[Editor's Note]: On June 15, Argentina officially opened its individual travel visa and business visa for up to ten years to Chinese citizens, with a maximum stay of 90 days per stay. Argentina has always been considered one of the most difficult countries to obtain a visa to a destination for outbound travel, and the complexity of the information process is prohibitive. Now with the opening of the ten-year visa, the waterfall in "Spring Break", the tango steps at the feet of Al Pacino and the magical city of Borges are no longer far away. Sere, a resident of South America, shared some of her stories of taking a tango lesson in Buenos Aires, argentina.
Tango dancing is everywhere in the city. The figures in this article are all Sere diagrams
At 1 a.m., I finally waited for the first cabeceo (nod an offer). A silver-haired elderly man in a black shirt was separated from me by a table. We had had a few times before, but I wasn't confident enough and shifted my gaze hastily, thinking it was just curiosity about oriental faces. This time, I asked him to look into my eyes longer, only to see his side face slightly raised, but I still couldn't be sure that it was an invitation until I understood his lips—"Bailamos?" (Is it okay to have a dance?) Subtle.
I nodded in agreement and walked through the crowd to meet Carlos on the dance floor. This is the first time I have come to what the locals call the Milonga - Tango Ball after a few lessons in buenos Aires, the city of tango. My venue, the Canning Salon, is one of the most beautiful in the city, with warm and clear interiors, large frames of abstract paintings and nostalgic old photographs posted on the walls, and the average age of the "Milonga" of about sixty years old has a furrowed brow, eyes slightly closed, and black is an unwritten dress code. Having just arrived from a dance classroom with ambiguous lights, sweat and young hormones, I am somewhat uncomfortable. I felt my pace disheveled and secretly regretted coming to Milonga too soon. Carlos, who claimed to have been playing tango since he was a "little kid," put his arm around me and led me to practice basic dance moves. "Tango doesn't matter if it's right or wrong, it's wrong, let's just walk."
"Tango doesn't care about the wrong steps," recalls The Classic Tango Bridge in Smelling Women, Al Pacino also said to the girl who never skipped the tango: "Unlike life, it is simple and clear, which is why it is so charming." If you take the wrong step and make a mess, you can continue to jump. ”
Christan with his female dance partner.
Of course, my teacher Christan doesn't fully agree – if you really want to do a good tango, you undoubtedly need to learn skills. In his private studio in the Palermo district, we learned from walking and figure-eight to adding some simple Lustrada (the female companion rubbed the trouser leg of the male partner with the back of her foot), which was not easy to learn. It seems not difficult, but if the upper body is not correct or the distance between the two people is not properly controlled, it is easy to lose the center of gravity, and it is more of a knowledge to make the whole set of movements coherent and smooth. For beginners and dancers, the eight-character circle is a dance step that needs to be improved for a long time, so the teacher assigns me homework every time and asks me to practice on the wall at home.
After laying the foundation, go to la Viruta's group class classroom to observe the exercises of the masters, learn from other teachers, and compete with different dance partners. Eight steps to complete a circle, tiptoe on the ground flicking in a circle, as the center of gravity changes legs... The most pleasing thing is a couple of equal proportions and tacit understanding, selflessly following the music on the field.
Christan also acknowledges that "embrace, creativity and passion are the most important elements of tango". "Hugging" refers to the distance between the dance partners, the posture of the two people, etc., "creativity" is based on the personality play of skills, and "passion" is emotional investment.
The word "passion" is daunting – is it true that, as stereotypically suggests, emotionally appealing, melancholy and even hysterical, can a good tango be interpreted? From the fiery "Santa Maria" of Richard Kiel and the dance teacher in midlife crisis, to the "Killer Tango" of the "Smiths" who are full of sword and gunpowder, to the "Tanguera" in "Moulin Rouge", where prostitutes and lovers are obsessed with love and hate, this dance seems to be full of drama.
"You've watched too many Hollywood movies. Tango is indeed a dance that shows and expresses emotions, but most people who dance tango are happy and happy, not necessarily sad and unhappy people," Christan said. "My grandparents didn't dance the tango as much passion as Richard Keel and Jennifer Lopez, and more like his and Susan Sarandon's affectionate style at the end of the film."
