你探戈之旅的四个阶段

如果探戈对你来说只是所看见的形式——步子，那么你是处在你探戈之旅的第一阶段。在这个阶段，探戈的无形部分还超出你的理解。但是，你不要被步子欺蒙了双眼。它仅仅是海面上冰山的尖顶而已。探戈是一种综合性艺术。虽然你需要知道步子才能跳探戈，但许多同样重要，若不是更重要的事，你也必须知道。此时的你应该把注意力主要放在发展良好的姿势，拥抱，连接，平衡，轴转，上下身分离和行走上。许多学生在姿势尚不好看，身体尚僵硬沉重，拥抱尚破裂断开，行走尚笨拙不稳，而且尚需依靠舞伴来保持平衡的时候，就选择超出自己水平的课程去学习复杂的舞步。结果，那些花哨的舞步对他们并没有多大价值，只是增加他们的坏习惯而已。在这个阶段，你需要克服急功近利的心理，循序渐进，化时间改进你的姿势，拥抱，连接，平衡，协调，轴转，上下身分离和行走，正确地按照标准学好基本步子。这种方法看起来慢，但它会为你奠定坚实的基础，使你能快速进步。

一旦学会了基本步子并开始去舞会跳舞，你进入了你探戈之旅的第二阶段。在这个阶段你会继续学习新步子，但你的注意力应该放在纠正旧习惯和培养新习惯上。如果你的个人习惯不符合探戈标准，或者，如果你在第一阶段养成了坏习惯，你现在需要解决这些问题。这个阶段可能是个漫长而痛苦的时期，因为你一生积累的习惯不容易改变，需要付出时间和努力。你需要一个好老师一点一点地从细节上指点你，帮助你纠正坏习惯。你也可以在镜子前练习，或录下你的舞蹈来分析自己的姿势，拥抱，连接，平衡，协调和动作。你需要不断对你的习惯作出有意识的努力，直到你养成了正确的，符合探戈美学标准的姿势和动作。

当你的舞蹈开始有了探戈的感觉，当你习惯了用正确的方法跳探戈，你进入了你探戈之旅的第三阶段。在这个阶段，你的注意力开始从外部转向内部。一旦步子不再是你的障碍，你可以开始对探戈的无形部分进行工作。你需要提高你的乐感，熟悉不同类型，节奏，速度，情绪，和乐队的曲子，学习跳出每一支舞曲的不同点。你需要学习暂停，学习装饰你的舞步，学习表达你的感情，学习用慢速度和快速度跳舞，学习较高深的，不仅旨在加强舞蹈的外在表现力，而且旨在增添舞蹈的内在感觉的技巧，例如CADENCIA和齿轮效应。你需要提高你身体的柔韧性和协调性，提高用你的身体影响舞伴身体运动并与之和谐同步的能力。你还需要超越舞蹈技巧而成为一个合格的社交舞者。要做到这一点，你需要学习探戈的文化和礼节。随着能力的增长和视野的扩大，你将开始超越你自己。

在舞蹈中超越自我的能力标志着一个重大改变，随着这个改变你进入了你探戈之旅的最后阶段。在这个阶段，你开始注意与舞伴的关系，开始感觉他/她的感情，聆听他/她对音乐的诠释，体察和适应他/她的舞蹈，并与他/她成为一体。你不再为炫耀自己的技能而跳舞，而为让舞伴感到舒服和愉快而跳舞。探戈对你不再是舞步，而是爱的表达。你的带领不再那么强势和困难，而变得温柔体贴和适合舞伴的能力。你想让她感到容易并享受舞蹈的乐趣。你的跟随不再那么笨拙僵硬，与带领相抵触，而变得柔顺轻盈，与带领相和谐。你想让他感觉舒服并享受你。你开始明白探戈的精髓，并象老舞棍那样来理解探戈了。现在，你开始进入了这个舞蹈。

