Notation

After taking lessons, it is often difficult to remember the steps that were taught. If videoing the steps is not possible, then writing the steps down afterwards is the best alternative. Having tried to do this, I designed a couple of kinetographic scripts, with mixed results. With hindsight, the best method is to write the steps down in shorthand. I hope the following might assist you writing your own steps down. I have also used this notation to illustrate some principles. Here are some convenient abbreviations:

Subject:

M, W        Man/ Man’s, Woman/ Woman’s. Both: ‘MW’

L, R,        Left (leg/foot), Right (leg/foot).

Φ             Axis, Centre of Gravity, weight or balance.

Verb:

Π, ∩         Weight transfer (in part, or completely ).

T              Torsion, turn of the upper body, i.e. twist.

C+, C-     Clockwise, Anticlockwise (hips, couple etc).

!, ?           Movement, either ahead of time, or delayed.

__            Underline, taken as a longer or bigger step.

Destination:

@             To, towards, at, around to or via.

#              Close. [free leg]...moves to standing leg.

1…12      Directions are written 1 to 12, corresponding to

                 a clock face; relative to the direction of the hip.

Movement is described geometrically in terms of where steps are placed, but without the quality of movement, step length or timing. The syntax is ‘what, goes where’, or ‘subject-verb-destination’. So, if the man’s left leg goes forwards: ‘what’ is man’s left leg (ML), which goes ‘where’ forwards (direction 12), is notated ‘ML12’.

Walking, starting with the man’s left foot, can be written:

Pos            A         B         A         B    ...

M                L12     R12    L12     R12

W               R6       L6       R6       L6

Normal walking is synchronised, i.e. in sync. This means that when the man’s left leg goes forwards, the woman’s right goes back, and vice versa. There are three geometries when walking in sync:

I) Walking, man and woman straight in front of each other.

II) Walking, each dancer in the couple is aligned left of the other. The man’s right leg, when stepping forward, passes to the left (outside) of the woman’s right leg. 

The step position marked as ‘BL’ indicates this.

III) Walking, each dancer in the couple is aligned right of the other. The man’s left leg, when stepping forward, passes the right (outside) of the woman’s left leg. 

Step position ‘AR’ indicates this.

Walking type (II) can be written:

Pos (i)   ...  A         BL       A         BL  ...

M  (T2)   ...  L12     R12    L12     R12

W (T2)   ...  R6       L6       R6       L6

Walking type (III) can be written:

Pos (i)   ...  AR      B         AR      B    ...

M  (T10)...  L12     R12    L12     R12

W (T10)...  R6       L6       R6       L6

‘Pos’, or ‘Position’ is the absolute position the man and woman are in. These positions are arrangements of the feet that recur in different step combinations and so enable quick writing/reading and as a link between steps when learning and improvising.

Torsion is required to maintain this comfortably, indicated in the brackets. ‘T2’ is an upper body twist to the right. ‘i’ indicates in sync.

Walking out of sync, also referred to as crossed walking, has two geometries:

IV) Walking, the man is aligned to the left of the woman. The man’s right leg steps forwards, in line with the woman’s right leg which steps back. His right leg is to the left of her left leg.

V) Walking, the man is aligned to the right of the woman. The man’s left leg steps forwards, in line with the woman’s left leg which steps back. His right left is to the right of her right leg.

Walking type (IV) can be written:

Pos (o)  ...  CL       DL       CL       DL  ...

M  (T2)   ...  L12     R12    L12     R12

W (T2)   ...  L6       R6       L6       R6

Torsion is required to maintain this comfortably, indicated in the brackets. ‘T2’ is an upper body twist to the right. ‘o’ indicates these positions are out of sync.

Walking type (V) can be written:

Pos (o)  ...  CR      DR      CR      DR ...

M  (T10)...  L12     R12    L12     R12

W (T10)...  R6       L6       R6       L6

Using this notation to illustrate step sequences, a few might be written as follows:

The Salida, the basic step, can be written:

Count       1          2             3                                       

Pos                                      BL                                         

Man          R6.      L9,T1.    R12@(outside of WR foot).

