探戈：历史和文化的影响

布宜诺斯艾利斯是世界上最大的都市之一。阿根廷四千五百万人口中，近三分之二生活在布宜诺斯艾利斯。该城市是由欧洲移民建造的。在十九世纪初，布宜诺斯艾利斯是一个西班牙裔和土著南美人混居的小镇，彼此往往通婚。西班牙人把大量的非洲奴隶连同他们的音乐舞蹈带进阿根廷。在十九世纪的下半世纪中，阿根廷政府决定缩减黑人人口而扩大白人人口，导致大量欧洲移民从西班牙，意大利和欧洲各地迁移至阿根廷。到十九世纪末，布宜诺斯艾利斯的原始人口已经完全被欧洲移民所淹没。我们可以追溯探戈到其受非洲舞蹈影响的雏形首次出现的一百五十年以前，但探戈的主要创造者是十九世纪末和二十世纪初建造布宜诺斯艾利斯的欧洲移民。

探戈是由移民创造的事实有着重要的意义。远离家乡且男女不成比例，移民是最寂寞，思乡，怀旧的人。他们来舞会跳舞是要跳出他们的孤独，想家，感伤和痛苦，是要找个可以依靠的肩膀，是要满足他们对爱的渴望，是要触摸异性和被异性所触摸。探戈是他们的避难所。探戈的亲密，深情，性感和抚慰的性质反映出并能满足他们内心深处的人的需要。这就是探戈是由两个人用胸贴胸脸靠脸的亲密拥抱来跳的原因。他们通过身体接触来沟通他们内心的感情，感受和对音乐的诠释。象舞蹈一样，探戈音乐也是为表达深沉的感情谱写的。它的节奏明快有力，适合于舞蹈，而它的旋律是柔顺，流畅而感伤的。每一个音符或乐句都表达一种男性的强壮，果敢和成稳，或女性的缠绵，顺从和多愁善感。这两种情绪互相交织，彼此回应，映照着正在跳舞的男人和女人。

探戈在二十世纪三十年代到五十年代之间达到成熟阶段，并成为布宜诺斯艾利斯的主导文化。这一时期被称为探戈的黄金时代。紧接着黄金时代的是近三十年的黑暗时期，其间探戈销声匿迹了。一九五五的军事政变推翻了民选总统胡安·多明戈·庇隆。庇隆曾积极支持探戈。反庇隆的军政府怀疑探戈舞众与庇隆站在一条线上，就制造了一种压制探戈的气候。大多数人都不再跳舞，音乐家也停止为舞会演奏。那个时期的音乐主要是为听众而不是为舞众制作的。探戈的复兴是从二十世纪八十年代中期民主在阿根廷恢复以后开始的。从那以后，探戈在全世界范围内得到推广。现在，几乎世界上的每一个国家和欧洲北美的每一个城市都跳探戈。

一个英国广播公司（BBC）的评论员说，“探戈隐藏着一个关于男人和女人互相向往的秘密。”在许多文化中，异性之间的亲密被视为性关系，因此受到自觉或不自觉的压抑。男人和女人不能彼此亲密，除非他们想做爱。换句话说，那些文化不认可男女之间非性的亲密关系。但阿根廷探戈却代表着一种不同的看法或文化，该文化承认并允许男女之间纯洁的亲昵。阿根廷人民是充满激情和非常亲密的人民，而探戈是其文化的产物。探戈的胜利，说到底，是其观念的胜利，这种观念认为男女之间纯洁非性的亲密是正当，健康和美丽的。

但是，这观念的胜利并不是没有代价的。黄金时代以后，许多事情改变了。探戈的传统被中止了近三十年。欧洲移民早已定居下来。男女平衡已经恢复。许多老舞者已经去世。整个年轻一代不知道怎么跳探戈。黑暗时代幸存下来的只有舞台探戈。结果，探戈的复兴是由一批舞台演员带领的。他们带着他们的节目，Tango Argentino，到欧洲和北美巡回演出，并在那里燃起了一股学习他们那种风格的探戈，Tango Fantasia（花式探戈）的热情。

花式探戈不同于黄金时代所跳的探戈。黄金时代的探戈叫作 Tango de Salon，或社交探戈。它是一种大众舞，适合普通百姓的口味，需求和能力。它是在拥挤的舞会上为取乐而不是为作秀跳的，并且受舞会规则的制约。这是一种亲密和感觉导向的即兴舞蹈，一般是用贴身拥抱跳的，舞伴之间有相当密切的身体接触。其步子简单而紧凑，所以舞者能专注于由音乐激起的感受，舒适而感性的拥抱，两人之间通过身体接触所进行的交流，以及与音乐同步的和谐运动。跳社交探戈舞是一种亲切，深情和个人的经验。要紧的是感觉如何，而不是看起来如何。

