Meet the “Dancing Grannies”走近“廣場舞大媽”

文/凱文·麥克斯帕登 譯/成玉華

By Kevin McSpadden

The women usually gather in the squares early in the mornings and evenings, sometimes wearing matching outfits, preparing to dance in unison to the day’s music line-up, usually Chinese, sometimes not.

These “dancing grannies” gather by the dozens, and even hundreds, all across China, and have become an omnipresentpart of society in the past 20 years.

2 “Dancing is an all-age exercise, and it was proposed as a way for the elderly to be happy, to learn something and to contribute to the university,” said a Chinese auntie from Chongqing, referring to a community college for elderly people she attends.

She fell in love with dancing and now performs on stage and competes against other dancing troupesin China.

3 For many middle-aged and elderly women in China, often called “damas”,square dancing is the most important social activity in their lives.

她們通常在清晨和傍晚聚集在廣場，有時穿著統一的舞衣，準備跟著當日按順序播放的音樂曲目齊舞。音樂通常是中文歌曲，但有時不是。

在中國各地，這些“廣場舞大媽”數十人甚至數百人一聚，在過去20年間已經成為無處不在的社會群體。

2 “跳舞是一項老少皆宜的運動，被當成一種讓老年人快樂、學東西和為大學做貢獻的方式。”中國重慶的一位阿姨說，她指的是她所上的社區老年大學。

她愛上了跳舞，如今還上臺表演，與國內其他舞蹈隊比賽。

3 在許多中國中老年婦女（常被稱為“大媽”）心里，廣場舞是她們生活中最重要的社交活動。

These square dancing troupes have become a family for some participants and a fascination for many passers-by.

Which begs the question, who are these dancing grannies?

How it works

4 The most important feature of square dancing is the music.

The music is typically songs that are familiar to the group and there is a cottage industryof companies that sell soundtracks for dancing grannies, said Jiaxuan Yu, a PhD student at Emory University who has studied square dancing groups for seven years.

“But basically, they just try to find something that is free. That is a very important thing,” she said.

5 Choosing the music is the group leader’s job, a revered position that comes with both respect and responsibility.

The leader selects the line-up, choreographsthe dances (which often means simplifying the proposed dance),organises the meet-ups and manages the troupe.

For people in this position, square dancing may appear more like a job than an evening hobby.

6 The best strategy for joining a dance troupe is just to show up and hang around.

對某些參與者來說，廣場舞隊給了她們家的感覺；對許多路人來說，這些團隊則會吸引他們駐足欣賞。

這就讓人不禁要問：這些廣場舞大媽是誰？

運作方式

4 廣場舞最重要的特點是音樂。

就讀于埃默里大學的博士生于佳煖已研究廣場舞隊七年。她說，音樂通常是團隊耳熟能詳的歌曲，而且那些向廣場舞大媽出售音樂原聲帶的公司已形成了家庭產業。

“但她們主要還是會找免費的音樂。這一點非常重要。”她說。

5 選擇音樂是隊長的工作。隊長受人尊敬，但也要肩負責任。

隊長負責挑選樂單，編排舞蹈（通常是指簡化擬跳的舞蹈），組織大家碰頭，以及管理團隊。

對擔任隊長的人來說，跳廣場舞可能更像是一份工作，而不是一項晚間愛好。

6 加入舞蹈隊的最佳策略就是親自去現場，并在旁邊轉悠。

Once you become a familiar face,the group will ask if you want to join.Often, outsiders can pick out new members because they tend to hang on the edges of the groups and their dance moves are not as in sync witheveryone else.

Typically, once a woman joins a group they tend to stick with it, both out of convenience and, more importantly,because it can transform into their most important friend group.

7 “When they are dancing with others, they are also networking, so after several months, they will become very good friends,” said Yu.

“They may do things like go grocery shopping or travel together. They may become good friends in their life outside square dancing.”

8 The value of these groups can be immense, especially as a counter to loneliness in old age.

Andy Boreham, a Shanghai-based journalist who is working on a documentary about the damas, said: “When we retire, and the kids leave home, there often isn’t that much left to do. The women I’ve talked with about square dancing can talk endlessly about the connection and sense of belonging they get when they join a dance troupe.”

一旦你成了熟面孔，該團隊就會問你是否想加入。外人通常一眼就能認出新隊員，因為她們往往在隊伍邊上踟躇，舞蹈動作也和其他人不同步。

通常來說，一旦加入了某個團隊，她們就會堅持下去，既是出于方便，更重要的是，該團隊可轉變為她們最重要的朋友群。

7 “她們一起跳舞時也是在社交，所以幾個月后，彼此之間就會成為非常要好的朋友。”于佳煖說。

“她們可能會一起去雜貨店購物或旅游。她們可能會在廣場舞之外的生活中成為好朋友。”

8 這些舞蹈隊可大有裨益，在對抗晚年孤獨方面尤其如此。

安柏然是一名在上海任職的記者，正在制作一部關于中國大媽的紀錄片。他說：“一旦退休，孩子們都已離家，可做的事所剩無幾。談到廣場舞，我采訪的大媽們會滔滔不絕地講述她們加入舞隊后結下的友誼和獲得的歸屬感。”

9 上海師范大學研究社會學的宓淑賢說，女性跳舞還有個原因是，這是她們展示自身女性美的一種方式。

9Shuxian Mi, a sociologist at Shanghai Normal University, said another reason the women dance is that it is a way for them to express their feminine beauty.

