The Argentine Cross. Probably the single most used piece of tango vocabulary. 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!

What is The Argentine Cross ? In it’s simplest form, the ‘Cross’, as it is known, is a distinct and unique piece of Tango vocabulary that doesn’t exist in any other social dance in this form. While there are ‘crosses’ in other social dances, there isn’t another cross like this anywhere else. What makes it unqiue ? For one, in this version of the cross, the Follower is a willing participant, and actually an expectant one. Why ? Because it’s used so often nearly everywhere that you really do have to wonder sometimes if that’s all we ever do in Tango. Two steps and then we cross. You could quite literally spend entire song or tanda doing nothing but Argentine Crosses. Mind you, doing so will not achieve the desired results of pleasure that you’re looking for out of your partner. More like they’ll be insanely bored and pissed off at the same time. So, not so much with the ‘Cross’ for an entire song. Still another reason why this is unique is because, in every other social dance, the Cross is ‘placed‘. Meaning that the Follower is put into position by either crossing the Follower’s legs deliberately which ends in crossed feet, or moving their feet to a crossed position deliberately. In this cross, while the Follower can be placed, or forced, or pushed, which by the way we do not want to do, in this instance, they’re quite decidedly led in a very specific way to put them and their body into a position where they have only one option, to cross their feet, hence the reason where it get’s it’s name from. Further still in every other social dance, their version of a Cross is where the Follower simply crosses their feet. In Argentine Tango, the Follower is walked into a position to thereby cross their feet. This is known as “walking them to the cross”.

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About The Video. This video comes in at 21m:13s in length in 6 Sections. This video contains has combined Follower and Lead Technique.

Section 1 – Lead & Follower Technique – 00:11:28
Section 2 – Open Embrace – 00:01:28
Section 3 – Close Embrace – 00:00:54
Section 4 – 5 Errors of The Cross – 00:03:24
Section 5 – Getting In Front – 00:01:51
Section 6 – Examples – 00:01:39

Related Videos Mentioned.

The 6 Ways of Walking – Download
Dancing Foundation – Download
Follower Technique – Download/Article
Leading Technique – Download/Article

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Tag: argentine

Argentine Cross – Tango Topics

The Argentine Cross

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