Chapter 5, p.9: 更古老、更內斂的探戈 El Chino

El Chino

這支影片是我和 Alej 第一次真正有分歧的作品。
我反覆看了大約兩年，從中學到了許多——
但 Alej 認為，對那些不熟悉 milonga 世界的人來說，可能難以看出其中的美。
她覺得這段舞可能不像我們之前放的影片那樣「精彩」或「刺激」，
甚至有人會覺得他們的舞蹈「不夠好」。

確實，這是一個明顯的轉變。
但請記住：探戈有許多樣貌。

對我而言，El Chino 與 Ophelia 所代表的，
是一種更古老、更內斂的探戈——
那種源自布宜諾斯艾利斯社區裡、
「salida del sábado」 （週六晚餐＋舞會傳統）中的風格。
它不同於市中心那些節奏緊湊、氣氛熱烈的 milonga。

以下，是他們隨著我最喜愛的探戈之一起舞——
〈Como se Muere de Amor〉（她如何為愛而死）。

我已經看這支影片太多次了
以至於不確定自己是否還能保持客觀——
所以我先請 Alej 發表她的看法。

她說：

「他們跳得很慢，而他非常照顧她。
只要有人靠近，他就停下來，一直等。
他全程都在保護她。
Milongueras（女舞者）最喜歡跟像 El Chino（或 Pocho、Miguelito）這樣的男士共舞。
因為跟他們跳舞時，妳會感到完全的安全。」

（在前兩頁我們看過 Alej 與 Noemí 和 Gerard 的截然不同風格，
但她們其實也都經常與 El Chino 共舞。）

Alej 接著說：

「當他有空間時，他就開始移動。
妳可以看出他們兩個對這首音樂非常熟悉，
因為那旋律早已在他們體內。
他們的舞，就像老一輩街區長者說話的方式——
從容、清晰、仔細，不慌不忙。」

---

在探戈裡，你常會隨時間看出不同的東西。
幾週後我又請 Alej 再看一次影片。
她才看了幾秒，就說：

「哇……mira como está saboreando la música!」
「妳看，他在細細品味音樂啊！」

---

從技巧角度來看，
我認為 El Chino 裡面有四、五個步伐，
是我所見過最美的之一。
中段有一個 giro（旋轉）極為出色，而最後那個 giro 則是小小的傑作——
流暢、穩定、完美平衡。

我和 Alej 都認識他。他是個非常善良的人。
我一直相信，人們在探戈中會顯露出真實的自己。
他跳舞時那份謙遜與自信交融的氣質，
正是他這個人。

我很難形容，
但我總覺得從他身上有很多可學的東西。
我看這支影片太多次了，以至於 El Chino 與 Ophelia 在我心中，
已與這首音樂密不可分。

對我而言，
〈Como se Muere de Amor〉就是他們的探戈。
而在反覆觀看的過程中，
我自己的舞也漸漸產生了變化。

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啟示三：

探戈不只是「移動」

我不想把話說得太玄。
畢竟，探戈表面上只是——
在音樂的引導下，在舞池上移動。
但即便是初學者，也能感受到：不同的音樂，
會召喚出不同程度的「移動」。

讓我們一起來聽聽這首〈Viejo Portón〉的開頭——

快速的 Biaggi 華爾滋與「探戈的不同面貌」

像這首〈Viejo Portón〉以及〈Lejos de Ti〉這類 Biaggi 的快速華爾滋，
是我和 Alej 最喜愛的兩首之一。
我想可以這麼說——
它們幾乎完全是關於「移動」。

仔細聽那能量如何一層層堆疊，
直到 Biaggi 的樂團幾乎陷入瘋狂。
十年前如果有人告訴我，
跳探戈能像高速滑雪或風帆一樣令人興奮，
我一定會笑出聲。
但如今我知道——確實如此。

當我們隨著〈Viejo Portón〉飛馳在舞池，
將四拍、七拍的 corrida（短跑步）彎進快速的 giro（旋轉）裡，
那種速度與重力的結合，
就像在雪坡上全速下滑的快感。
有時我們轉得太快，
我甚至能感覺到雙臂在撐住旋轉的張力，避免那股離心力把我們分開。

---

但探戈的世界不止這一面。
慢探戈——位於光譜另一端——
需要的是完全不同的身體語言。
當我開始吸收 El Chino 那樣跳慢探戈的方式時，
我發現自己在那種音樂裡移動得更沈靜、內省。