“In my opinion, square dance is a reproduction of beauty. More and more women show their beauty by dancing square dance, and the emergence of short videos gives them an opportunity,” she said.

A brief history of damas

10 Most histories of collective public square dancing, called Guang Chang Wu in Chinese, point to the mass urbanisation and building boom of the 1990s as the origins of the activity.

11 While instances of public dancing were common before China opened up to the world, the public squares themselves did not exist on a large scale,according to an essay published in MIT Press in 2016.

The authors Seetoo Chiayi and Zou Haoping wrote: “While the first public park had opened in the late 19th century,these newly built or renovated squares provided additional space for the dancers who had been performing cha-cha,ballroom, and yangge (a more traditional dance) in groups in city parks.”

12 Most square dancing troupes are made up of women who happen to live near each other.

她說：“在我看來，廣場舞是美的再現。越來越多的女性通過跳廣場舞彰顯美麗，而短視頻的興起給了她們機會。”

大媽簡史

10 大多數集體性公共廣場舞蹈（中文稱“廣場舞”）的記錄指出，20世紀90年代的大規模城市化和建設熱潮是該活動的起源。

11 2016年，麻省理工學院出版社發表的一篇文章指出，雖然在公共場合跳舞在中國對外開放前就已司空見慣，但那時公共廣場本身卻并未大規模存在。

司徒嘉怡和鄒昊平在文中寫道：“雖然首座公共公園已在19世紀末開放，但是這些新建或翻新的廣場為那些原本一直在城市公園組隊跳恰恰舞、交誼舞和秧歌（一種更為傳統的舞蹈）的舞者提供了更多空間。”

12 大多廣場舞隊的成員是住得相距不遠的女性。

現代廣場舞的轉型時刻是2008年北京奧運會。中國政府在奧運會舉辦之前呼吁群眾出門鍛煉。

The transformational moment for modern square dancing was the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when officials called on the Chinese public to get out and exercise ahead of the Games.

13 “When China was hosting the Olympics, the trend was to encourage people to participate in physical education every day. At that time, dancing,tai-chi, or activities on the square was seen as an economical form of exercise because you do not need specific equipment,” said Yu.

“Dancing on the public square, especially for women, became a more economical and convenient way for them to exercise,” she said.

Tensions and technology

14 As the activity gained popularity, it created tensions.

People often complain that the songs are loud, and there have been occasions when troupes overstepped their bounds—such as a story of a turf warwith basketball players that escalated to a point where the dancing group took over the court.

15 A recent survey published in 2019 in thesuggests the problem may be more of perception than a reality.

13 “中國舉辦奧運會時，鼓勵人們每天參加體育運動成了一種潮流。當時，跳舞、打太極拳，或者開展其他廣場活動被視為一種經濟的鍛煉形式，因為這些活動不需要特定的裝備。”于佳煖說。

“在公共廣場上跳舞，尤其對女性來說，成了一種更經濟、更方便的鍛煉方式。”

矛盾沖突和技術加持

14 廣場舞活動越來越受歡迎，同時也引發了種種矛盾和沖突。

人們常常抱怨歌曲音量太大，而且舞隊有時太過分了，比如有新聞稱，一個舞隊與打籃球的人搶地盤，最后竟占領了球場。

15 《國際環境研究與公共衛生雜志》于2019年發表的一項調研表明，這個問題恐怕只是人們的感覺而已，并不符合實際情況。

16 研究員肖捷菱和安德魯·希爾頓發現，按地區劃分，對廣場舞大媽持正面看法的受訪者占比在63.6%至78.4%之間。此外，他們隨后對廣場舞音樂最普遍的反應是“沒意見”。

16 Researchers Jieling Xiao and Andrew Hilton found that between 63.6 per cent and 78.4 per cent of respondents had a positive view of the damas, based on different locations. Furthermore, the subsequent most common reaction to the music was “no opinion.”

The survey also found that most respondents said public squares and parks were the most appropriate places for the women to dance.

17 And for those who remain annoyed by the music, technology may be on the way to save the day. Boreham said dancing troupes are experimenting with Bluetooth headphones and speakers designed to limit sounds at certain angles.

“I think the future will bring more technology aimed at reducing noise pollution from dancing grannies, because that is really the most pressing issue in my opinion,” he said. ■

該調研還發現，大多數受訪者表示，公共廣場和公園是最適合女性跳舞的場所。

17 而至于那些仍然厭煩廣場舞音樂的人，技術也許可以為他們排憂解煩。安柏然說，舞隊正在嘗試使用藍牙耳機和揚聲器來限制特定方向的音樂音量。

“我認為未來會出現更多用來減少廣場舞噪聲污染的技術設備，因為在我看來，這真的是最緊迫的問題。”他說。□