探戈中的阳春白雪与下里巴人

通俗艺术是适合大众口味，需求，教育水平等等的艺术。高雅艺术是自以为或假装为比老百姓的品味更高且技术难度也高的艺术。阳春白雪，和者盖寡，因其技巧和音域为大多数人所不能及。下里巴人则音域适中，技巧容易，所以人人能唱。

然而，认为复杂困难的艺术比简单容易的艺术要高级的观点是有失偏颇的。简单的线条可能比复杂的造型更优美。简单的摄影可能比复杂的绘画更雅致。流行歌曲可能比歌剧中的歌曲更好听，虽然它比较容易唱。许多时候，东西之所以美丽恰是因为它简单。留白看着舒服。停顿产生情调。简约反映典雅。无言表达更多。过犹不及。简单并不意味着艺术上稍差一筹。容易也不等于技术上逊色。恰恰相反，间约容易需要更多的功底。在我看来，那些能让艺术显得简单而容易的艺术家比那些让艺术变得复杂而困难的艺术家要高超。

之所以如此，还因为艺术，尤其是通俗艺术，是为大众服务的。阳春白雪和为艺术的艺术是背时的观念。如果一首流行歌曲是大多数人唱不了的，这流行歌曲有什么价值？如果一种社交舞只有少数能跳，那还是社交舞吗？阿根廷探戈是一种社交舞。它原是个下里巴人的舞，由牛仔，水手，移民和街女所创造。今天它在阿根廷仍是个草根舞蹈。大多数跳探戈的人都是普通人。他们热爱探戈，因为它是一个简单，优雅和亲切的舞蹈，适合老百姓的口味和能力。恼人的是那些自名不凡者高人一等的态度，他们想把探戈变成只有精英才能享受的阳春白雪。我不认为人民大众喜欢这个主意。探戈的魅力和明天，我相信，将继续留在它的易学易跳之中。最终，通俗艺术总是比阳春白雪更受大众喜爱。

Highbrowism and Populism in Tango

Popular arts are arts suited to the tastes, needs, educational level, etc., of most people. Highbrow arts are arts considered or pretending to be of highly cultivated tastes/skills superior to those of the ordinary people. A highbrow song finds few singers because its technique and range are beyond the reach of most people. A popular song, on the other hand, is less in range and technique; therefore, everyone can sing it.

The notion that complicated/difficult arts are superior to simple/easy arts, however, is an erroneous one. A simple line can be more graceful than an intricate figure. A simple photograph can be more tasteful than a complicated painting. A pop song can be more beautiful than an opera song, although it is easier to sing. Very often, things are beautiful because they are simple. Margin brings comfort. Pause creates mood. Simplicity reflexes elegance. Silence often expresses more. Too much is as bad as not enough. Simple does not mean artistically inferior. Easy does not mean less skillful. On the contrary, it takes much sophistication to achieve simplicity and ease. Those who make arts simple and easy, in my opinion, are better artists than those who make arts complicated and difficult.

This is so also because arts, especially popular arts, are for people. Highbrowism and art-for-art’s-sake are obsolete ideas. What’s the value of a pop song if it is beyond the reach of most people? What’s the value of a social dance if only few can dance it? Argentine tango is a social dance. It was a lowbrow dance created by gouchos, sailors, immigrant workers and prostitutes. It is still a grass roots dance in Argentina today. Most people who dance tango are ordinary people. They love tango because it is an intimate, simple and elegant dance suited to the tastes and abilities of the common people. What is annoying to them is the chauvinist attitude of those who consider themselves above the crowd and want to make tango a highbrow dance only the elite can enjoy. I don’t think people want that. Tango’s charm and tomorrow, I believe, will remain in its dancer-friendliness. In the end, populism always triumphs over highbrowism.  

简单是一种美

在一个贫穷的社会，人们习惯于节约和简朴，而在象我们这样的富裕社会，奢华和铺张浪费是一种常规。别人用一把简单的菜刀就可以做的事，我们却发明了一个器械来切鸡蛋，另一个剁肉，另一个切西红柿，另一个削苹果皮，另一个刨黄瓜丝，等等。我们的厨房里堆满了废物，我们的家里越来越杂乱，我们巨型的商场，庞大的政府机构，繁琐的税收法规等也是如此。我们的国债已超过16万亿美元（年利以1%计算是160亿美元！），而我们仍然花钱似流水，好象没有明天。我们的商业文化完全靠印象吸引人们注意。这就是为什么电视广告越做越离奇。我不认为一些人把怪异与美丽混为一谈是一种巧合。瞧那朋克头，纹身，鼻环，唇环，眼环，几乎脱落的裤子，诸如此类，都是为了引人注目，并不是真正的美。