The Four Stages of Your Tango Journey

If tango to you is only what you can see it—the steps, then you are at the first stage of your tango journey. The intangible part of tango is still beyond your comprehension at this point. However, you should not let the step fool you. It is only the tip of an iceberg. Tango is a comprehensive art. Although you need to know the steps to dance tango, there are things equally if not more important that you must know. At this point your main attention should be placed on developing good posture, embrace, connection, balance, pivot, dissociation and walk. (See Tango Is a Language.) Many students take lessons beyond their level to learn advanced steps while their posture is still ugly, their body is still stiff and heavy, their embrace is still broken, their walk is still clumsy, and they still need to hold on to the partner for balance. As a result, the fancy steps that they are learning have little value to them, only enhance their bad habits. At this stage you need to overcome your eagerness to achieve quick results, proceed in an orderly and gradual way, take time to improve your posture, embrace, connection, balance, coordination, pivot, dissociation and walk, and correctly learn the basic steps in accordance with the standard. This approach seems slow, but it will lay a solid foundation that promises fast progress.

Once you’ve learned the basic steps and started to dance socially, you enter the second stage of your tango journey. At this stage you continue to learn steps, but your attention should be placed on correcting your old habits and cultivating new ones. If your personal praxes do not meet the tango standard, or if you gained bad habits during the first stage, you need to fix them now. This stage could be a long and painful period because the wont that you have accumulated in your lifetime is not easy to break. It takes time and hard work. You need a good teacher to work with you in details and correct your bad habits bit-by-bit. You can practice in front of a mirror or record your dance to analyze your posture, embrace, connection, balance, coordination and movement. You need to constantly make conscious efforts against your habits until you have developed and internalized right poise and movements that meet the aesthetics and standards of tango.

As your dance starts to have a tango feel, as you habituate yourself to the correct way of dancing tango, you enter the third stage of your tango journey. At this stage your attentions start to shift from the external to the internal. Once the step is no longer an obstacle to you, you can start to work on the intangible side of the dance. You need to improve your musicality, familiarize yourself with music of different genres, rhythms, tempos, moods, and orchestras, and learn to dance to different pieces differently. You need to learn to pause, to adorn your steps, to express your emotions, to dance in slow and fast motions, and with more advanced techniques aiming not only at the look but also the feeling of the dance, such as cadencia and gear effect. You need to improve the flexibility and coordination of your body and the ability to use your body to affect and harmonize the movement of your partner’s body. You also need to go beyond the techniques and become a socially acceptable dancer. For this you need to learn the culture and etiquette of tango. With the growth of your abilities and the widening of your vision, you will start to see beyond yourself.

The ability to see beyond yourself marks a significant change in your dance, with which you enter the final stage of your tango journey. At this stage you start to pay attention to the relationship with your partner, to feel his/her feelings (See Tango Is a Feeling), to listen to his/her interpretations of the music, to be considerate and adaptive to his/her dance, and to be one with him/her. You no longer dance to show off your skills, but to give comfort and pleasure to your partner. Tango to you is no longer steps, but an expression of love. Your lead becomes less forceful and difficult, but gentle, thoughtful and suited to the abilities of your partner. You want her to feel ease and enjoy the dance. Your follow becomes less bumpy and interruptive, but smooth, light, and in harmony with the lead. You want him to feel comfortable and enjoy you. You start to understand the essence of tango and see tango as what the milongueros see it. Now, you are at the top of the game.

上下身分离与齿轮效应

女人必须站在脚掌前端才能象针尖点地一样容易转动。但她不是转动整个身体，而只转动腰部以下的半身。腰就象连接上身和下身的旋转接头。因为她的上身靠在面前的男人身上，她只有转动她的下身，使其面对不同的方向，才能让腿绕着他迈步。这被称为“上下身分离”。

有经验的跟随者知道，她的上身稍微被领舞者一拧转，就表示而且必须导致她的下身立刻有个大转动。男人把她的躯干稍微拧向他想要她移动的方向，这只是一个信号。在接收到信号时，她需要转动她的臀部，直到它与上身成九十度。在这种扭曲的状态下，她能够在上身靠在男人身上的同时向他的侧边迈步。这个技巧适合女人柔软的身体并能突出她的女性美，因为她的臀部交替从一侧转到另一侧，而她的胸部却始终面对着领舞者。

