There are facing, backing , along , down LOD in foot position .
LOD is line of dance . Is it including the imagined line parallel to wall we stand on it and the moving tract not parallel to the wall? What does it mean when we are talking about along LOD / down LOD ?
Thanks!
ylchen

Hi Yichen
There is a good description of the Line of Dance elsewhere on this site. Here's what it says:
"The Line of Dance is an imaginary line which represents the counterclockwise flow of traffic around the dance floor. During traveling dances such as Waltz and Tango, all dancers will move in the same general counterclockwise direction, in order to minimize collisions. "
In other words, it is a line parallel to the walls of the dance hall.
The Expression "Backing LOD" means that the person referred to (the man or woman) is moving backwards in the direction of this imaginary line (their back is facing the LOD).
Departures from this direction (which of course are very common) are covered by expressions such as "DC" (diagonal to the centre) "DW" (diagonal to the wall).
So here's an example: The man is facing along the LOD and does a natural turn through 3/8 of a turn (135 degrees).That turn would leave the man backing DC and the lady facing DC.

here's the link to the explanation on this site:
https://www.ballroomdancers.com/Learning_Center/Technique/LOD/

Dear Phil,
Yes, the description about LOD in this webside is good for repeated reference. But I still not clear about the "along LOD" and "down LOD ".
LOD is a glossory abbreviation of line of dance .Is it possible ?Along LOD/ down LOD were used to imply the different movement track distinct from the track parallel to wall? Down noted backward movement , along forward. Such as to create a curve track with double forward/double backward lock; diagnal long distance movement facing DC .
ylchen

You can think of alignments as being of two varieties: Those that describe orientation, and those that describe direction of movement.

Orientation alignments are more common, and those include "facing" (eg "facing line of dance"), "backing" (eg "backing diagonal center"), and "pointing" (eg "pointing to wall").

Directional alignments are used to specify direction of travel. There isn't as strict a protocol for describing direction of travel as there is for orientation, but certain terms frequently used are "traveling" or "moving", and "down", "towards" and "along". So for example, if the movement is to be along the line of dance, you might see "moving down LOD" or "traveling along LOD". Sometimes the extra verbiage is dropped altogether, and you'll see, simply, "LOD".

There are two primary reasons why technique books will choose to describe a directional alignment: (1) When the direction of travel is different from the orientation of the body, and (2) when the orientation of the body is too complex and/or variable as to be pointless to attempt to document.

An example of #1 is promenade position, where you might be pointing towards DW, but traveling in a direction which is directly down LOD. In this case, the alignment might be described as "Along LOD, pointing DW", or possibly "Pointing DW, traveling down LOD".

An example of #2 is many of the figures in Tango, where the feet, body and head may all be oriented slightly differently, and all different from the direction of travel. In this case, you might see an alignment described as "toward DC", or even just "DC". In this case, you know that the movement is to be directed towards diagonal center, even if the body might be turned slightly more towards the center (or more complicated yet, it may begin on the LOD side of DC and end on the center side). This is why they might opt to simplify the description.

I hope this makes sense.

Regards,
Jonathan