我们跳探戈的方式也反映了这种文化。与生活一样，探戈原本是非常简单的，但我们却坚持要把它弄得花哨复杂。虽然在阿根廷探人们是用正常，自然，简单和舒适的步子跳探戈，我们的探戈却充斥着显摆，俗气，过分和不自然的动作。我们缺乏简单自然的品味，而把复杂怪异当作美丽。在阿根廷，探戈注重的是音乐，感情，舞伴和舒适。我们的探戈所注重的却是漂亮的服饰，昂贵的舞鞋，花哨的动作，惊险刺激的表演，豪华的酒店和盛大的舞会。我们太注重肤浅表面的东西了。

我主张一种不同的，崇尚简单和自然的美学。大自然是朴素而美丽的。淡妆看起来比浓妆艳抹更好看。陈设简单的房间比过分装潢的屋子住着更舒适。简练的写作优于冗长的表达。功夫大师的表演显得简单容易。探戈也是如此。简单是最高的成熟，是只注重外表的人所缺乏的一种内在品质。探戈不是一种奢侈，而是一个简单的乐趣，不该花费巨款才能享受。享受探戈并不需要把钱花在花哨的舞步和华丽的服饰上。探戈可以用简单，适度，自然的跳法来跳，就象阿根廷人所跳的那样。热爱探戈的人应该保持它的本真不受商业文化和轻浮世风的污染。我们应该把注意力从表面文章转到内在品质。外平内秀的女人比外秀内平的女人更有吸引力。探戈也一样，它是一种感觉而不是做秀。当探戈不再是做秀时，它就会变得更简单，更有深度，更好，也更让人享受。

Simple Is Beautiful

In a scarce society people are used to frugality and simplicity, while in an affluent society such as ours, lavishness and extravagantness are the norm. For tasks that other people do with a simple kitchen knife, we created one equipment to chop eggs, another to cut meats, another to slice tomatoes, another to peel apples, another to shred cucumbers, etc. Our kitchens are crammed with junks. Our houses are more and more cluttered, and so are our massive shopping malls, huge governments, and gigantic tax codes. Our national debt has passed $14 trillion (an annual interest at 1% of which is $14 thousand million!), and we still spend like there is no tomorrow. Our commercial culture is all about catching and impressing. That’s why TV ads are made increasingly weird. I don’t think it is coincident that some of us confuse weirdness with beauty. Just look at the punk hairdos, tattoos, rings on noses, lips and eyelids, and pants that are about to fall down… Everything is about catching eyes rather than genuine beauty.

The way we dance tango reflects this culture. Like life, tango is really simple, but we insist on making it fancy and complicated. While in Argentina tango is danced in normal, natural, simple and comfortable steps, our tango is cluttered with showy, gaudy, farfetched, overdone and awkward movements. Simplicity and naturalness are acquired taste that we don’t have. We regard complexity and bizarreness as beautiful. While in Argentina tango is all about music, feeling, relationship and physical pleasure, our tango is all about pretty dresses, expensive shoes, fancy footwork, thrilling acts, luxurious hotels and pricey festivals. We are too focused on the superficial things.

Let me proclaim a different aesthetics that values simplicity and naturalness. Nature is simple and it is beautiful. Light makeup looks better than heavy and queer one. A house simply decorated is more pleasant than that cluttered with ostentatious ornaments. Concise writing is superior to redundant expression. A kung fu master performs his skill with great ease and simplicity. It is same in tango. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. It is an inner quality that those who focus only on superficial things do not have. Tango is not a luxury. It is a simple pleasure that should not cost an absurd amount of money to enjoy. People who love tango should keep it original and free from contamination of the commercial world and the frivolous custom of the time. There is no need to spend on fancy steps and flashy dresses to enjoy tango. Tango can be danced in a simple, moderate and natural way, like the Argentinians dance it. We need to change focus from what is without to what is within. An ordinary-looking woman with refined inner quality is much more attractive than a pretty woman without it. Tango is the same. It is for feeling and not for looking. When tango stops to be a show, it will be simpler, deeper, better, and more enjoyable.

