Why Women Fail to Do Cruzada

Tango dancing begins with a four-step routine called salida done diagonally on woman's right and ending with the woman's cruzada. The first step of salida is a side step. In the second and third steps the man walks on the woman's right, causing the need for her to recove the symmetrical position in line with him. The most convenient way or shortcut to recover that position is to cross her left leg in front of her right leg in the fourth step. There is no other signal telling her to do the cross except that he is walking on her right. In other words, the woman relies on her sense of equilibrium to realign herself with the man by crossing her left leg in front of her right leg.

Tango women must be able to perceive and adjust their body position in relation to their partner. The sense of equilibrium is essential for maintaining alignment. A well-developed sense of equilibrium not only provides women with balance, stability and control over their movements, helping create a visually pleasing appearance, it also makes them sensitive to changes in their body position in relation to their partner, enhancing their ability to maintain proper alignment and weight distribution in partnering work.

Students with good sense of equilibrium can quickly get used to crossing their left leg in front of their right leg when the man walks on their right, while those with a weak sense of equilibrium are less sensitive to changes in body position in relation to their partner, thus often fail to do cruzada. For such women, practicing salida helps to get them into the habit of doing cruzada when the man walks on their right.

Bad embrace can also cause women to be insensitive to changes in their body position in relation to their partner. Some women wrap their left arm around the man's right arm, causing their body to be on the right side of the man's body. This misalignment makes them less sensitive to changes in the man's body position when he tries to make the woman do cruzada by walking on her right. Novice women using an open dance hold also can't perceive subtle changes in their partner's body position due to the lack of physical contact. Both may cause them not to do cruzada when they should.

The right embrace is symmetrical, in which the two partners face each other chest against chest, his left hand holds her right hand at shoulder height, his right arm wraps around her body, and her left arm is hooked around his right shoulder or neck, so the two are perfectly aligned. This correct embrace is not only the most comfortable, it also allows the woman to feel any subtle changes in the position of the man's body, so when he walks on her right, she will naturally reposition her body with the cruzada to put her body back in alignment with him.

In my experience, failing to do cruzada is a common issue many women often have. Probably a third of the women I dance with fail to do cruzada from time to time, although they may not know it, and most of them are not novices. By adding an extra step, cruzada allows the woman to change her weight, transforming the dancing system from parallel system to cross system, or from cross system to parallel system. Because this affects how the man leads the next step, it is vital for the woman to do cruzada when the man wants her to do so by walking on her right. Developing a strong sense of equilibrium, using correct embrace, maitaining proper alignment, paying attention to changes in the body position in relation to the partner, and practicing salida all help to get into the habit of doing cruzada.