Cross System at Right Angles - Cross System is Like Legos
For those who don't know what legos are: They are building blocks which have lots of different bumps, so you can connect different colored blocks in many different places and at different (usually geometric) angles.
That's what we mean here: that you can take a step, interrupt it in many places and stick another step on.
"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources." - Albert Einstein
One thing that people try to do, a little too early, usually, is that they try to improvise. And that's ok. Just realize that, for the first 6 months or year, things won't work out 2 times out of 3. So, for those dances where you really want things to work, it's probably best to stick to what you know and just put them together in random orders.
- Artist Name:
- Carlos di Sarli
- Song Title:
- Bahía Blanca
- Album Title:
- RCA Victor 100 Años - Carlos di Sarli
(Paraphrased from todotango.com): He, as nobody else, knew how to combine the rhythmic cadence of tango with a harmonic structure, apparently simple, but full of nuances and subtleties.
- 00:05
- And you'll start to notice a pattern. And the pattern is, it goes something like this:
- 00:09
- The more things change, the more things stay the same.
- 00:12
- And, earlier on, we said, "You can do anything at anywhere."
- 00:17
- And then, in a later chapter, as you got more advanced, we said, "You can do anything at anywhere."
- 00:21
- And now, as you're more advanced yet, we're saying, "You can do anything at anywhere."
- 00:25
- And, eventually, you're going to say to me, "David, I know what you're going to talk about." And you'll be right.
- 00:30
- So, in this chapter, we're going to take all these previous chapters, and show you how...
- 00:35
- As we were at the beginning of this right angle place, where I could step side, and she could step forward,
- 00:39
- We can do any one of the things we've done before.
- 00:42
- And I want you to see how, at that one moment, you have so much choice.
- 00:44
- And, for the ladies,
- 00:47
- Often, ladies will say things like, and it'll be half true, ladies will say things like,
- 00:52
- "I don't need to know that, I just need to follow."
- 00:55
- And there's some truth to that, but at the same time,...
- 00:58
- So, one thing, is that you need to have good technique, and we'll have a bunch of chapters on good technique,
- 01:02
- But you also have to know it's possible.
- 01:03
- So, often I'll lead women in things and they won't expect it.
- 01:07
- I'll do this.
- 01:09
- And they won't expect, "What, you want me to do this?"
- 01:13
- No, maybe not that, that's not tango, but...
- 01:16
- As we do this, I want you to look at that one spot and see how's there so many possibilities,
- 01:20
- And if the guy takes you in a strange place, maybe that strange place will lead to a wonderful thing.
- 01:25
- And so, you need to get it in your body to go in whatever direction, even a strange direction.
- 01:30
- And what's more, if you're standing on the ball of one foot, forgive me for being wordy,
- 01:34
- If you're standing on the ball of one foot, you can...
- 01:38
- Have lots of choice, and this is a choice, that...
- 01:42
- That's easy to forget.
- 01:44
- Right? So as you doing this, the instinct is to stand on the foot,
- 01:47
- And you'll... have a preference for a place, and so when you go to that place - that's easy.
- 01:52
- So, for example, if I'm standing like this, I'm sort of back weighted. It's easy for me to fall backwards. But it's very hard for me to go forwards.
- 01:59
- And so, when we say, we want you to be able to do all these different things, that forces you to neutral.
- 02:03
- That forces you to a neutral place.
- 02:07
- So that you can go forward, or back, or side, or pivot.
- 02:09
- And it's this neutral place where you want to live.
- 02:13
- That was really good.
- 02:17
- So, for example, we have...
- 02:20
- Side, he changes, she pivots, that's our introduction to get into this position.
- 02:24
- And from here, you can do a lot of things. Right, so I could go...
- 02:27
- Rock, and no, I changed my mind. I could rock side,
- 02:30
- I could go rock this other way.
- 02:34
- If I went over there, that would be the beginning of a forward ocho, but instead of that, I can pivot her the other way.
- 02:39
- And then we could go into back ocho.
- 02:45
- I could step that side but deliberately step smaller,
- 02:49
- So it turns.
- 02:51
- So, at that one place, you have so many choices.
- 02:53
- And I never know what he's going to do.
- 02:58
- And, likewise, if we're standing on this foot, you have all those same choices.
- 03:02
- I could rock here, I could rock... here.
- 03:05
- We could step there having her go further than me.
- 03:09
- I could pivot her, and take her to forward ocho.
- 03:12
- And so, those were the combinations that we showed you earlier. And, what I want you to do right now
- 03:17
- Is, either in your mind, or with your partner, one of the two,
- 03:20
- Slowly go over each one of these possibilities on each leg.
- 03:23
- And then do it repeatedly, because you actually have to practice this, and do it yourself, for it to internalize.