运用上下身分离的一个典型舞步是“8”字步，其中男人带领她用一只脚在地上画一个“S”，然后用另一只脚在地上画另一个“S”。两个“S”是反向重叠的，所以它们看起来象个“8”。要跳“8”字步，她得把臀部转向男人的一边，用一只脚向前侧迈一步，然后把臀部转向他的另一边，用另一只脚向前侧迈另一步，最后再把臀部转回来面对他。运用上下身分离的另一个类似的舞步是后“8”字步。跳后“8”字步，她首先把臀部转向一边，用一只脚向后侧退一步，然后把臀部转向另一边，用另一只脚向后侧退另一步。运用上下身分离的第三个例子是葡萄藤步。葡萄藤步是一个“8”字步，一个侧步，一个后“8”字步，再一个侧步的环形组合。在所有这三个例子中，女人都保持胸部与男人相连，而臀部交替从一边转到另一边。

臀部的转动导致她的上身在他的怀里滚动，产生一种被称为“齿轮效应”的舒服感觉。胸部是她关注的中心。一切，包括情绪，感受，对音乐的诠释，意图和引诱，都是通过胸部来表达和交流的。女人不应该将胸脯粘在男人身上，而应该让它随着臀部的转动在男人胸前滚动。臀部每转向一边，她的胸脯也跟着滚向一边，直到其一侧与他身体的一侧接触。当臀部转向另一边时，她的胸脯也跟着滚动，直到其另一侧与他的另一侧接触。

胸脯的滚动是由臀部的转动引起的。要产生齿轮效应，跟随者得将臀部转足，直到她的胸脯跟着臀部一起滚动。她应该避免突然和生硬的转动，而使胸脯能够滚动得柔顺，舒适而有音乐感。这并非易事，需要相当的功夫才能做到。不熟悉上下身分离的初学者往往使用交叉步来代替转臀，结果其上身一直保持贴附而不滚动。探戈是一个用身体互相取悦的舞蹈。有经验的跟随者善于用自己的身体来挑逗领舞者，正如有经验的领舞者善于把跟随者的女性美充分展现出来。齿轮效应能增加舞蹈的感官享受。贴身探戈的这一特点是开式探戈所缺乏的。两种舞蹈风格截然不同，这是其中的原因之一。

Dissociation and Gear Effect

The woman must stand on the ball of the foot so that she can pivot as if on a fixed pin. But she does not pivot her whole body. She only pivots her lower body from the waist down. The waist is like the swivel that joins the upper body and the lower body. Because her upper body is connected to the man who is in front of her, she has to rotate her lower body, making it face a different direction to facilitate her movement around him. This is known as “dissociation.”

An experienced follower knows that a small twist of her torso by the leader indicates, and must result in a big swivel of her lower body. The man leads her by turning her torso slightly to the direction that he wants her to go. On receiving the signal, she needs to make a big rotation of her hips until they are perpendicular to her upper body. In this twisted position she is able to walk on the side of the man while her chest is connected to his. The technique suits the flexible body of the woman and highlights her femininity, as she alternately turns her hips side to side while her chest is permanently facing the leader.

A typical figure using dissociation is the ocho, in which the man leads her to draw an S on the floor with one foot, and then draw another S on the floor with the other foot. The two S’s are overlapped in the opposite directions so they look like the figure 8. To dance the ocho, she has to swivel her hips to one side and make a forward step with one foot, then swivel her hips to the other side and make a forward step with the other foot, and then swivel her hips back to face the man. A similar figure using this technique is the back ocho, in which she dances the ocho backward. To do so, she first swivels her hips and steps backward to one side of him with one foot, then swivels her hips and steps backward to the other side of him with the other foot. A third example using this technique is the molinete, which is a combination of the front and back ochos with a side step in between in a circular motion. In all three examples the woman keeps her chest connected to the man and rotates her hips from one side to the other alternately.

The rotation of her lower body causes her chest to roll slightly on his torso, generating a pleasant sensation known as “gear effect.” The chest is the center of her attention through which everything, including emotion, feeling, music interpretation, intention and seduction, is expressed and exchanged. The woman should not glue her chest on the man’s torso, but should let it roll side to side as she swivels her hips back and forth. At each swivel, only one side of her chest is in touch with his. As she rotates her hips to the other side, her chest rolls along until the other side touches his.

