Chapter 5, p.10: 完美的探戈 The Perfect Tango

完美的探戈（The Perfect Tango）

我知道——探戈不是科學，
它無法用任何客觀標準來衡量。
但我看過兩支舞，實在好得讓我無法想像能有更完美的版本。
對我而言，它們就是「完美的探戈」。

其中一支我們已經看過了，
那是 Ismael 隨著〈No Me Extraña〉起舞的影片。
而現在，這是第二支。

這是一段 Miguel Balbi 在阿爾馬格羅（Almagro）的一場派對上，
隨著 Biaggi 的〈El Trece〉起舞的影片。

請仔細觀看——
看他如何隨著音樂律動、呼吸、流動。

在影片的最後，你會聽到 Alberto Dassieu 說：

「Muy bien, pareja de bailarines.」
意思是：「一對非常棒的舞者。」

對 milongueros 而言，這句話正是探戈的精髓所在：
一種純粹、不矯飾的音樂表達。
表面上看起來簡單自然，
但在節奏與旋律的運用上，卻蘊含著極深的複雜度。

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若你想真正體會這支舞的內涵，
不妨先單純聆聽這首探戈，直到旋律變得熟悉。
甚至可以多跳幾次，
感受它的節奏起伏與旋律走向。

聽清楚那些變化——
弦樂的起伏、Biaggi 在鋼琴上的俐落敲擊、
班多鈕手風琴的嗡鳴與低吟。
然後再回頭看 Miguelito 的舞姿。

試著拿張紙，
先遮住他們的雙腳。
觀察上半身的移動路徑：
前、後、側、轉圈、再轉圈——
整個身體像在空間中流動、輕盈地使用著整個舞池。

接著反過來，
遮住上半身，只看腿部。
如果你仔細觀察，
會看到他極為細膩地使用我們之前談過的「三連步（triple step）」。
在 giro 旋轉時，他有時會在弱拍的兩側，
插入兩次極快的重心轉換。
那幾乎肉眼難辨，但確實存在。

Miguel 用這些微小變化，
既在節奏上標記 compás，
又能調整自身重心、維持與舞伴的完美距離。

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Miguelito 是位才華洋溢、體能出眾的舞者——
他背後有超過六十年的探戈歲月。
他甚至經歷過探戈的「荒蕪年代」，
仍與好友 Hugo、Tonino、Ernesto Delgado、Jorge Orellana、Elba Biscay 一起跳舞，
（他們至今仍在跳），
還有 Petroleo 與 Finito（已故的兩位傳奇）。

他們曾一起在 Floresta 的俱樂部跳舞。
有一次我對 Ernesto 與 Jorge 說：
「真希望能看你們當年在那裡跳的樣子。」
我隨口問：「那時有人錄過嗎？」
他們笑著說：

「錄我們幹嘛？我們又沒做什麼大事。
那時探戈早就死了。
整個布宜諾斯艾利斯可能不到三十個人在跳！
我們根本沒想過探戈今天還會存在，
更沒想過我們自己還會繼續跳。」

 

（也就是在那個時期，RCA 在布宜諾斯艾利斯的唱片經理決定銷毀公司大部分探戈母帶——
包括 Troilo、Di Sarli 等人的錄音，永遠無法重現。）

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像所有偉大的運動員一樣，
Miguel 讓一切看似輕鬆自然——
但實際上，這是極為困難的探戈，無論在身體或藝術層面都是。

就拍攝者的角度來說，
我得說——這支影片效果真不錯。
不像一般 milonga，我有更多自由在舞池移動，
彷彿我們也與他一同起舞。

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漂浮（Float）

我不想陷入過於複雜的技術描述，
但有一個最後的概念值得說明。

我們已經談過，探戈的核心在於 compás（節拍） 的運用，
以及 corriditas（短跑步） 作為音樂表達的基礎。

在 corriditas 中，你以短促的步伐
在強拍與弱拍之間組合、前進。
但——還有一個選項：
不踩拍。

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對於真正自然的舞者而言，
探戈的節奏就像呼吸。
而 compás 給了你三種選擇：

