Lavar la ropa

ConteoMusical phrasing — no strict numbered break count. Each wringing cycle spans one complete musical phrase of tarraxinha (approximately 60–85 BPM); the arc develops across the opening bars of the phrase and reverses across the closing bars, timed to the bass pulse and vocal contour rather than to a grid.

Tiempo musicalTarraxinha tracks, 60–85 BPM; most comfortable at 65–75 BPM where the slow bass pulse allows the full wringing arc to develop and reverse across each phrase; technically demanding above 85 BPM where phrase compression reduces available time for arc depth and direction reversal.

• Tarraxa close-embrace hold (chest-to-pelvis or hip-to-hip connection)
• Standing-hip lateral isolation without stepping
• Follower's passive-reception skill (following through body contact, not anticipation or active counter-driving)

• ✕Leader steps sideways to generate the oscillation rather than driving from the stationary hip; the feet must remain planted throughout.
• ✕Upper-body sway substitutes for pelvic rotation, producing a torso rock rather than the figure-eight path at the pelvis.
• ✕Follower counter-drives the leader's hip rather than receiving passively, converting the shared wringing quality into push-pull resistance.
• ✕The arc's polarity reversal across the second half of the phrase is executed as an abrupt stop-and-restart rather than a smooth continuation through the midpoint of the oscillation.
• ✕Embrace released or loosened at the pelvis during the deeper rotational phase, severing the contact through which the oscillation is transmitted.

• ≠Body roll / ondulação: a vertical spine-undulation figure that travels from hips to chest; Lavar a Roupa is a horizontal rotational figure contained in the pelvis.
• ≠Saída (kizomba): a traveling exit step in which one or both partners step out of closed position and progress along the floor; Lavar a Roupa is strictly stationary.
• ≠Basic tarraxa weight shift: the elementary lateral or forward-back weight transfer used to establish embrace pulse; Lavar a Roupa extends this into a curving, reversing arc rather than a simple bilateral oscillation.

• Angola (Luanda) — scene of origin

  Lavar a Roupa

  Native Portuguese name in the figure's city of origin; both the figure and its name emerge from Luanda's urban tarraxa practice.

• Portugal (Lisbon) — primary diaspora hub

  Lavar a Roupa

  Same Portuguese term used without modification in the Lisbon tarraxa community, the main conduit for diaspora transmission into Europe.

• International / European tarraxa scene (France, United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands)

  Lavar a Roupa

  Portuguese name retained in instruction across teaching environments; the English gloss 'washing the clothes' is sometimes offered as a pedagogical explanation but is not a locally established alternate name.