Notes

1. Both partners oriented towards each other

Demonstrations
The three demonstrations are in order of decreasing partner distance. The cross step is most obvious in the first video, given Shirin and Nathan's need to cover a greater distance.

The cross step is an artefact of maintaining orientation to each other; a merengue walk with your centreline oriented to the right (of line of dance) would naturally result in steps with the right leg being taken across the body.

Crossing in front of your body is easier than crossing behind because the human body is better designed to take forward steps. But when your partner distance is small, crossing behind will avoid the risk of standing on your partner's feet.

It's not necessary to pause when you've changed place - you can perform one or more rotations non-stop (if you've a penchant for dizziness).

A crossing back step can also create a greater degree of turn, and can be used instead of a “close” step while in close hold for faster rotations.
 

Preparation
The greater partner distance is to help you get used to travelling and developing a feel for stepping across your body.

Visualising the size and shape of the space you are going to occupy is very good practice. It allows you to observe whether there is enough room on the floor for the dance element to be conducted successfully. Advanced dancers use this skill to assess the nature of the space available, and manipulate the points of flexibility in a combination to produce a shape to suit it.
 

Description
(2,3) Lead and Follower: pausing when your places are exchanged is just a means of checking that you've performed the exercise correctly. You should be able to do a complete circle without stopping.

Please don't be misled into thinking that the process is extremely simple by judging it from the length of its description (the unusual presence of teaching points in the preparation section should have provided a very strong hint).

It's crucial that you apply the teaching points diligently until they become natural, so that the shape of your orbit can withstand stresses resulting from the addition of complex elements.
 

2. One partner oriented towards the other, the other oriented away

Demonstration
Shirin demonstrates a fixed intra-partnership orientation, while Nathan demonstrates fixed extra-partnership orientation.
 

Description
(2) Since the point is imaginary, it can be outside the physical boundaries of the room.
 

Goals

Direction of rotation
Orbiting clockwise is easier because of the partner offset. When preparing for anti-clockwise orbits, set up square of your partner. This is particularly important in close hold.

Partner distance
Think of safety when including turns for individuals: be particularly conscious of your partner when your orbit is small, and more conscious of other people when the orbit is large.

Orientation
It is not possible for both partners to maintain a fixed extra-partnership orientation simultaneously, because of a lack of shoulder mobility.
 

Learning Tips

Hula hoop
You have already encountered this tip in:
Orbits: Core / 1. Both partners oriented towards each other / Preparation / Teaching points.

Pulling your following shoulder back
This is a great tip to be used when a greater degree of turn is needed quickly in close conditions.

As you turn, one of your shoulders leads your body into the turn, the other one trails. For example, when orbiting clockwise, your left shoulder leads the way and your right shoulder trails. Most people naturally tend to focus on the leading side, pushing their leading shoulder forward. However the real trick is to think of pulling/rotating the trailing shoulder back. This does two things: it creates space for your partner to move into by making sure that the trailing side of your body is out of your partner's way, and the change in body angle makes it easier to take an angled back-step across your body.
 

Common Faults
The lazy partner
Where one partner refuses to move and makes the other do all the work. Usually committed by the Lead and by far the most common fault. You may have already encountered this tip in:
HALO™ turns for Leads: Extras / considerations.