We all learn “the cruzada” (cross) early on in our tango careers. As a beginner, we are happy just to have the move work: we lead something, the follower does a cross, yay! But most of us learn to “follow” the cross because we are told, “That was a cross!” so many times when we missed a cue, that we jump into a cross whenever we feel a shove diagonally.
The cross doesn’t have to be a signal: it can be LED so that the follower doesn’t have to do the move for the leader. If you approach it this way, you will notice that you can change the dynamic and the speed of the step to make it a musical part of your dance, instead of just a chunk of vocabulary, done without expression or inflection.
Spice it up! Practice at all tempos!
Someone asked me how many different speeds you can do the cruzada. Answer: I have no idea. You can cross in slow motion. You can cross double-time when the music is zippy. You can cross on the beat. You can cross moving in half-time (think graduation walk). You can pause in various places to accentuate drama or fit the music. But then you can also mix those up.
Mix it up! Practice all the approaches!
You don’t have to walk three steps to the cross. You can lead a good cross in one step. You can do a cross in parallel or crossed system. You can lead a cross from a pause. You can lead crosses that are at right angles to the leader. So many choices!
And then there are the OTHER crosses!
Remember that any move that takes the follower’s leg across the midline is a cross step.
When I get a new dancer, I teach them all four diagonal crosses (back, front, with the left, with the right) so that they understand the mechanics of the move. Yes, you will do “the cruzada” (back for the follower, crossing with the left in front) more than the other versions, but more possibilities = more fun.
There are also lateral crosses. I learned these in milonga for efficiency of speed, but they work in vals and tango as well. And there are crosses that are a mix, not diagonal, not lateral (many people would put the cross at the end of the ocho cortado somewhere in here).
There are off-axis moves that end in crosses, like Tete’s ocho and many volcadas. There are boleos that cross the body and rebound out of the cross (this is what we are doing at 8 PM Thursday).
Come improve your “regular” cross and add one or two more variations Thursday! These are GREAT for vals as well as tango, so vals musicality is on the agenda, too. See you there!