人们为什么跳探戈舞?

我们跳探戈舞的原因与生活中的阴暗面有点关系。有人说他们跳探戈舞是因为他们喜欢探戈音乐，但他们可以在家里听音乐。有人说他们是喜欢运动，但他们也可以做操锻炼身体。有人说他们喜欢探戈无拘无束的形式，但武术或许也能让他们得到这样的满足。有人说探戈在艺术上具有挑战性，但芭蕾舞在这方面标准更高。如果这些是人们跳探戈的原因，那就不会有探戈了，因为替代的东西很多。

探戈之所以为人们所喜爱有它独特的原因。大多数舞蹈都是为庆祝生活而创造的，但探戈却服务于不同的目的。它是由不幸的人们为躲避痛苦而发明的。他们来舞会不是为了炫耀自己，而是为了暴露自己的脆弱和寻求安慰，为了在舞蹈中跳出自己的孤独，思乡，怀旧和悲伤，为了找一个可以依靠的肩膀，为了躲入一个可以疗伤的避难所，为了满足对爱的渴望，为了触摸另一个人和被另一个人所触摸。这些都是普通人，穷人，移民，工人，服务生，店员，女佣，和出租车司机。他们也许貌不出众外表卑微，但你与他们跳舞时会感觉到，他们的怀抱是温暖而深情的，他们的心地是敏感而富于同情的，他们的感觉是深沉而真挚的，他们的动作是粗犷而有感染力的，他们的舞蹈是充满激情和感伤的。探戈是他们的避难所。这舞蹈的亲密，深情，感性和安慰，映照着并能满足他们内心深处人的需要。这种探戈，是仍然在不太富裕的社会如阿根廷和乌拉圭的舞会上跳着的探戈。

当然，并不是所有的人都有这需要。富裕，成功，自大和浅薄的人，举例说，喜欢探戈的美丽，却不认同它的目的。相反，他们用探戈来庆祝自己的生活，赞美自己的成功，夸耀自己的时髦，显示自己的傲慢，和炫耀自己的优越。传统探戈对他们来说是太朴素了，所以他们进行更改：采用开式拥抱，发明花哨步子，增添卖弄的技巧，使用另类音乐，交换男女角色，等等。结果，他们创造了一种作秀版的探戈。它看起来花俏而感觉空虚。这种探戈现在在我们这样的富裕社会成了一种时尚。

探戈在过去曾多次大难不死，我相信它也能战胜这一挑战，因为人的需要，欲望，渴望，柔弱，孤独，感伤，情爱，彼此依恋，和浪漫主义是人类本性的一部分，即使是心地最硬的汉子也在所难免。不幸的人当然更容易受伤害，这就是为什么他们创造了探戈。这也可以解释为什么探戈舞会在经济不景气的时候比经济繁荣时更加拥挤，为什么女性跳探戈的比男性更多，为什么探戈的复兴发生在世界上游子和移民比以往任何时候都多的现在。探戈永远是孤独，思乡，怀旧，渴求，脆弱，感伤和浪漫者的舞蹈​​。幸运的人也需要探戈，如果他们不被自己的成功和自大所盲目的话。毕竟，我们是人，而探戈是为所有向内寻找其人性的人创造的。

Why People Dance Tango

The reason we dance tango has something to do with the gloomy side of life. Some people say they dance tango because they like the music—but they can listen to the music at home. Some say they like the movements—but they can move their body in acrobats as well. Some say they like the unrestrained form of tango—but martial arts may give them the same satisfaction. Some say tango is artistically challenging—but ballet raises that standard even higher. If these were the reason people dance tango, then there would not be tango, because the alternatives are many.

Tango triumphs for a unique reason. While most dances are created to celebrate life, tango serves a different purpose. It is created by the less fortunate to shelter their sorrows. They do not come to the milonga to play peacocks, but to expose their vulnerability and seek comfort, to dance the loneliness, homesickness, nostalgia, and grief in them, to find a shoulder to rely on, to take refuge for their wounds, to quench their thirst for love, and to touch and be touched by another human being. These are the ordinary people, poor people, immigrants, workers, waiters, waitresses, shop assistants, maids, and taxi drivers. They may not be splendid in their appearance, but you feel it when you dance with them—their embrace is warm and affectionate, their heart is sensitive and sympathetic, their feeling is deep and sincere, their movement is raw and infectious, and their dance is passionate and sentimental. Tango is their refuge. The intimate, soulful, sensual and comforting nature of tango reflects and serves their deep, inward, human needs. This is the tango still danced in the milongas of less affluent societies, such as Argentina and Uruguay.

Not all people share these needs, of course. Rich people, successful people, arrogant people, and shallow people, for instance, like the beauty of tango but don’t embrace its purpose. Instead, they use tango to celebrate their life, to glorify their success, to show off their style, to display their ego, and to boast their superiority. The traditional tango is too modest for them, so they make changes—opening up the embrace, inventing fancy steps, adding ostentatious tricks, using exotic music, swapping gender roles, etc. As a result, they created a peacocky version of tango. It looks flashy and feels empty. This kind of tango now is the fashion in affluent societies such as ours.

Tango has survived many challenges in the past. It will survive this one as well, I believe, because needs, desires, yearnings, loneliness, tenderness, sentimentalism，mutual dependency, love, and romanticism are an intrinsic part of human nature even among the toughest. The less fortunate people are particularly vulnerable, which is why they created tango. This may also explain why milongas are more crowded in bad times than in good times, why more women dance tango than men, and why the revival of tango happens now when there are more travelers and immigrants in the world than ever before. Tango will always be the dance of the lonely, homesick, nostalgic, needy, vulnerable, sentimental and romantic. The fortunate people need tango, too, if they are not blind by their success and arrogance. After all, we are human, and tango is for all who search inward for their humanity.