然而，我開始思考：
「如果幾乎不動，也能算在跳探戈嗎？」
這種『靜』，別人看得見嗎？
還是只是我看這支影片太多次，想像出了不存在的東西？

---

有一晚，我們去了 Salón Canning。
那並不是我們最喜歡的地方——
太擁擠，有時還充滿競爭的氣息。
但那晚我們仍舊去了。
當 De Angelis 的 tanda（舞曲組）響起，
其中有〈Como se Muere〉與〈Déjame Así〉，
我們決定上場。

那時舞池裡幾乎沒有空間，我們沿著邊緣緩慢前進，貼著桌邊。
我小心避開從中央偏出的舞伴們，
努力屏除那些外界的干擾。

我們並沒有做什麼特別的步伐——
但我覺得我們「動得很好」。

我在尋找 El Chino 那種寧靜，那種傾聽音樂的方式。
被困在角落裡時我一點也不焦躁，我只是享受那音樂。

即便有空間能走步，我也只在「感覺對了」的瞬間才移動。
整體的感覺，非常好。

我們應該是全場最不起眼的一對舞伴，但當我們離開舞池時，
一位坐在牆邊的老先生看著我，微微招手。

我走過去，他微笑著說：

「Te llega bien esta música, no?」

——「這首音樂很對你味，不是嗎？」

我回到座位後，Alej 問他說了什麼。我告訴她後，她笑著說：

「多美的一句話啊！」

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回應啟示三：

跳探戈，不只是移動

那一刻，我明白：
探戈真正的舞動，有時發生在不動之間。
它是音樂在身體裡流動的呼吸，
是心跳與節拍在同一條線上的共振。

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💬 來自 Tony 與 Yelena（舊金山）的留言，2008 年 4 月 28 日

在 YouTube 與各地探戈社群中，
當炫目的花招與大師們的教學影片鋪天蓋地，
你們的網站就像是一處綠洲——
滋養心靈的探戈泉源。

我與妻子仍在美國跳舞，雖然頻率少了。
去年八月的阿根廷之行改變了我們。
我們在朋友的引領下去了 Sin Rumbo，
認識了 Duplaas 兄弟，
也有幸遇見 El Chino，
在他於 Vicente López 的 milonga 裡共舞。

那次經驗深深烙印在我們的探戈記憶裡。
我不認為探戈的「真理」屬於任何一種風格，
但對我們而言，
在那樣的 milonga 裡所感受到的——
就是我們的探戈真理。
一種無法用語言表達的感覺與存在方式。

那種氛圍成熟而優雅。
不像美國舞運競技式的風氣，
在那裡，跳舞只是陪伴的延伸。
回到美國之後，面對那些花俏的「nuevo」特技，
反而讓人感到失落。
我們彷彿對探戈產生了一種鄉愁——
想念那份成人的氣度、從容與優雅 (elegancia)。

請繼續這份美好的工作。
你、Alej 和你的朋友們所創造的，
是探戈世界的一盞明燈。

 

P.S. 我無法停止重看這段 El Chino 的影片。
它那 salón（沙龍式）的美學，
對我們而言，就是探戈真正的美。

El Chino

This next video is the first one Alej and I had a real disagreement about. I’ve been watching it for about two years, and I’ve learned a lot from it... but Alej felt that people from outside the milongas wouldn’t be able to see it. She thought they might think it was less interesting or less exciting than the other videos we've put here. She even felt that some people would think the dancing wasn’t as “good” as the others.

It is a clear change from what we’ve shown before—but remember, there are lots of different kinds of tango. To me, El Chino and Ophelia represent an older and quieter tango that’s more common to the “salida del sabado” tradition in the neighborhoods (Saturday night milongas with dinner and dancing for couples), than to the more frenetic milongas downtown. Here are El Chino and Ophelia dancing to one of my all time favorite tangos, Como se Muere de Amor ("How She Dies for Love"):

I’ve watched this one so many times that I’m not sure if I can still be objective about it—so I asked Alej to comment first. Here’s what she said:

“They dance very slowly, and he takes a lot of care of her. If anyone gets close he waits and waits. He’s protecting her all the time. The milongueras love to dance with someone like El Chino (or with Pocho, or Miguelito). You feel totally safe with them." [ We've shown both Alej and Noemí dancing in a very different way with Gerard on the last two pages, but both of them also dance regularly with El Chino ]. Alej continues: “When he has room, he moves. You can see they both know this music so well because it’s inside of them. They dance the way some of the old people from the neighborhoods speak—they take a lot of time, and they speak very clearly and carefully, without hurrying.”