1️⃣ 踩在強拍上
2️⃣ 踩在弱拍上
3️⃣ 選擇不踩

當你選擇不踩時，
你的自由腳會漂浮在節拍之上，
不落地。

這可以在任何時候發生。
而當你開始讓 corrida 呈弧形、
在一兩拍上漂浮時，
你的支撐腳自然會開始轉軸。
越收緊 corrida，轉動越多，
最終這些轉動就成為 giro（旋轉） 的結構之一。

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觀察這些影片，
幾乎都能看到所謂的「漂浮（float）」——
舞者的其中一隻腳會在幾拍之間懸空滑過，
另一隻腳支撐、微微旋轉。

如果你保持雙腳都在地面上，
並在轉動時漂浮過幾拍，
你就會自然形成一種美麗的技巧，
許多頂級 milongueros 都使用它：
這就是 enrosque（纏旋步）。

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Enrosque 是指男舞者同時以雙腳為軸旋轉，
身體轉動，而雙腳固定不動，
雙腿相互扭繞。

我只見過兩位舞者真正掌握這技巧：
Tete 和 Miguel。
他們經常自然地使用它。
不過要在 milonga 裡自然地做出 enrosque 且同時帶領舞伴，
是非常困難的——
特別是在像影片裡那種黏腳的磁磚地板上更難。

考慮到這些條件，
Miguel 的表現依然非常出色——
尤其他偏愛的其實是 Di Sarli 那種優雅流動的音樂，
而非 Biaggi 那種切分強烈的 tango picado。

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⚠️ 最後的提醒：

請不要把 pivot 或 enrosque 當作「招式」。
一旦你這樣想，就會落入「工作坊探戈」的死胡同。
我最害怕的畫面就是：
有人讀完這段文字，練了兩週 enrosque，
然後在下一場 milonga 上「展示」出來——
或更糟，拿去開班教人。

我並不是想居高臨下，
但探戈真的不需要更多為了炫技而與音樂脫節的動作。

Miguel 的 enrosque 是他對音樂的自然回應，
是多年舞蹈經驗中自然而生的結果。

他從不想著「現在該做 enrosque 了」。
是音樂牽引他進入旋轉，
讓他的身體自然地從一隻腳轉到另一隻腳，
或同時轉在兩腳之上，漂浮於不同的節拍之間。

任何具備體能的人都能練出 enrosque，
但——
能在音樂裡、在當下做到的，
那是完全不同的境界。

The Perfect Tango

I know... tango isn’t science. You can’t measure it by any objective standard. But I have seen two dances that are so good that I simply can’t imagine a way to make them better—so for me, they're "perfect". We've already shown one of them. It's the first video we posted of Ismael dancing to No Me Extraña. Now, here is the second one. It's a video of Miguel Balbi dancing to Biaggi's El Trece at a party in Almagro. Watch how he moves to the music:

At the end of the video you can hear Alberto Dassieu comment, "Muy bien pareja de bailarines."— "A very good pair of dancers". For the milongueros, this is the absolute essence of what dancing tango is about: a pure, unadorned expression of the music; unpretentious and simple on its surface, but profoundly complex in its use of cadence and melody.

To see what's really happening here—to actually get a feel for it—you should first just listen to this tango until it becomes familiar. Maybe even dance to it several times and get acquainted with the melody and the cadence. Get to know the changes: strings rising and then receding, Biaggi's sharp wizard hands on the piano, the whining and chunking of the bandoneons—and then go back and watch the way Miguelito moves. Hold up a piece of paper and block out the legs of the dancers. Note the path of the upper bodies: front, back, side, around and around and around—effortlessly using all of the room. Then, block out the upper bodies and isolate the legs. If you look very closely you may see some of the tango triple stepping we discussed earlier—but Miguel does it very subtly. As he pivots in the giros, he sometimes inserts two quick weight changes on each side of the weak beat. They're almost invisible—but they are there. Miguel uses them both aesthetically to mark the compás, and also to stay over his feet and readjust his position in relation to his partner.

