Chapter 5, p.11: 訓練眼睛 Training the Eye

Training the Eye

有時候我會上網看看人們上傳的探戈影片。
底下常常會有留言說：「這舞跳得太棒了！」
但老實說，大多數時候我並不覺得那些影片特別有趣。
如果我請 Alejandra 一起看，她通常也會有同樣的反應。

我想，Alej 和我尋找的東西不太一樣——
所以我想再回頭看看之前貼過的一支影片，
試著更清楚地說明，我們在探戈裡究竟在看什麼、在感受什麼。

這支影片是我們之前在〈Entrega〉那篇文章（第三章第19頁）裡用過的，
畫面是 Alejandra 和 Pocho 的一小段片段。
當我第一次把它上傳時，Alej 並不太喜歡。
她說：「我記得那段。那只是普通的跳法而已。
我那時很久沒跟 Pocho 跳，所以你可以看出，
當他停下來時，我有點不確定他接下來會往哪個方向走。」

但那並不重要。
我們之前在第三章引用這支影片，是為了說明女性舞者的技巧要素；
而這次，我想用它來談談另一個層面。

Alej 說得沒錯，這確實只是「一般的探戈」，
——但這是一段極為精彩的普通探戈。
讓我們仔細看看 Pocho 在這 15 秒裡做了什麼。
（為了方便觀察，我在影片進度條下方的兩個箭頭之間，用虛線 ^…..^ 標出這 15 秒。）

影片開頭，Pocho 面對鏡頭。
他先靜止片刻，
接著踏出兩個平滑、充滿推力的前進步。
然後微微往左轉，
隨著節拍（compás）輕輕標記兩拍，
再做一個完整的右轉 giro（旋轉）。

觀看時，請試著讓音樂與動作一起進入你的身體。
這也許需要時間，但非常值得——
因為這是理解這段舞的關鍵。

當你重看幾次後，會發現：
那兩個前進步的時機，恰好在最該出現的地方。
當 Berón 唱出「Que te imporrrr..ta」時，
Pocho 的身體隨著那拉長的音微微浮起，
然後在尾音「ta」時推進，
再以一個快速的步伐**強調「fin」**這個字。

接著，當 Berón 的聲音在旋律間跳動時，
Pocho 隨著節拍（compás）輕輕搖動，
然後進入 giro。
請特別注意他的頭部——
在旋轉的後半段，他配合樂團的重拍向右踏出一個有力的步伐，
接著放慢轉速完成整個旋轉。
他在轉的過程中精準地調整速度，
以保持與樂團的流動一致。
結果就是——
他與 Alej 一起「乘著音樂的波動」完成了這個轉身。

接下來，他再向前走兩步，
做出一個 ocho cortado（切斷八字步）。
他先面向右側，
然後再把 Alej 帶回身前，
進入 cross（交叉步）。
這個動作雖然簡單，
但如果你多看幾次，
就能發現 Pocho 對音樂的細膩掌握。

他先向右移，
再慢慢回到原位——
正好呼應 Berón 再次拉長的唱詞。
當結尾時，
弦樂出現一個輕微的上揚波動，
Pocho 與 Alej 完美地在那一刻進入交叉步。

Pocho 向右轉再回來的動作，
就像鐘擺的律動。
Alej 的腳剛好落在弦樂那一聲「wa wum」的「wum」上。
（就在影片進度條滑過箭頭時發生。）
接著她多停留了一個極細微的瞬間，
讓雙腳穩穩貼在地板上，
恰好與弦樂收尾的音符重合。

這其中一部分是 Pocho 的引導，
另一部分則是 Alej 微妙而關鍵的呼應。
這種細節難以察覺，
但當兩人合拍時，
整個動作就像音樂本身在跳舞——
是一種真正的合作（partnership）。

（待續）

原文：Sometimes I check out the tango videos that people post on the Internet. They're often accompanied by comments about how spectacular the dancing is—but I usually don't find them very interesting. And if I ask Alejandra to take a look, she usually feels the same way. I think Alej and I must be looking for different things—so I’d like to take another look at a video we posted earlier to see if we can show more clearly what it is we look for in tango. It’s a short clip of Alejandra and Pocho we used in the Entrega article (page 19, Chapter 3). When I first posted it, Alej didn’t like it much. She said, “I remember that one. It’s just normal dancing. I hadn’t danced with Pocho in a long time, and you can see I’m not sure which way he’s going to go after he pauses.” But that’s not really important. We used it earlier in Chapter 3 to show some of the elements of women’s technique, and now I'd like to use it here for something else:

What Alej said is true. This is just “normal dancing”... but it’s very good normal dancing. So let's take a closer look at what Pocho is doing. We'll begin with the first 15 seconds (to help, I put a dotted line between two arrows   ^.....^  below the slider to mark the first 15 seconds.)

We begin with Pocho facing the camera. He waits a moment, and then takes two smooth, surging steps forward. Then he turns slightly to his left, marks the compás for a couple of beats, and does a full giro (turn) to his right. Try to absorb both the music and the movement together as you watch—it may take awhile to do this, but I think it’s important.

If you watch a couple of times, you should begin to notice that the two surging forward steps are done just when they should be. Berón sings, “Que te imporrrr..ta”, and Pocho floats slightly as Berón draws out the word, surges on the “ta” at the end, and then takes one more quick step to emphasize the word “fin”. Then, as Berón’s words jump around with the music, Pocho rocks with the compás for a moment, and begins a giro. Look very closely at the giro—watch Pocho’s head as he finishes the turn. In the last half of the giro he takes an emphatic step right with the orchestra, and then slows the turn slightly as he finishes. He's carefully varying the rate of the turn to stay with the flow of the orchestra. The result is that he and Alej to “ride” the music through the turn.

Just after this sequence, he takes a couple of steps forward and does an ocho cortado, where he faces a little to the right, and then brings Alej back inside to a cross. It's a simple movement, but if you watch this several times, you should begin to notice how carefully he stays with the music. He goes right, and then returns slowly as Berón again draws out his words. At the finish there is a slight surge of the strings, and he and Alej time her step into the cross to go right with it. Pocho's pivot to the right and back has the harmonic motion of a pendulum, and Alej's foot finishes exactly on the surge. The strings go wa wum, and Alej steps into the cross exactly on the wum (it happens just when the slider passes the arrow), and then she keeps both feet planted for just an extra micro second, as the strings finish the note! Part of this is led by Pocho, and part is a subtle, but important contribution by Alej. It's hard to see, but the whole thing is right on, and it's done as a partnership.

(continued on the next page)