The rolling of the chest is caused by the rotation of the hips. To create the gear effect, the woman has to swivel  her lower body fully until her chest rolls along. She needs to make the rolling void of abruptness and bumpiness so it feels smooth, musical and comfortable, which is not easy and needs a lot of practice to master. A beginner who cannot do dissociation often uses crossed steps instead. Consequently, her chest remains square and does not trundle. Tango is a dance in which both partners pleasure each other with their bodies. An experienced follower knows how to use her body to seduce the leader, just as an experience leader knows how to display her feminine beauty. Gear effect increases the sensual pleasure of the dance, a feature of the close-embrace tango that is missing in the open-embrace style. It is one of the things that make the two styles fundamentally different.

探戈中的平衡

由身体位置和姿势的变化而引起的感觉被称为平衡感。内耳中的半规管和前庭器官是产生平衡感的器官。因疾病，药物或酗酒而造成平衡器官功能失调的人不能很好地保持平衡。平衡感可以通过训练来提高。有些经过训练的人比其他人有更好的平衡感。例如，女子体操运动员可以在平衡木上做高难度的动作，杂技演员能凭良好的平衡感走钢丝。有经验的舞者也有很好的平衡感，他们能够在复杂的运动中保持平衡。

跳舞就象骑自行车。骑自行车是用车轮来保持平衡。跳舞是用步子来保持平衡。所有的舞者都需要有良好的平衡感，而女人尤其如此，因为女人在跳舞时是由男人驾驶的。男人把女人的身体往他想要她移动的方向略微倾斜。女人移动多远则取决于她的平衡感。如果她不准确地踩在为保持平衡而必须踩在的位置，她就可能站不稳。站不稳的女人得依赖于男人的帮助，从而变得沉重。男人可能喜欢女人偶尔依赖他的感觉，但如果她总是挂在他身上并抓着他来做每一个旋转和扭动，那对他也会是相当的负担。女人需要知道，保持自身的平衡是她在舞蹈时显得轻盈的关键。有些女人习惯性地依靠男人来做维持平衡，结果，她们自己的平衡感未得到发展。

探戈因两个舞伴在舞蹈中亲密地靠在一起形成一个A字形框架而有自己独特的平衡问题。A字形框架是个互相支持的稳定框架。无经验的女人往往没有意识到，她对男人的支持同男人对她的支持一样重要。如果她向后仰，就会使他失去平衡。有时女人斜靠在男人身上多一点，这并无太大妨碍，因为男人强壮而女人轻盈。但是，如果她斜靠得太多，也可能变得沉重。用倾斜的姿势跳舞需要背部强健。背部无力的女人不能维持这种姿势，尤其是当男人搂她搂得比较低时。有经验的女人会向两个方向跟男人保持对称的抗衡力量：他的胸把她向后顶，而他的胳膊把她向前搂。有些女人在对抗时用力过猛，从而变得沉重。女人需要知道，与男人保持平衡是与他保持一种静止的匀速直线运动或匀速旋转运动，而不是与他摔跤角力。她应该小心地使用适当的抗衡，以避免变得沉重。

另一方面，男人应避免搂女人的腰，因为那可能限制她的行动，并在她软弱的部位增添压力。个子高大的男人应该用肚子而不是胸脯来带领身材矮小的女人。他应该避免前倾过多或弯腰撅腚，因为如果她的背部力量不足的话，那会导致她向后仰。随着她背部力量和平衡能力的增强，她或许能承受更大的压力，能更多地斜靠在男人身上以扩大运动的可能性，甚至想要男人搂着她的腰。男人经常看到有经验的舞者这样跳舞或那样跳舞。有些男人可能会在舞伴还没有这些能力之前就试着模仿他们。请记住，探戈可以以许多方式跳。每个人都应该选择适合自己舞伴能力的方式来跳舞。

Balance

The sense induced by the change of the body’s location and position is called the sense of equilibrium. The semicircular canal and vestibule in the inner ear are organs related to this sense. Those whose equilibrium organs are dysfunctional due to disease, drug or alcoholism cannot keep their balance well. Balance can be improved through training. Some people have developed better balance than others as a result. Woman gymnasts, for example, can do difficult movements on a balance beam. Acrobats depend on their good sense of equilibrium to do high-wire walking. Experienced dancers also have a good sense of equilibrium so they can stay balanced in complicated movements.