Miguelito is a very talented, athletic tango dancer... with about sixty years of experience behind him. He even danced through the lean years of tango, with friends like Hugo, Tonino, Ernesto Delgado, Jorge Orellana, and Elba Biscay, (who are still dancing), and also with Petroleo and Finito (who, of course, are not). They all went to a club together in Floresta, and one time I mentioned to Ernesto and Jorge how much I would have liked to have seen them dancing there. On a long shot I asked if anyone had ever filmed anything. They laughed and said, "Why would anyone film us? We weren't doing anything important. Tango was dead... there were probably less than 30 people dancing in all of Buenos Aires! We never thought tango would even exist today. We never thought we'd still be dancing." (I think it was around this time that RCA's manager in Buenos Aires decided to destroy most of their inventory of tango recordings—including masters of Troilo, Di Sarli, and many others, which can never be replaced.)

Like a great athlete, Miguel makes it look easy—but it's not. This is very difficult tango, both physically and artistically. By the way, on my side, I have to say I think the video came out pretty well, no? Unlike a normal milonga, I had more freedom to move around the floor, and the effect is almost like we're dancing along with him.

Float

I don’t want to get bogged down in complicated descriptions of tango technique, but there is one last thing I think we should cover. We’ve seen how the core of tango is the use of the compás, and how corriditas are used as a foundation for expressing the music. Incorriditas, you follow the music with short runs, stepping on different combinations of the weak and the strong beats—but of course you also have the option of not stepping on a beat at all. This is the final musical tool we need to discuss: not stepping on a beat.

Good, natural dancers feel tango as compás—and the compás gives you three choices: You can step on the strong beat, you can step on the weak beat… or you can choose not step at all. If you choose not to step, your free foot will stay off of the floor and "float" over the beat. You can do this anytime, but when you start to curve your corridas, and float over a beat or two, your supporting foot will naturally pivot. As you tighten the corrida, you’ll pivot more, and these pivots become part of the structure of the giro.

Look at almost any of these videos, and you will see “float”. One or the other partner’s foot will float over some beats, and often (but not always), they will be pivoting on the other foot.

Finally, if you keep both feet on the floor and “float” over some of the beats as you turn, you will arrive at a very nice technique that some of the best milongueros use: the enrosque. An enrosque is when the man pivots on both feet at the same time. The body turns while each foot remains in place, and the legs twist and wrap around each other. I've only seen two dancers, Tete and Miguel, who are true masters of the enrosque. They use them regularly—however it can be physically challenging to do them naturally in a milonga while leading your partner around—and it's especially difficult on a poor surface like the one in this video. But Miguel does a pretty good job when you consider that he's dancing on a sticky tile floor with large grout joints in it... and also, that Di Sarli rather than thetango picado of Biaggi is his preferred music.

A note of warning: You shouldn't think of pivots or enrosques as moves or figures. If you do, you'll fall into the dead end of academic, workshop tango. I have a horrible vision of someone reading this and then practicing enrosques for a couple of weeks so they can unveil them at their next milonga. (Or even worse, teach them in their next class.) I don't want to sound condescending, but tango really doesn't need more people displaying challenging moves that have little connection to the music. Miguel's enrosques are a natural part of the way he feels the music, and they have developed over many years of dancing. He doesn't think, okay now it's time for an enrosque. The music pulls him into the turns, and his pivots naturally flow from one foot, to the other, or to both feet simultaneously, as he floats over different combinations of musical beats. Anyone with some athletic ability can probably do an enrosque with a few weeks of practice... but doing them well, and doing them in the music, is something completely different.