpendicularly to the pelvis. That's the lower part of the leg that effectively makes the cross.
 
Crossing the legs does not mean making a diagonal step.
Ummm... I kind of think it has to. At least when walking. I can't see how one can go from a walk to a cross without some diagonal motion going on. It seems physically impossible.

Or am I being stupid? :confused:
 
You may do a backward ocho the way you want but what I'm telling from the beginning is that sending back the leg diagonally (what I see too often) is not the most elegant way. Look at how Cristina Ladas is performing in milonguero. She's doing right by dissociating first before making the step. That should be the only way to make backward ochos whether you are in open or close embrace. You may be told by instructors to just cross your legs in milonguero but that's just because it would be too difficult for an average dancer to do it properly.
I think you may (still) be confusing ochos with these "ocho milongueros" - the latter does not need a pivot. Because it's basically a cross - which involves dissociation but not pivotting.

Unfortunately, whilst I know what I mean, it's difficult to convince you in text - a 1-minute face-to-face tutorial would be sufficient I think, but that's obviously not practical.
 
That, too. That is why in my earlier post I hinted that at times there is no other remedy than looking away from "a sore eye's sight". :)
Everybody is entitled to an opinion. One does not have to be an expert to make one. However, there is always an option out there to make an informed opinion, and I believe it is what most of us are trying to achieve here on this board.
Actually, this thread's been helpful, as it's helped me to understand in my own mind what the ocho-milonguero movement involves. And I think I was quite vague on it before this discussion.
 
Ummm... I kind of think it has to. At least when walking. I can't see how one can go from a walk to a cross without some diagonal motion going on. It seems physically impossible.

Or am I being stupid? :confused:

What's important is the upper part of the leg. You can just cross your legs without moving the upper part. Or you can move it at exactly 9 o'clock with the moving knee in the front or in the back. A diagonal step would be moving the upper part at 10+ o'clock.
 
You're wrong. It's not to be done diagonally. The leg must move back perpendicularly to the pelvis. That's the lower part of the leg that effectively makes the cross.

Oh for god's sake Shaka... even if you are right, that's not how we talk to each other in this forum.

And, for what it's worth, I'm NOT wrong. You're trying to make rules about the way one must move in AT and these rules simply don't exist. I'd like to know what teachers you've had that have insisted upon these rules.
 
That's the problem. Too much people do it incorrectly. I'm just giving advices. If you don't want to improve, that's fine. I'm not going to threaten you.
OK, overlooking the fact that you started off this thread by making a whining preaching post that lacked any real substance, as well as made you appear to enjoy criticizing things that you know very little about, I'll consider the possibility that your posts are sincere, rather than the ravings of a troll.

In this vein, I'd suggest that you consider the possibility that your knowledge of tango might be related to only one style (although it's hard to tell from your posts what style you actually know a lot about). Anyways, these "rules" you talk about, mostly appear to be nothing more than style preferences. This may conflict what what you have been taught, but it would explain why your wisdom has not been embraced as much as you appear to have expected.

Oh, I almost forgot, Welcome to the Forum.

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That's the problem. Too much people do it incorrectly. I'm just giving advices. If you don't want to improve, that's fine. I'm not going to threaten you.

That's sweet of you, but I have teachers already in order to improve. I'm not sure why you would expect me to take the word of an anonymous stranger on the internet whose ideas clearly conflict with EVERYTHING I have learned about AT over the advice of the highly skilled and experienced teachers I have had.

I post a lot about technique on this forum, but I try to do it from the viewpoint of "this is what I was taught and it works for me in the style I dance (and teach) most often... your mileage may vary and it may not apply to other styles"

Your arrogance is not winning you any converts on this forum. If you want to help people improve, I suggest you work on your approach first. Mostly your posts come across as tactless, patronizing, superior, condescending and now, with this "if you don't want to improve" comment, downright insulting. No one is going to listen to the substance of what you say when you express yourself with such an attitude. Even if you were right about all of it, you're just putting people off. Since you aren't right about all of it, you're even less likely to influence anyone.

Good luck with your mission.. I'm going to the movies.
 
Oh for god's sake Shaka... even if you are right, that's not how we talk to each other in this forum.

And, for what it's worth, I'm NOT wrong. You're trying to make rules about the way one must move in AT and these rules simply don't exist. I'd like to know what teachers you've had that have insisted upon these rules.

You would have preferred to be told that everyone is nice and everyone is good at dancing? No one should criticize? So why people are taking lessons if all they do is perfecly perfect? I may talk to you about family, children, travels but I'm sure you would not be interested in sharing such activities with someone you don't know nor than I would. For your information, I have many teachers in many areas like classical dance, argentine tango, tango nuevo, ballroom, salsa, swing and so on. They may not teach the (what I consider) correct things but I get a rather good idea of what's best.
 

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