花式探戈，或表演探戈，则是为舞台表演设计的。这是一种精英舞，涉及相当有难度的舞步和技巧，适合经过特殊训练的专业舞蹈演员而不适合普通百姓。这是一种花哨的，动作导向的，和经过编排的舞蹈，通常使用开式拥抱以增加运动的可能性。其步子动作幅度大，华丽，眩目，危险，而且占用很大的空间。它不是为了给舞者一种亲切深情的个人感受，而是为了用炫耀的动作取悦观众。安全，舒适和简易并不为其所关注。它既不受舞会规则的约束，也不适合拥挤的舞会。要紧的是它看起来如何，而不是感觉如何。

由于缺乏相同的历史和文化背景，欧洲人和美国人对花式探戈比对社交探戈表现出更大的兴趣。他们没有突然爆炸的移民人口拥挤在一个大都市里。他们没有严重的女性短缺问题。他们的舞会不是那么拥挤。他们的文化不许可男女之间纯洁的亲密关系。开式拥抱更符合他们的口味。更重要的是，他们的老师是来自阿根廷的舞台演员。不久，花式探戈就在欧洲和北美成为一种时尚。

尽管如此，外国人对探戈的热情却重新点燃了阿根廷人对自己传统舞蹈的骄傲与激情。舞会重新开张。布宜诺斯艾利斯的居民又返回舞池。探戈沙龙再次爆满。探戈音乐，探戈时装和探戈旅游业蓬勃发展。布宜诺斯艾利斯再次成为探戈的圣地，来自世界各地的舞者都来这里与当地人跳探戈舞。但外国人很快就发现，他们在家里所学的探戈与布宜诺斯艾利斯舞会上所跳的探戈是不一样的。

尝到了布宜诺斯艾利斯的贴身拥抱探戈耐人寻味的滋味，大多数游客不想再返回开式拥抱。他们中有些人决定留下来长住，其他的则回国传播消息。他们的人数随着越来越多的人来布宜诺斯艾利斯与当地人跳舞而逐年增加。趋势在欧洲和北美开始由开式探戈转向贴身探戈。虽然贴身探戈可能还需要多年才能在那里安顿下来并成为主导风格，但我相信那迟早会发生。探戈是为满足人的一种需要而创造的。它的形式必须与它的目的相符合。表面与时尚的东西会改变，但内在和实质性的东西将留存。随着越来越多的人品尝到贴身探戈的魅力，随着舞会变得越来越拥挤，人们不但会想要用贴身拥抱来跳探戈，而且别无选择。最终，属于舞台的舞蹈和属于舞会的舞蹈终将再次分道扬镳。

Tango: Historical and Cultural Impacts

Buenos Aires is one of the largest metropolises in the world. Two thirds of Argentina’s 45 million people live in Buenos Aires. The city was built by the European immigrants. At the beginning of the 19th century, Buenos Aires was a small town with a mixed population of Spanish and Native Americans, often intermarried. The Spanish brought in slaves in large number with their music and dance from Africa. During the second half of the 19th century, the Argentine government made a conscious decision to reduce the black population and expand the white population, which led to the massive immigrations from Span, Italy, and other parts of Europe to Argentina. By the end of the 19th century the original population of Buenos Aires has been completely swamped by the European immigrants. We can trace tango to 150 years ago to its African origin from which the primitive form of the dance first appeared, but the main creators of tango were European immigrants of the late 19th century and early 20th century who built the city of Buenos Aires.

The fact that tango was created by the immigrants is significant. Far away from home, disproportional in gender, the immigrants were the most lonely, homesick and nostalgic people. They came to the milonga to dance the loneliness, homesickness, nostalgia and grief in them, to find a shoulder to rely on, to quench their thirst for love, and to touch and be touched by another human being of the opposite sex. Tango is their refuge. The intimate, soulful, sensual, and comforting nature of tango reflects and serves their deep, inward, human needs. That’s why tango is danced in a close embrace in which the two partners intimately lean into each other, chest against chest and cheek touches cheek. They communicate through their bodies their feelings, emotions, sentiments, and interpretations of the music. Like the dance itself, tango music is created to express deep emotions. Its rhythm is crisp, forceful and easy to dance to, but its melody is supple, fluid and sentimental. Every note or phrase is played with a “masculine” effect— strong, sharp and steady, or a “feminine” effect—lingering, submissive and emotional. The two moods intertwine and respond to each other, reflecting the man and woman in the dance.

