travesi = transvestite
The name refers to the fact that the roles of leading and following are switched.
This structure is also called rueda sopresa (sopresa = surprise).
Today it is more common to swap roles using rueda switch.
So far this has not been the most commonly used rueda structure for social use. It is however useful to try, at least to watch your regular role danced from the other perspective. If you normally are a leader, pay attention and see if the lead you are given is clear enough to feel exactly where to move. If you normally are a follower, pay attention to how the follower react to your lead. If he is not moving where you were planning, then you might want to try changing your lead slightly.
Transit
To transit to and from rueda de casino both the leaders and followers have to change their steps, so that leaders step on 1 with their right foot (instead of left), and followers step on 1 with their left foot (instead of right).
Transit command: “travesti”. This is the same steps as the “espejo” transition, but now the hand grip also needs to be changed at the same time, so that the followers are now holding the leaders hands.
Here is a video showing the transit steps of the command travesti or sopresa:
More dynamic role swapping
The role change can also be done more dynamically, and depending on the details, these structures have different names:
- RUEDA SOPRESA (= “rueda surprise”)
The lead and follow both change the steps so L step on 1 with R foot, and F step on 1 with L foot. Figures are led on 1 as in Rueda de casino. - RUEDA CONFUSION (= “rueda confusion”)
The lead and follow do not change steps, but figures are led on 5.
In both variations there are 3 ways to swap roles:
- Swap in guapea (basic step in openposition)
- Swap in the figure “dile que no”
- Swap in a more complicated figure
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Origin
Rueda travesti was taught at the SalsaNor Rueda Congress for the first time in Roskilde in 2015.
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