TangoTang, the Hong Kong Tango Club - Why Stage Tango Classes?

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Why Stage Tango Classes?

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Written by Raymond Chu, on 23-04-2009 05:16

一直很想與大家分享關於學習 Tango 以來的心得及感受，但自己實在懶於寫作，而且總覺得自己寫得不好，所以一直也沒有做，不久前答應了Lily 寫寫關於 Stage Tango 的，現在有點後悔，但也不能食言，只好寫寫吧，寫得不好請見諒。

最近有人問我們為何 Laila and Leandro 的 workshop 要有 Stage Tango 的課，相信絕大部份香港的舞者也只想在 milonga 跳跳Tango，我想他也說得不錯，就是自己最初也有這樣的想法，總對Stage Tango 沒多大興趣，我本來就不大喜歡表演的，但在阿根廷的時候，因為甚麼也想試試的心態，有機會接觸多些 Stage Tango 的課。 Stage Tango 不同於一般在 milonga 跳的 Tango 主要不是在於技巧，而是在於 energy，在舞台上要讓台下的觀眾看到每一個動作並且要有感染力，舞者需要很有能量，在其他的舞台表演，表演者或可用誇張的動作讓觀眾看見，但單是靠誇張的動作來跳一隻Stage Tango，相信只會讓人感覺很鬆散，兩人之間的張力不足，也不會跳出一隻好的 Tango。在韓國比賽時，試過在台邊看一些專業參賽者綵排，他們每一個動作的能量都是很有壓迫感的，你會懷疑他們是否需要用那麼大的能量來跳舞，但在台下看時你能感覺到的能量可能只有台邊看時的四分一以下，一些能量一般的舞者，在台下看來，動作就變得很無力量。要跳一隻好的 Stage Tango，舞者除了要用很大的能量，更重要是控制這樣的能量，把它凝聚 (condense)，以至能不形於外，做到每個動作都能讓觀眾感覺到其能量，而舞者又像是不用費力似的。

第一次在阿根廷的 Stage Tango課沒到半小時已把我們弄得半死，那時真不知那裡來能量去挨過餘下來一小時的課，後來只好豁出去，用盡僅餘的能量鼓起精神繼續，奇怪是，那時候所有的東西都不同了，以往的問題好像一時間容易了，原來我們一直存在的很多問題，主要並不在於技巧上，而是 energy 的問題，這一課令我明白到 energy 的重要性，也從此便喜歡了 Stage Tango 的課，不是為了表演或是花巧的表演舞步，只是為了鍛鍊自己在跳舞時的 energy，就像背著沙包跑步後，你在行路時每一步都變得有力，穩定而且輕鬆。在阿根廷時，很多上Stage Tango 課的舞者都會視之為一種鍛鍊，並非一定要有上舞台的夢想才會上 Stage Tango 的課。

最近一年愛上了 Salon Tango，除了因為他們的 Walking，還有他們的 Enrosque 及很多高難度而優美的典型 Footworks，要跳好 Salon Tango 其實並不容易，我覺得它的變化其實不算很多，但所需要的技巧和能量卻要求很高，單是 Walking，我曾翻看過很多用腳前掌行路的 Salon Tango 舞者在網上的影片，發覺要用腳掌而不用腳跟著地的方式行出很有信心及力量的步伐其實需要很有 energy 的身體及很有力量的腳掌，就如芭蕾舞般，如果能量和力量不足，行起來便會像小偷行路般，前腿未完全伸展便要著地，那便倒不如用腳跟行路吧。所以如要跳好 Salon Tango，那麼身體的 engery 便更不可少。

現在很多香港的舞者包括自己本來都沒有受過其他舞蹈的訓練，身體的能量本來就不夠，即使有些舞者有其他的運動嗜好，但那能量的形態也跟 Tango 所需要的有很大差異，所以還需要很多的鍛鍊才能把它改變及控制，我們不能期望一個 Workshop 的 Stage Tango 課可以令同學們脫胎換骨，但最少希望同學們會因此而開始改變和有所啟悟，接下來還需要很多的努力，但相信你會進步得更快，就像我們所經驗的。

--Raymond Chu

Last update: 23-04-2009 14:26

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Comment language: English (3), 繁體中文 (0)

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Posted by Huy Nguyen, on 03-06-2009 13:13,

1. On improving - attitude?

Raymond

Good to see you share some deeper thoughts on Tango in HK. I think there are good teachers in HK like you and you all care which is a good thing for HK. There are also a lot of ardent Tango lovers in the local scene, and providing different kinds of classes is a great idea to open up people's minds and understanding of the dance.