Tango reached maturity and dominated the culture of Buenos Aires between 1930s and 1950s. This period is known as tango’s Golden Age. That was followed by almost thirty years of the Dark Age during which tango disappeared. In 1955 a military coup ousted Juan Domingo Peron, the democratically elected president. Peron had actively supported tango. The dancers aligned with him were suspicious to the anti-Peronist juntas, who created a climate that discouraged tango. Most people stopped dancing, and musicians stopped playing for the dance floor. The music produced in that period is largely for listeners and not dancers. The renaissance of tango started in the mid 1980s after the restoration of democracy in Argentina. Since then tango has gained worldwide popularity, and is now danced in almost every country in the world and almost every city in Europe and North America.

As one BBC commentator said, “Tango contains a secret about the yearning between men and women.” In many cultures, intimacy between the opposite sexes is deemed sexual, and therefore is repressed voluntarily or involuntarily. Men and women cannot be intimate unless they want to have sex. In other words, such cultures do not approve non-sexual intimacy between men and women. But Argentine tango represents a different view, or culture, that recognizes and sanctions innocent intimacy. The Argentines are a passionate and intimate people. Tango is a product of that culture. The triumph of tango, after all, is the triumph of its idea, which regards nonsexual intimacy as decent, healthy and beautiful. 

But, the triumph of that idea does not come without a cost. Many things have changed since the Golden Age. The tradition has been suspended for almost thirty years. The immigrants have settled down. The gender balance has regained. Many old dancers have died. The entire young generation did not know how to dance tango. The only little tango survived the Dark Age was the stage tango. As a result, the revival of tango was led by a group of stage dancers, who brought their show, Tango Argentino, to Europe and North America, where they ignited an enthusiasm for learning their style of tango—Tango Fantasia, which is different from the tango danced in the Golden Age.

The tango danced in the Golden Age is Tango de Salon, or social tango. It is a popular dance suited to the tastes, needs and abilities of ordinary people. It is danced on a crowded dance floor for pleasure and not for show, and is administered by the milonga codes. It is an intimate, feeling-oriented and improvised dance typically danced in a close embrace with considerable body contact between the partners. Its steps are simple and compact, so the dancers may concentrate on the feelings stirred by the music, the comfort and sensation of the embrace, the communication through torso contact between them, and the harmony of movements in unison with the music. Dancing Tango de Salon is an intimate, soulful and personal experience. What matters is how it feels and not how it looks.

Tango Fantasia, or show tango, on the other hand, is designed for performing on the stage. It is a highbrow dance involving difficult steps and techniques not suited to ordinary people, but professionals with expert skills. It is a fancy, movement-oriented and choreographed dance, typically danced in an open embrace for broader movement possibilities. Its steps are wide, flashy, dazzling, often dangerous and requiring a lot of space to do. It is not intended to be an intimate, soulful and personal experience, but an exhibition of showy figures to impress the audience. Safety, comfort and user-friendliness are not its concern. It does not abide by the milonga codes and is not suited to a crowded dance floor. What matters is how it looks and not how it feels.

Without the same historical and cultural background, the Europeans and Americans are more interested in Tango Fantasia than Tango de Salon. They do not have a sudden explosion of immigrant population crowding together in one big city. They do not have a severe shortage of women. Their dance floors are much less crowded. Their cultures do not sanction innocent intimacy. The open-embrace style meets their taste. And, above all, their teachers are the stage dancers from Argentina. Before long, Tango Fantasia becomes a fashion in Europe and North America.

Despite this, the tango fervor abroad rekindled the pride and passion of the Argentineans for their traditional dance. Milongas are reopened. Portenos return to the dance floor. Tango salons are packed again. Tango music, tango fashion and tango tourism flourish. Buenos Aires again becomes the Mecca of tango, where dancers from all over the world come to dance tango with the locals. But foreigners quickly discovered that the tango they learned at home is not the same tango danced in the milongas of Buenos Aires.

Having tasted the intriguing close-embrace tango of Buenos Aires, most visitors don’t want to go back to the open-embrace style. Some of them decide to stay for good. Others return home to spread the message. Their number increases each year as more and more people come to Buenos Aires to dance tango with the locals. Trend starts to shift from open embrace to close embrace in Europe and North America. It may still take years for the close-embrace tango to settle down and become the dominate style there, but that will inevitably happen, I believe. Tango is created to serve a human need. Its form must meet its purpose. What is external and fashionable may change, but what is internal and essential endures. As more and more people savor the charm of close embrace tango, as milongas become increasingly crowded, people will want to, and have no choice but dance in close embrace. Eventually, what belongs to the stage will separate from what belongs to the dance floor, again.