Salida Básica – What it’s hiding ?

The Salida Básica is usually the first choreography or sequence that we learn as beginners. There are two variants, in parallel system and in crossed system.

If you have been dancing for a few months, it is very likely that you know what is coming next. You can go straight to the point.

SALIDA BÁSICA – COMMON KNOWLEDGE

It is a very useful sequence for a beginner. It contains 8 steps and can be used to dance a complete musical phrase.

It’s also useful for circling on the dance floor since most of the movements move in the direction of the dance floor.

We can find three of the four basic movements of tango, the Open step, the Back Cross and the Front Cross.

Only the Pivot is missing, perhaps the most difficult movement to incorporate when we are starting to dance and thanks to its absence the sequence is considered simple.

While both versions are simple, the parallel system version is easier.

In the Salida Básica in a parallel system the two people have the same number of movements and both step at the same time throughout the sequence.

In the Salida Básica in a crossed system it is different. There is a moment near the beginning where the leaders have an extra move, where they step and the followers don’t step. And another moment in the middle of the sequence where the opposite happens, the followers have an extra move where they step and the leaders don’t step.

In those two moments we change the system.

The two sequences begin in a parallel system until the second movement and at this moment we have to decide which of the two options we continue with.

Let’s see both versions with their movements:

Salida Básica in a parallel system – Movements

Salida Básica in a crossed system – Movements

HIDDEN DETAILS IN THE SALIDA BÁSICA

If you paid attention to the boxes with the movements you will have noticed that some of Katrin’s movements were in light blue. This is the first thing we can find in the Salida Básica:

| The follower makes a complete Giro.

That’s right, it’s such a big turn that it looks like a line, but the steps are there from the second move:

 Open step – Back Cross – Open – Front Cross – Open step

Most likely if you’re familiar with The Giro Code you had already realized this.

| The Follower has 4 lateral movements.

The two most obvious lateral moves are the first and seventh, Open steps to the sides.

The third move is less obvious but it is also a lateral Open step, the last move. It is commonly called “Weight Shift” but it is basically an Open step with the legs together.

The fourth lateral movement is the most tricky, it is the fifth movement of the sequence, the Front Cross, or Milonguero’s Front Cross.

Unlike the third movement of the sequence, which is a Back Cross that advances in the direction of the floor, at the end of the Front Cross the two legs are crossed but together side by side, with the weight on one leg.

| In the fifth movement the couple turns.

To understand this point you have to understand and accept the previous point, if necessary you can read it again.

This phenomenon happens in both versions, but it is more evident in the parallel system.

The follower’s fifth move is a lateral Front Cross in relation to their own hip but in relation to the partner in a counterclockwise circular movement.

On the fifth move of the Salida Básica in a crossed system the leader is not moving, only the follower is moving and this move is circular around the leader.

In the fifth movement of the Salida Básica in a parallel system the leaders moves with a lateral Open Step in relation to their hip but in relation for the couple it is a circular movement in an counterclockwise direction.

It is the same sense than the follower’s Front Cross. So the couple is rotating around an imaginary axis that is between the two, in the middle of the couple.

| The Follower has 3 changes of direction, the leader even more.

When we combine two Open steps or two Crosses, with or without pivots in between, we have a “Change of Direction”.
If you don’t know this concept, tell me in the comments and soon I will write an article about it.

Salida Básica – Alternatives

Usually the Salida Básica is used as the beginning of another sequence, using a reduced version that goes from the second movement to the fifth one. In our Youtube Práctica EL PASITO DE LOS MIÉRCOLES you can find these options:

Salida Básica – Parallel System Alternavives

Salida Básica – Crossed System Alternavives

Did you enjoy it ?

This article was intended to open discussion and share our ideas, experiences and research at the moment of writing it.
It’s a great exercise to write down ideas and thoughts, revisiting ideas, choosing the right words, keep it consistent and clear so everybody can understand and get something from it, even those ideas you think are totally “digested” already.
Will we continue to think the same in the future? We won’t know until that future arrives and we can compare it.

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