Dancing is like riding a bicycle. In bicycling one uses the wheel to keep balance. In dancing one uses the steps to keep balance. All dancers need to have a good sense of equilibrium, but a woman particularly needs so because she is the one being driven by the man in the dance. The man leads the woman by tilting her body in the direction that he wants her to move. How far she moves, however, is decided by her sense of equilibrium. If she steps not exactly where she should to keep her balance, she could fall. A falling woman relies on the man for her stability, thus becomes heavy. The man may like the feeling that the woman occasionally depends on him, but if she hangs on him all the time, and holds on to him in every turns and twists, it could be quite a burden for him. A woman needs to know that keeping her own balance is the key for her to be weightless in the dance. Some women habitually rely on men for their movement and stability; as a result, their sense of equilibrium fails to develop.

Tango has a unique balance problem because the two partners intimately lean on each other to form an A-shape frame in the dance. The A-shape frame is a stable frame in which the two partners support each other. An inexperienced woman often doesn't realize that her support for the man is equally important as his for her. If she leans backward, she could pull him off his balance. Sometimes the woman leans slightly more on the man than the man on the woman, which is okay because he is strong and she is light. However, if she leans too much on him, it could be heavy. Dancing in a leaning position demands strength on her back. A woman with a weak back cannot sustain in that position, especially when the man holds her low. An experienced woman maintains certain resistance in symmetry to the forces that the man applies on her in both directions—his chest pushes her out, and his arm pulls her in. Some women counteract men with too much force, thus become heavy. The woman needs to know that to balance the man is to maintain a state of stillness, uniform-speed rectilinear motion, or uniform-speed winding motion, not to do wrestling. She has to be careful about how much resistance she applies to counteract the man, and avoid being heavy.

The man, on the other hand, should avoid holding the woman on her waist, as this may restrict her movement and add pressure on her weak spot. A tall man should use his stomach rather than chest to lead a short woman. He should avoid leaning forward too much or bending his torso against the woman, as this may cause her to bend backward if she does not have a strong back. As her strength and balance improve, she may sustain more pressure, lean more on the man to expand her movement possibilities, or even want the man to hold her on her waist. Men often see experienced dancers dance this or that way, and some may try to imitate them before their partner is ready. Keep in mind that tango can be danced in many ways. One should choose a way that suits the ability of one's partner.

CADENCIA

很多人把按音乐跳舞单纯理解为踩在节拍上，其实其中还有许多含义。例如，跳舞时使用CADENICA也是这方程式的一部分。CADENICA的意思是身体随音乐的节奏和速度而摆动。换句话说，按音乐跳舞不仅涉及步子的计时，也涉及身体摆动的计时。CADENICA是探戈舞的关键技术之一，可是往往被人们忽视了。

学习CADENICA，你首先需要学会摆动你的身体。大多数人甚至不知道如何摆动他们的腿，更不用说摆动身体了。要摆动腿，你得把重心放在一条腿上，同时把你的上身和胯提起，让另一条腿悬挂着，可以象钟摆一样自由摆动。您需要让那条腿的膝关节和踝关节垂直，使腿看起来修长秀美。现在，设想你的腿不是从胯部而是从胸部开始，也就是说，想象从胸部以下都是你的腿。胸部是你与舞伴相连接的地方。它可以作为把其下所有部分当成一个整体来摆动的支点。这样一来，不仅你的腿看起来修长而秀美，你整个的身体也显得瘦高而优雅。

摆动身体就象摆动一根三节棍。第一节是上身，第二节是臀部，第三节是腿。第一节的一点点摆动，将导致第二节较大的摆动，又将导致第三节更大的摆动。跟随者应该将身体放松，让带领者摆动她的上身，上身的摆动会带动她臀部的摆动，而臀部的摆动又会带动腿的摆动。她不应该在身体未动时就先动腿，而应该让腿跟随身体摆动。换句话说，腿的摆动不是由腿部肌肉引起的，而是躯干和臀部摆动的连锁反应。

这摆动是沿着水平方向。许多学生做不好CADENICA，因为他们只专注于沿垂直方向把脚踩在节拍上，缺乏沿水平方向的运动。做CADENICA需要每一步都产生足够的沿水平方向的运动。脚必须踩在节拍上，但惯性作用使身体在脚着地后继续沿水平方向摆过重心，直到另一只脚落地，或直到惯性减弱，身体摆回来。 CADENICA是两步之间的身体摆动。它感觉起来就好象浪拍击在岩石上后，水继续向前涌，然后撤退；又拍击在岩石上，继续向前涌，然后撤退......