In tango, you often see different things at different times, so a couple of weeks later I asked her to look at the video again. This time, after a few seconds she said, “Wow... mira como esta saboreando la musica!”—“Look how he 'savors' the music!”

As far as technique, I think El Chino takes about four or five steps that are as nice as any I've ever seen. There's also one very nice giro in the middle, and another one right at the end that's a small masterpiece. Look how smooth and balanced he is. Alej and I both know him, and he's a very nice man. I think people reveal a lot about themselves when they dance tango, and he dances with a mix of humility and confidence that is who he is. I don't know how to explain it, but I just feel like there's a lot to learn from him. I've watched this video so much that El Chino and Ophelia have become inextricably tied to the music. In my mind, Como se Muere is their tango, and as I watched them over and over, my dancing began to change.

Epiphany Three: Dancing Tango is More Than Just Moving

I don't want to get too far out into touchy-feely land with this. After all, tango is really nothing more than just moving around a dance floor in response to music. But even a novice dancer should be able to sense that some music calls for more "moving around" than other music. Let's listen to the first part of Viejo Porton:

Very fast Biaggi valses like this one and Lejos de Ti are two of our favorites—and I think it's fair to say that they are almost totally about movement. Listen to how the energy builds and builds, until Biaggi's orchestra almost works itself into a frenzy. Ten years ago I would have laughed if anyone told me that dancing tango could be as exciting as fast skiing or windsurfing... but it is. Flying around the floor to Viejo Porton, bending four and seven run corridas into fast giros is just as thrilling as a fast descent on skis. Sometimes Alej and I get going so fast that I can feel the tension in my arms as we hold on to keep the force of the turns from pulling us apart.

But tango has a lot of parts. The slower tangos at the other end of the spectrum require a very different kind of dancing, and as I began to absorb the way El Chino danced to them, I began to move to them in a much more contemplative way. But is it really correct to say that you can dance tango by not moving? Is it something someone else could actually see, or have I just watched this video so much that I'm imagining something that's not there?

One night we were in Salon Canning. It isn't our favorite place because it's usually crowded, and sometimes it has a lot of aggressive dancers—but we were there anyway, and when a De Angelis tanda with Como se Muere and Dejame Así came on, we decided to get up. There was almost no space, so we had to work our way along the edge of the floor. We were right up against the tables, and I was watching out for couples that sometimes drift out from the middle, and trying to block out the distractions. We weren’t really doing very much—but I thought we were moving well. I was trying to find El Chino's serenity, and his way of listening to the music. When we were boxed in it didn't bother me at all. I just enjoyed the music, and even when there was room to step I didn't do it until it seemed right—and the whole thing felt pretty good. We must have been one of the least conspicuous couples there, but as we left the floor, an older man who was sitting against the back wall caught my eye and motioned me over. When I got to his table he smiled and said, “Te llega bien esta musica, no?” When we sat down, Alej asked what he wanted. When I told her, she said, "What a nice way to put it!" The translation is: "This music arrives well to you, doesn't it? ”

21. Comment by Tony y Yelena (San Francisco) — April 28, 2008

Amidst the flash of fanciful figures and parade of professors flowing through YouTube and our tango communities, I return to your site as a strengthening oasis and fountain of tango nourishment. It has been a while, but I must thank you again for such a wonderful resource you have created. Your exhaustive (in a good way), meticulous work truly shines as a labor of love.

My wife and I are still dancing in the U.S., but less so. Despite having ample dancing opportunities, our tango was affected by our trip last August. We were guided by some new friends to Sin Rumbo, where we met the Duplaas brothers. We also had the honor of meeting El Chino and dance at his milonga in Vicente Lopez. The memorable experience marked our tango, indelibly. I don't believe any one style can corner "truth" in tango, but for us, enjoying these milongas was our tango truth—a feeling, a way of being that cannot be expressed in words. It felt 'adult' and elegant. Unlike the Dancesport mentality back home, dancing was secondary to the enjoyment of the company. So coming back to the States with all these nuevo acrobatics and deaf headless chicken runs, leaves us a bit depressed. We have a feeling of homesickness for tango—or the milonga of adults, ease, and elegancia. Please keep up the wonderful work. What you, Alej, and your friends have created is truly a beacon for tango.

ps: I can't stop watching this video of El chino. Its salon aesthetic represents for us the real beauty of Tango.