真正的美来自内心

我们跳探戈舞部分因为它是个优美的舞蹈。这本没有什么不妥。人们追求美跟植物开花，鸟儿歌唱有着同样的原因。美是自然的产物。它赏心悦目，吸引异性。它为生命的繁衍提供更多的机会。美对拥有它的人是一种宝贵财富。因此，在我们的文化中美成为人们羡慕，追求，追捧，崇拜和模仿的对象。时装，化妆品，植入硅，瘦脸手术和各种新方法不断推出，让人们显得更加漂亮。每年有数以百亿计的美元消费在这上面。在我们这个时代，美已经不再是自然遗传和真实的产物了。它变成了人造的，变态的和虚幻的假象。

当人们痴迷于虚假的表象时，实质往往被忽略，而问题就产生了。一个美丽的女人可能有优势，但同时她也有不利之处。她可能娇生惯养，自我中心，高傲自大，对现实生活的艰辛准备不足。她往往要求过高而难以满足。她是男人互相争夺的猎物和女人争风吃醋的对象。她让许多追随者心碎。这样，她有众多的敌人，因此她比较冷漠多疑，不友好，自卫性强，不容易与人相处。她的人生缺少安宁。在追求美丽的时候人们应意识到它的代价。美貌只有一层皮的深度。无论对人生还是探戈，它都既不是唯一的，也不是最重要的东西。

为表面印象而跳舞的人需要认识到，没有内容的形式不过是一具空壳。真正的美来自内心。你可以模仿别人的舞步，但你不能模仿美。只有停止作表面文章，专注于音乐，拥抱，连接，情感，和你的舞伴，那来自内心的真正的美才会自然流露出来。探戈不是作秀，而是一种人际关系。探戈之美存在于两人共享的亲密，舒适的拥抱，一体的感觉，彼此的沟通，共同的理解，那由音乐引起而为两人所共享的梦幻般的感觉，以及与音乐相吻的和谐运动。如果你去布宜诺斯艾利斯的探戈舞会，你会看到阿根廷人就是这样跳舞的。他们不在乎自己的外表，也不做花哨的步子，而专注于两人的关系。然而，他们的舞蹈是如此美丽，以至于浅薄的外国人到处东施效颦，却不理解它的实质。

探戈在这个国家还太年轻。克服浅薄和理解美的实质需要成熟。我越与各种年龄的女人跳舞，越欣赏成熟的女人。甚至在阿根廷，我也发现成熟的女人通常是更好的舞者。她们的青春美貌开始消退，所以她们开始更注重实质的，而不是表面的美。我希望在这个国家，随着我们的探戈群体变得更加成熟，探戈也将克服浅薄而更注重于实质。

True Beauty Comes from Within

We dance tango in part because tango is beautiful. There is nothing wrong with that. People pursue beauty for the same reason that plants bloom and birds sing. It is natural. It pleases eyes and attracts mates. It provides a better chance for living things to reproduce. Beauty is a valuable resource to those who own it. As a result, beauty is admired, pursued, worshiped, idolized and imitated in our culture. Fashion, cosmetics, silicon implant, face-lift surgery and many other methods are developed to make people look beautiful. Billions are spent each year for it. Beauty now is no longer natural, genetic and real. It becomes artificial, perverted and illusory.

When people are obsessed on superficial things, substances are ignored and problems occur. A beautiful woman may have advantages. But at the same time she may also have drawbacks. She is likely spoiled, self-centered and arrogant. She is less prepared for the tough realities in real life. She demands more and is hard to please. She is a prey of men, an object of envy and jealousy of women, and a heart breaker to many. She has many enemies. Consequently, she is more suspicious, cold, unfriendly and self-protective. Her relationships with others are more problematic. She lives a less tranquil life. One has to bear in mind its cost while pursuing beauty. Beauty is only a skin deep. It is neither the only thing nor the most important thing in life as well as in tango.

Those who dance tango for impression need to realize that form without content is but an empty shell. True beauty comes from within. You can imitate other’s steps, but you can’t imitate beauty until you quit to impress people and focus on the music, embrace, connection, feeling and your partner, and then real beauty from within comes naturally. Tango is not a show. It is a relationship. The beauty of tango lies in the shared intimacy, the comfort of the embrace, the oneness of the two, the communication between them, the mutual understanding, the dreaming feeling stirred by the music that they share, and the harmony of movement in unison with the music. If you go to the milongas in Buenos Aires, you will see this is how tango is danced by the Argentines. They don’t care much about how they look. They don't do fancy steps. They concentrate on the relationship, and their dance is so beautiful that it is imitated everywhere by shallow minded foreigners without understanding its essence.

Tango is still too young in this country. It takes maturity to overcome shallowness and to understand true beauty. The more I dance with women of all ages, the more I appreciate mature women. Even in Argentina, I find that mature women are better dancers in general. Their youthful freshness starts to fade away, and they start to focus more on the substance rather than the surface of beauty. It is my hope that tango in this country, too, will overcome its shallowness and focus more on the substance, as our tango community becomes maturer.