Description
Video & Article
Probably the single most overused and highly misunderstood piece of Tango vocabulary ever danced. In a given song, you’ll end up either leading or following a Cross a dozen or so times, at minimum! From a leading perspective we believe that we’re leading a cross, when in actuality it’s more like we’re expecting it more than anything else. From a Following perspective we’ve been led to this venerable piece of vocabulary 10 thousand times and then some, and what’s so weird about that figure is that we can’t even recount just one of them. It’s so engrained in us, so ubiquitous, used so often that we will cross our feet by default without understanding why, or even when it happens, or (and here’s the kicker) that we crossed at all!
The Argentine Cross as it is taught is the most venerable piece of tango vocabulary, yet it is poorly understood, overused, yet danced so often you’d think that half the dance was the Follower crossing their feet for no good reason! And that’s because well there is no reason for it. A good portion of the time the Follower crosses their feet because they don’t know what else to do! It seemed like the logical thing to do at the time, further still is that the lead isn’t Mr. Clear either. Beyond that a good portion of the time you have Rushed Crosses, Forced Crosses, and Placed Crosses.