一个好的领舞者知道如何利用惯性，按音乐的节奏和速度来摆动跟随者。领舞者必须意识到，跟随者是否按音乐跳舞在很大程度上取决于他的带领。许多时候，跟随者没有上拍是因为她的身体被摆动得太少或太多，太慢或太快，使她不能踩在节拍上。一个好的领舞者能够摆动得恰到好处，所以跟随者可以准确地踩在节拍上。同样，一个好的跟随者也会按音乐摆动她的身体和腿，尽力配合领舞者的带领。

CADENICA既用于社交探戈，也用于表演探戈，但它主要是一种社交探戈的技术，旨在提高舞蹈时的感官愉悦，而非视觉印象。使用CADENICA不仅需要良好的乐感，而且需要高超的平衡控制能力。这不是一件容易的事。然而，一旦学会了，两个亲密拥抱的身体随着音乐有节奏地一起摆动的愉快感觉会给舞蹈增添无穷的乐趣。

Cadencia

Many people think of dancing to the music only as stepping on the beat, but there is much more in it. Dancing with cadencia, for example, is also a part of the equation. Cadencia means the swing of the body in correspondence with the rhythm and speed of the music. In other words, dancing to the music involves not only timing the steps, but timing the swings of the body as well. Cadencia is one of the key techniques in tango that are essential to the dance but often being overlooked.

To learn cadencia, you first need to learn to swing your body. Most people don’t even know how to swing their leg, let alone to swing their body. To swing the leg, you need to stand on one foot and lift up your torso and hip until your free leg hangs loosely and can swing freely like a pendulum. You need to keep the knee and ankle of the leg straight while swinging it, so the leg looks long and graceful. Imagine, now, that your leg does not start from the hip but from the chest, that is, imagine everything below your chest is your leg. The chest is where you and your partner connect. It can be used as a fixed point to swing everything below it as a whole. That way, not only the line of your leg looks long and beautiful, but your whole body also looks tall and elegant.

Swinging the body is like swinging a cudgel of three linked sections. The first section is the torso. The second section is the hip. The third section is the leg. A little motion of the first section will lead to a bigger motion of the second section, which will lead to a still bigger motion of the third section. The follower should relax her body and let the leader swing her torso, which brings along the swing of her hip, which then brings along the swing of her leg. She should not move her leg first without the swing of her body, but should let the leg follow the body to swing. In other words, the swing of the leg is not caused by its muscle but by the swing of the torso and hip in a chain reaction under the law of mechanics.

The swing is in the horizontal direction. Many students fail to do cadencia because there is a lack of horizontal motion in their movement and they only focus on the vertical motion of stepping down on the beat. In order to do cadencia you need to produce enough momentum in the horizontal direction in each step. The foot must land on the beat, but the horizontal motion of the body continues after the foot lands, carrying the body to pass over the center of gravity due to the momentum until the other foot lands on the beat, or until the momentum diminishes and the body swings back. Cadencia is the motion of the body between two steps. It feels like after the wave of water hits the rock, it runs over it, and then retreats, and hits the rock again, runs over it, and then retreats…

A good leader knows how to use the momentum to swing the follower in correspondence with the rhythm and speed of the music. Leaders must be aware that whether the follower dances to the music depends to a large degree on the lead. Often, the follower fails to step on the beat because her body is led to swing too little or too much, too slow or too fast, disabling her to step on the beat. A good leader creates just enough swing, so the follower’s leg may land exactly on the beat. Likewise, a good follower times the swing of her body and leg to the music as well. She complements the lead in her own capacity.

Cadencia is used both in social tango and in performance tango, but it is primarily a social tango technique aiming at increasing the sensual pleasure rather than the visual impression of the dance. Dancing with cadencia requires not only excellent musicality but also superb balance control. It is not an easy task, but once you’ve learned to do it, the sensation of two bodies swinging together in a close embrace in unison with the rhythmic flow of the music will make the dance mush more pleasurable.