Woman    L12.    R3.         L6.                                 

Count       4               5                 6             7            8

Pos           A               ‘X’              A                          #      

Man          L12.          T12.  R#.                  L12.      R3.       L#.

Woman    R6.           L#3.           R6.         L9.        R#.

The step WL#3 means the woman’s left leg closes i.e. is placed next to the standing (right) leg at position 3 (the legs are crossed, with little toes touching).

The woman’s Ocho adelante the forwards ocho, where the woman’s free foot moves toe first, can be written:

Pos   from               ‘X’                                                         A          ...

Man          T12,R#.             T2.             T12.                L12.

Woman    L#3.     C-T2.R12. C+T10. L12. T12.R#. R6. 

Note: a Rotation step is written in terms of the Torsion that takes place. For example, ‘T2’ rotates the shoulders (i.e. upper body) to face towards 2 o’clock, relative to the hips. However, because the embrace doesn’t change its shape in Tango, and the partner remains in their place (at this point in this step), then the turn from ‘T12’ to ‘T2’ actually means an anticlockwise turn of the hips. A ‘C-‘ is included for clarity. How this is led is not in the notation, as only the step positions are indicated. It is after all a notation to help remember steps, rather than being a manual to learn from.

The woman’s Ocho atrás, the backwards ocho, where the woman’s free foot moves heel first, can be written:

Ct      2 (from Salida)                                     repeat 2, or...

Pos                               (CL)                                             (DR)                      (CL)

M      L9.R#,T10.  L9.     T2.                  ∩R.   T10.         ∩L

W      R3.  C-T2,   L6.    C+T10,@R#,R6.  C-T2,@L#,L6.

Ct      ...exit to...

Pos   DL                  ‘X’         

M      C-T2.R12?    T12.L#.

W      R6.                 T12.L#3.

Note: Normally, it is assumed that the balance point will move over the foot that has been placed i.e. which has been given a new direction in the notation. Torsion is assumed to continue after the T notation, until the next indication of its change. If the following step is still the same however, if the feet aren’t moving, the ‘∩R’ indicates where the balance should go. In this example, the balance point of the man moves over his right foot. Simultaneous movements are written above each other. ‘(CL)’ indicates a similarity to the step position ‘CL’.

The above assumes that the man’s line of walk is in the same direction, or parallel, to the woman’s line of walk. In other words, if the man takes a step in a particular direction, she will also take a step in that direction. Her step will be parallel, if not aligned. For example, if the man takes a side step, then she will step in the same, parallel direction, though they are not aligned, as they are in front of each other. Like a railway, there are two parallel directions but next to each other.

The man or woman could take a step that converges or diverges from the partner’s line of step. For example, if the man steps towards the woman, placing his foot between the woman’s feet, his line of step converges into her line of step.

Typically, this convergent step is between her feet, as in a sacada, so this can be abbreviated as:

%        Step into partner’s line (between feet), towards...

‘ML%WR’ means that a man’s line of dance converges on the woman’s line, so that his left foot is placed between the woman’s feet, just ahead of her back right foot. ‘ML%’ would simply mean that his left foot is placed half way between the woman’s feet.

Further abbreviations that might be useful:

>, <     Step on a convergent, divergent line (relative to

            partner’s). Compare ‘%’ which indicates a special

            case of convergent step: between partner’s feet.

f           Firulete, adornment.

=          Next to, against, or contact with...

₪,or ∂ Dynamic balance, effect or support.

Θ         Centre of rotation.

↓, ↑      Lowering, or lifting (of the lead).

Ω         Bending, or flexion, of the knee(s).

§          Shape of the embrace changes to...

þ         Pressure / Presence within couple changes to...

¥          Arm movement

. ,       Comma indicates part of the same movement and a full stop indicates its completion.

(...)      For clarity, long hand notes are in brackets.

Should any movement you would want to note not have an abbreviation, either write it long hand, or make up a new symbol!