My first encounter with Javier and Andrea was in 2007 when they first visited Hong Kong. In the beginning, I was mesmorized by their clean and elegant movements, and by Andrea's fiery adornos and footwork. In my first series of group classes with them, I was in some ways inspired and moved by what they said, which I still remember till today:
我第一次遇見Javier與Andrea是在2007年他們首度到訪香港。一開始我為他們乾淨優雅的動作所深深著迷，尤其是Andrea火焰般的裝飾和腳上功夫。上完了一系列的課程後，在某些方面上，我倍受啟發和感動到至今仍難以忘記：
"Kill the man the first moment you embrace him" - Andrea
"Don't be afraid of feeling" - Javier
"I'd rather cut off my legs than invite a guy to dance with me" - Andrea
Andrea:「在你抱男生的瞬間，就把他殺了。」
Javier: 「不要害怕去感覺。」
Andrea: 「我寧可砍了我的腳，也不會去邀請男生跳舞。」
These words, though embedded in my head, never made a huge change to me as I was deeply focused on copying Andrea's movements, wanting to dance exactly like her. For the first year, I strayed away from dancing tango, as to dance tango is to dance for your partner, but I was too concentrated on myself, on whether my legs are stretched straight enough, on whether I am standing tall enough, etc. It was not until my first visit to Buenos Aires in 2008 and had the chance to take private lessons with them that I woke up from this disillusion.
這些話雖然深深印記在我腦海裡，卻未曾改變我完全專注在複製Andrea的移動方式－－我想要變得像她！之後的一年裡，我開始偏離了探戈，因為探戈是二個人一起共舞；而我卻完全專注在自己身上：站得夠不夠高，或腳伸得夠不夠直...。一直到我在2008年第一次去了布宜諾，有機會和他們上了幾堂私人課後，頓時間我忽然醒悟了。
I spent 3 private lessons in total with Andrea entirely on the same topic - EMBRACE. I was frustrated that I couldn't get it. I was mad at myself for not being able to give my partner a comfortable embrace, although this seems the most natural thing for a human being to do. I refused to be part of the generalization that as Asians, we are not used to embracing another person fully. I did all I was told, placing my chest onto the man's right chest as if going upwards and through the man, my right cheek slightly touching the man's right cheek, careful not to exert too much pressure, while my left palm is pressing into and upwards into the man's right shoulder blade. I embraced the man, thinking whether all the muscles of my body are working correctly to execute the best embrace I could give.
我花了整整三堂私人課，卻單單繞在一個主題上－－擁抱。無法學會這事真的讓我感到非常的沮喪，氣自己不能給共舞的人一個舒適的擁抱，而這是應該是很簡單，人類天生就會的東西。我不想像舊世代的東方人一樣，不懂得完全擁抱另一個人。我做到了把我自己放在男生的右胸，就好像要身體穿過這個男生，讓兩人的右頰彼此輕觸，並小心的不要施加太多力量給男生，左掌心放在男生的背後肩胛骨。我抱著男生，想著如何控制身體的肌肉來完成一個我所能給予的完美擁抱。
Little did I know that, it was not my technique that was the problem. It was my attitude.
後來我才知道，不是我的技巧有問題；反之，是我的態度。
"Imagine that behind the man is the last pair of Comme Il Fauts that you've been dying to have, hanging there on the top shelf. Embrace the man as if trying to grasp those shoes with all your effort."
想像在這個男生後面，有著最後一雙妳非常想要的Comme il Fauts，就在那架子上。抱一個男生就像妳盡可能的去抓住那雙鞋子。
What I have learnt from those lessons is, to tango is to embrace, and to embrace, you either do it with all your heart, or not do it at all. To dance tango, you have to really want it, take it and grasp it. The embrace will come with the right attitude, not with the right techniques.
我從這堂課學到，探戈就是擁抱、和擁抱。你得用你的心去抱人、去跳舞，不然的話就都不要。探戈，你必須真的想要、去拿、並抓住它。擁抱來自好的態度，不是好的技巧。
This is the same for everything else. Andrea's movements exude grace and sensuality and power not because she thinks this is the most beautiful way of dancing or that she has studied a set of methods making her move this way. A woman with confidence and sas will naturally move with confidence and sas. I can never be a copy of Andrea as we are completely different in terms of experience and personality. Our dance should reflect who we are. Javier and Andrea encourages and inspires me to find myself and the freedom to express it in my tango, to enjoy dancing and not be absorbed into calculating how many degrees my hips should be moving; to understand not how to make an adorno, but why I am adorning; to be selfish, yet giving; to be submissive, yet active.
其他的都一樣。Andrea的移動時散發的優雅、性感和能量不是因為她想著跳怎樣是最漂亮的，或是她研究一堆方法讓她可以做到。一個擁有自信和性感的女人，自然會走得很有自信和性感。我永遠不可能複製Andra，因為我和她是完全不同經驗、不同個性的人。我們跳舞反映著我們是什麼樣的人。Javier和Andrea鼓勵我找到自我，並自由的詮釋我的探戈、享受跳舞，而不是計算我的臀部要轉幾度；去了解為什麼裝飾，而不是如何裝飾；要先自私才能夠給予；要懂臣服才學會主動。
Javier and Andrea allowed me to understand tango in a way that noone has showed me before, and I am grateful for their mentoring and teaching.
Javier和Andrea讓我了解探戈的方式，是別人從未給予過的，我非常感謝他們的指導和教學。
Tango is really not just a dance, but an attitude. At the end of the day, all the techniques that I have learnt from them only served to make me a better "bailarin", something that is external and can be seen. But the most important lesson I have learnt from them is how to be a milonguera, something that is internal and can only be felt.
探戈不只是一種舞蹈，更是一種態度。最終我從他們那邊學到的技巧只會讓我變成的好「舞者」，外在可見的東西。但我所學到最重要的課程是，如何成為一個探戈人－－那是屬於「內在」，無法看見卻只能被感受到的。
article by Sandra, 20091228
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