探戈中的行走

传统的探戈教学非常重视行走。在那个时代，探戈大师在教舞步之前要花很长时间教行走。这是有原因的。首先，探戈是行走的舞蹈。没有其他舞蹈象探戈那样使用这么多行走。其次，行走与跳舞有关。行走优美的人跳舞通常也美。跳舞不美的人，行走通常也难看。第三，行走是所有舞步中最简单的步子，但它又是其他更复杂的舞步赖以形成的基础。如果一个人连最简单的步子都走不象样，跳好复杂的舞步可能性不大，而问题也常常可以追溯到行走。最后，因为行走是最简单的步子，它可以有效地用来培训其他基本技能，如拥抱，姿势，连接和乐感等。初学者往往不能把注意力平均分配在许多元素上。他们需要在学复杂的舞步之前，而不是之后或同时，学习拥抱，姿势，连接，带领，跟随和听音乐。为了培养这些基本能力，练习得设计得非常简单，而行走是达到这个目的的最好方式之一。

北美的探戈功力不足，一个重要的原因就是缺乏行走训练。美国文化认为学习必须是轻松愉快的。我们的学校教育最富娱乐性，功课也最少。我们的老师不想用单调的练习来让学生烦闷。我们的学生尚未学会走路就想飞跑，他们认为自己早就会走路了。

没有比这更不符合事实的了。你只有在学习探戈之前才看上去正常。事实上，每个人的第一次探戈行走都是笨拙可笑的。这是因为在拥抱中走路不是人们常做的事。你觉得靠在陌生人身上不自在。你觉得向后倒着走忒别扭。你不能踩在节拍上。你的腿向后迈得不够远。你的屁股撅得太高。你的膝盖弯得太曲。你一耸一耸象只蹦哒的蚂蚱，或者左右摇摆象只黑猩猩。当你在舞伴两侧行走时，你的身体不能柔韧地侧转。你不能与舞伴保持身体的连接，或使舞伴失去平衡......直到你在拥抱中找到舒适区，你尚未准备好学习新步。这就是为什么行走是如此重要。它简单易行，让你能集中注意力。事实上它不只是走路，而是一切，包括拥抱，姿势，连接，乐感，平衡，沟通，柔韧，优美与和谐的基础。

Walk

The traditional tango pedagogy gives great emphasis on walk. In those days, tango masters spend a great length of time teaching walk before they start any figures. There are good reasons for that. First, tango is a walking dance. No other dance uses so many walking steps as tango does in the dance. Second, there is a relationship between walk and dance. Those who can walk well usually dance well. Those who do not dance well, their walk usually sucks. Third, walk is the simplest step of all steps, yet it is the foundation upon which other more complicated steps evolve. If one cannot do the simplest step well, it is less likely that he can do complicated steps well, and his problem usually can be traced back to walk. Finally, because walk is the simplest step, it can be effectively used in training other basic skills, such as embrace, posture, connection and musicality. People new to tango cannot distribute their attention equally well to too many elements while learning complicated figures. They need to develop good embrace, posture, connection and musicality before learning complicated stuffs, not after or at the same time. In order to train basic skills, the exercise needs to be kept simple, and walk is a perfect way to achieve that.

The lack of basic trainings in the tango scene of North America is due in many ways to a lack of sufficient walk training. American culture holds that learning must be fun and painless. Our schools have the most entertaining environment and least homework. Our teachers do not want to bore students with dull drills, and our pupils want to get fancy before they can walk, which they think they can already.

Nothing is farther from the truth. You look normal till people see you trying to learn tango. In fact, everyone looks clumsy and funny in his or her first tango walk. That is because walking in a close embrace is not something you often do. You are uncomfortable to lean on somebody you don’t know. You feel awkward to walk backward. You do not step on the beat. Your leg does not reach back far enough. Your behind sticks up and knees bend too much. You bounce up and down like a grasshopper, or wobble side to side like a chimpanzee. Your body is not flexible enough for the twist needed when walking on the side of your partner. You break the connection with your partner, or drag your partner out of his/her balance… Until you regain your comfortable zone in the embrace, you are not ready for the next step. That is why walk is so important. It is simple. It keeps you focused. In fact it is not just walk, it is about everything fundamental: posture, embrace, connection, musicality, balance, flexibility, communication, elegance, and harmony.