But the tango sitcom in the movie Moulin Rouge happens to reveal its origins. In the city's palatial coliseums, It's also often themed at Broadway-style tango shows that visitors watch over expensive dinners. Tango is recognized as being born in 1880 (the year putrajaya was designated as the capital), but no one knows the exact date. The only fact that can be confirmed, Borges says, is that tango was born in a brothel. Unlike immigrants who moved their families to North America, European men who first came to Argentina often ventured into the new world with the idea of making a fortune and returning home. Loneliness drives them into the arms of the women of the Qinglou and dance with them, and tango gradually takes shape in the complex cultural background of immigrants - it is not only a dance form, dress and walking posture, but also a language.
Tango poster on the street side of Boca District.
The eternal theme is "love", and it is usually "lost love", sometimes bitter and sometimes sentimental. "'Love' in tango is by no means simply 'boy meets girl, two fall in love, and then live happily ever after'," said my Argentine friend Michael. "City of Tango" is no means a waste of time, from "Naranjo en Flor" to "Los Mareados", engineering students can also recite a few lyrics at their fingertips.
The love depicted in tango is mostly betrayal and abandonment, and women are usually the source of men's misfortune, leading to men's alcoholism and indulgence, so it is concluded that the only woman a man can trust is his mother. Some argue that such themes are a metaphor for the disappointment and disillusionment of European immigrants: what they leave their homes for is not a dream come true, but a sad reality of toiling in stinking slaughterhouses and meat processing plants.
Most of the slaughterhouses and meat processing plants of that year were abandoned, but they were just old buildings on both sides of the river in boca district. Unfortunately, because it is labeled as the "birthplace of tango", tango is suspected of being over-consumed here. At the entrance of the commercial street, male dancers in black top hats and black western costumes and sexy female dancers dressed in heavy makeup solicit group photos in pairs, and female tourists always exaggeratedly put their thighs on the knees of male dancers or dumped backwards 90 ° bend. Restaurants and bars peddling tango shows are everywhere, and tango men and women are printed with water glasses, refrigerator stickers, posters...
Because of its humble status, tango was initially not accepted by mainstream society in Buenos Aires. As time passed, young people in the city began to visit "those" neighborhoods, learned tango, and then taught the "pure" version to the girls, girlfriends and sisters next door, and tango slowly infiltrated the daily life of the People of Putrajaya. In 1910, the Argentine writer Ricardo Gilades brought tango to Paris on his European grand tour, while Argentine sailors danced with local girls from marseille port. Four years later, tango was introduced to the United States and eventually returned to Putrajaya like a prodigal son. By this time tango had been "purified" and had become the language of the poet.
The important person who finally made tango "into the stream" was Carlos Gödel, the "father of tango". In 1893, at the age of three, he came to Argentina from France with his mother. His elegant interpretation of tango allowed the Argentine elite to overcome their aversion to its humble origins, and the unique style he created was emulated by future generations of tango singers. Hollywood's ardent tango song "One Step Away" is one of his masterpieces.
Gradually, there was such a group of "Milonga people" in Putrajaya, who were regular visitors to Milonga, authentic tango fans, and even the whole focus of life was tango. Today there are about twenty or thirty milonga a day in Putrajaya, so that those who grew up dancing tango, or for the foreigners who have migrated to Putrajaya for tango, find their spiritual home. One of them, Manuel, a Peruvian I met a few months ago in the small Uruguayan town of Colonia, on the other side of Putrajaya, is one of them. "If it's not for tango, why shouldn't I stay in Peru?" If they were to meet again at The Corning Salon one day, I would tell him, "Now I understand." ”
A glimpse of the boca district.
On another cold afternoon, I lay under the dome of the planetarium and enjoyed a 28-minute short tango video alone. The film is set on the streets of Buenos Aires, accompanied by Astol Piazola's "Four Seasons of Tango" suite, and the scenery changes throughout the seasons, and a couple dances to interpret the love between them. Everything is as the tango poetess Eladia Blazquez wrote:
Buenos Aires
To my soul
No poetry is better
Your streetscape, day after day
I ran out of tears, soles and coats
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