On your comment, "Yes, I think that there are too few people can dance well and even walk well in HK", the problem I can see with most local people is (for brevity's sake, excuse the generality here) that they are not open-minded enough to look at the dance in a different way - in movements, in musicality, in expressions. People tend to follow only the steps they are taught and will not explore incorporating other ideas or elements in their dance. Everyone dances differently, but when one can express oneself with matching movements to the piece of music, it is a wonderful feeling and satisfaction. And having other figures/movements can really expand the dance and the enjoyment (I have sampled this with many teachers from Argentinia, including Leandro last night at the milonga). Perhaps you are right, it is a personal matter.

On your other comment, "people would share their experience and technique while dancing in milongas and practicas,...", I tend to ...disagree! My observation is that HK people tend to stick to their own group and will not dance with others outside their circle. Pity the poor women who want to dance more! A la "Strictly Ballroom" attitude? I hope not. But I believe this attitude prevents HK dancers from expanding their minds and their dance.

On this note, I also believe (witnessed) some people who are absolutely "up themselves" on the dance floor. I have seen men refuse to dance with women so many times, with lame excuses, that it can enrage you to see such poor attitude and dance etiquette. BAD BAD BAD and deplorable. Some of these guys (and occasionally, women) probably consider themselves as "better" dancers, whether that is true or not. C'mon people, if you are so great, share it, so the ladies can have a better enjoyment with you and of Tango, and they can also teach you a thing or two!

Besides learning routines and techniques, expanding the Tango exploration - not to mention the sharing and caring - is probably one of biggest challenges that TangoTang and you teachers can benefit the local scene the most. Keep up the good work.

My 2 cents.
H.

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Posted by Raymond Chu, on 14-05-2009 03:58,

2. To boost up the level of Tango in HK

Thank you for your support Prof. Chan. Wonder if I know you :) .

I haven’t had made any serious comparison between the Tango communities in Asian countries. But I think that many of the dancers in HK have good eyes to appreciate high quality level of Tango. Maybe they just don’t know how to achieve it. It’s a personal problem sometimes. Everyone is different in the learning process. Therefore providing different kind of classes is important since different people can benefit from different kind of classes. Yes, I think that there are too few people can dance well and even walk well in HK. But walking is not an easy thing. It’s easy to start but very difficult to do it well. Seeing one’s walking you probably can tell how well one can dance without asking the person to dance other difficult figures. So too few people can walk well in HK just means that too few people can dance well here.

I am not any professional teacher when compared with those great teachers from Argentina. I wish I could be one someday. But there’s a long long way to go. To boost up the general level of Tango in HK, I think that maybe we’ve done enough in helping the general dancers. But it’s also important to boost up the level of the advanced dancers here. They are always of a very small group in a dance community and we may suffer some loss in helping them and offering chances to them, like holding real advanced classes for them with those great Tango teachers from Argentina. Probably not many people are in the level to take those classes. But since Tango is a social dance, people would share their experience and technique while dancing in milongas and practicas, boosting up their level would help back to improve the general levels in HK.

We are lucky to have TangoTang in HK which is a non-profit making organization. Maybe I would suggest that they could earn some money in holding some profit making events or workshops and use that money to do something to benefit the community, like holding special classes for the advanced dancers, organizing competitions for local dancers, providing more platforms for dancers to give shows to the public, etc.. Providing different kinds of activities of Tango can attract more people with different purposes to join the community. I have some students who told me that they came to learn tango just because they saw our show in public and wanted learn what we did in the show. That’s not bad if we can attract people to start Tango with such a purpose. I am sure they will find more in Tango later.

Nice to share with you here, Prof. Chan. Hope can see you soon in the coming workshop.

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Posted by prof_chan_hku, on 12-05-2009 19:29,

3. Congratuations

It is so good to see such a sophiciated sharing in this forum.
When comparing with other asia countries,
do u think we only have very few people could appreciate this quality level?
and even less people could dance in this level(even a good quality simple forward walk)?
I believed we have many tango lovers with heart and most of them take classes and practices every week, together with lots of oversea A grade visiting teachers workshops, however, do you think the majority on the practicas dance floor still stay only on social level.
As a professional teacher like you, could you share us more comments in rising up the overall dancing quality in HK?
Finally, I strongly support your claims that stage tango is a very good way to improve our dancing level.
Even though we have to take a very long practice to achieve such a small quality improvement, we could at least train ourself to become a quality tango watcher at first hand.
Looking forward to the up comming successful workshop.

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