探戈的异化

我从未见过象探戈这样自残的舞蹈。与其他舞蹈不同，探戈的音乐可以自由诠释，所以舞者可以对其随意处置。探戈的舞步也不像其他舞蹈那样有固定的套路，舞者可以在跳舞时即兴发挥创造。探戈的这种无拘无束的性质引起了它自身的剧烈变化，尤其是当“自由精神”的外国人大量涌入，带进来太多外来影响的时候。

无论何事总有人会越轨，探戈也不例外。人们在追求自由时很少想到没有制约的自由会扼杀自由。美国开国之父们理解人性中这个危险的倾向，这乃是他们创造了一个制衡与法治社会的原因。然而，在阿根廷以外，探戈却是个没有法度的社会。“自由精神"的外国人往往为所欲为。他们交换男女角色，用搀扶代替拥抱，用异类音乐取代探戈音乐，纳入非探戈因素，如腋下转，高踢腿和托举等，诸如此类。在美国的探戈舞会上，我们听到的经常是异国音乐，看到的经常是群魔乱舞。虽然他们仍然把那叫做探戈舞会，但其本质已完全改变，与布宜诺斯艾利斯的探戈舞会大相径庭。

探戈是个自由的舞蹈，但它不是个你想怎么跳就怎么跳的舞蹈。探戈有它的特征。例如，它是一个贴身拥抱的舞蹈。不用贴身拥抱而将舞伴分隔着跳舞不是探戈。探戈是个亲密热情的舞蹈。它与由音乐激起的情感息息相关。事实上，探戈更注重的是情感而不是步伐。不管人们试图发明多少新步，没有情感就不成其为探戈。探戈是富有男子气概和女人味的舞蹈，兼有阳刚与阴柔之美。男人是领舞者，他带领，保护，闪耀女人。女人是跟随者，她委身于男人并服从他的带领。拒绝委身，变换角色，或同性跳舞，都不是探戈。跳探戈舞所用的是专门为其编写的舞曲。外国人往往不理解探戈的神奇来自将舞伴连接在一起，激发他们的感情，统一他们的动作，点燃他们的创造力的音乐。把探戈音乐更换成非探戈音乐，探戈就不再是探戈了。

没有人能够阻挡一个允许自由发挥的舞蹈的变革。只有历史会告诉我们什么样的变革经得住时间的考验。探戈已经这样被考验了一百五十年。今天人们所尝试的任何革新，别人在我们前面可能都已尝试过，而大多数的改变未能留存。探戈现今的形式，包括它的音乐，舞步和在布宜诺斯艾利斯依然实施的舞会规则，是历史上不计其数的改革尝试中适者生存的结果。探戈当然会继续演变，但它的演变将延着相同的，使它依然是探戈的方向。任何将探戈改变为非探戈或混合型舞蹈的企图都注定失败。如果不是这样，探戈早就不是今天在布宜诺斯艾利斯所跳的那个舞了。

The Alienation of Tango

I never saw a dance that is as self-destructive as tango. Unlike other dances, tango music allows interpretations so dancers may treat it at their will. Also unlike other dances, the steps of tango do not have fixed configurations. Dancers are free to improvise and create when they dance. This rather untrammeled nature of tango induces dramatic changes to the dance at times like this when free-spirited foreigners pour in, bringing in too many foreign influences to the dance.

Whatever things people do, there are always some who tend to cross the line. Tango is without exception. We humans seek freedom, yet unrestrained freedom defeats itself. Our forefathers understood the danger of this human nature. That’s why they created a political system of checks and balances and the rule of law. Tango outside of Argentina, however, is a lawless society. People do whatever they please to exercise their free wills. They replace tango embrace with an open hold, supersede tango music with alternative tunes, exchange male and female roles, and adopt non-tango elements, such as underarm turns, high kicks and body lifts, into the dance. Now you go to a milonga in America, you often hear exotic music of foreign lands and see rogues of all kinds dancing wild. It is still called tango, but the essence of tango has been changed. There is nothing resemble the milongas in Buenos Aires.

Tango is a free dance, but it is not a you-can-do-whatever-you-want dance. It has its characteristics. For example, it is a close-embrace dance. Breaking the embrace and drifting the partners apart is not tango. Tango is an intimate and passionate dance. It lies in the feelings stirred by the music. In fact, tango is more about feelings than steps. No matter how many new steps people try to create, without feelings it is not tango. Tango is a macho dance. It is danced by a man and a woman and contains the beauty of both masculinity and femininity. The man is the leader who leads, protects and shines the woman. The woman is the follower who surrenders to the lead. Refusal of surrender, switching the roles or making tango a same-sex dance is against tango. Tango is danced to the music specifically created for the dance. Foreigners often do not know that the magic of tango is in its music, which connects the dancers, stirs up their emotions, synchronizes their movements, and inspires their creativities. Changing tango music to non-tango tunes, the dance ceases to be tango.

No one can stop the reform of a dance that invites free expressions, I suppose. Only time will tell which reforms may sustain. Tango has gone through the same trial for one hundred and fifty years. Whatever changes people attempt to bring in today must have been tried by others before. Most of those changes did not stay. The current form of tango, including its music, steps and codes as being practiced in Buenos Aires, is the survivor of the fitness among zillions of attempts to alter the dance along its history. Tango will continue to evolve, of course. But its evolution will be in the same direction that makes it tango. Any attempts to make tango a non-tango dance or hybrid will fail. If not so, tango would have stopped being the tango danced in Buenos Aires today long ago.