I see in a instructional video that the Curl and Spiral in Rumba is much the same. So I'm very confused. Could any one tell me the difference? Thanks.

Waltz2u

They are similar figures. The primary difference is the starting positions. A plain Spiral is done from closed facing using a Natural Opening Out as the lead-in. The man leads the lady sort of forward across his body on the third step and leads her into a spiral turn, then they proceed to a fan ending. A Curl starts from open facing position. The lady will take her third step forward towards the man at which point he leads her into a spiral turn and they proceed to a fan ending. I suppose I can pull out the technique book later if you want more specific details, but that's the main difference between the Spiral and Curl syllabus figures -- the Spiral is done from closed facing and the Curl is done from open facing.

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James Marshall
marshall@astro.umd.edu
http://www.astro.umd.edu/~marshall