文/凯文·麦克斯帕登 译/成玉华

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.

她们通常在清晨和傍晚聚集在广场，有时穿着统一的舞衣，准备跟着当日按顺序播放的音乐曲目齐舞。音乐通常是中文歌曲，但有时不是。

在中国各地，这些“广场舞大妈”数十人甚至数百人一聚，在过去20年间已经成为无处不在的社会群体。

2 “跳舞是一项老少皆宜的运动，被当成一种让老年人快乐、学东西和为大学做贡献的方式。”中国重庆的一位阿姨说，她指的是她所上的社区老年大学。

她爱上了跳舞，如今还上台表演，与国内其他舞蹈队比赛。

3 在许多中国中老年妇女（常被称为“大妈”）心里，广场舞是她们生活中最重要的社交活动。

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.

对某些参与者来说，广场舞队给了她们家的感觉；对许多路人来说，这些团队则会吸引他们驻足欣赏。

这就让人不禁要问：这些广场舞大妈是谁？

运作方式

4 广场舞最重要的特点是音乐。

就读于埃默里大学的博士生于佳煖已研究广场舞队七年。她说，音乐通常是团队耳熟能详的歌曲，而且那些向广场舞大妈出售音乐原声带的公司已形成了家庭产业。

“但她们主要还是会找免费的音乐。这一点非常重要。”她说。

5 选择音乐是队长的工作。队长受人尊敬，但也要肩负责任。

队长负责挑选乐单，编排舞蹈（通常是指简化拟跳的舞蹈），组织大家碰头，以及管理团队。

对担任队长的人来说，跳广场舞可能更像是一份工作，而不是一项晚间爱好。

6 加入舞蹈队的最佳策略就是亲自去现场，并在旁边转悠。

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，该团队就会问你是否想加入。外人通常一眼就能认出新队员，因为她们往往在队伍边上踟躇，舞蹈动作也和其他人不同步。

通常来说，一旦加入了某个团队，她们就会坚持下去，既是出于方便，更重要的是，该团队可转变为她们最重要的朋友群。

7 “她们一起跳舞时也是在社交，所以几个月后，彼此之间就会成为非常要好的朋友。”于佳煖说。

“她们可能会一起去杂货店购物或旅游。她们可能会在广场舞之外的生活中成为好朋友。”

8 这些舞蹈队可大有裨益，在对抗晚年孤独方面尤其如此。

安柏然是一名在上海任职的记者，正在制作一部关于中国大妈的纪录片。他说：“一旦退休，孩子们都已离家，可做的事所剩无几。谈到广场舞，我采访的大妈们会滔滔不绝地讲述她们加入舞队后结下的友谊和获得的归属感。”

9 上海师范大学研究社会学的宓淑贤说，女性跳舞还有个原因是，这是她们展示自身女性美的一种方式。

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.

她说：“在我看来，广场舞是美的再现。越来越多的女性通过跳广场舞彰显美丽，而短视频的兴起给了她们机会。”

大妈简史

10 大多数集体性公共广场舞蹈（中文称“广场舞”）的记录指出，20世纪90年代的大规模城市化和建设热潮是该活动的起源。

11 2016年，麻省理工学院出版社发表的一篇文章指出，虽然在公共场合跳舞在中国对外开放前就已司空见惯，但那时公共广场本身却并未大规模存在。

司徒嘉怡和邹昊平在文中写道：“虽然首座公共公园已在19世纪末开放，但是这些新建或翻新的广场为那些原本一直在城市公园组队跳恰恰舞、交谊舞和秧歌（一种更为传统的舞蹈）的舞者提供了更多空间。”

12 大多广场舞队的成员是住得相距不远的女性。

现代广场舞的转型时刻是2008年北京奥运会。中国政府在奥运会举办之前呼吁群众出门锻炼。

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 “中国举办奥运会时，鼓励人们每天参加体育运动成了一种潮流。当时，跳舞、打太极拳，或者开展其他广场活动被视为一种经济的锻炼形式，因为这些活动不需要特定的装备。”于佳煖说。

“在公共广场上跳舞，尤其对女性来说，成了一种更经济、更方便的锻炼方式。”

矛盾冲突和技术加持

14 广场舞活动越来越受欢迎，同时也引发了种种矛盾和冲突。

人们常常抱怨歌曲音量太大，而且舞队有时太过分了，比如有新闻称，一个舞队与打篮球的人抢地盘，最后竟占领了球场。

15 《国际环境研究与公共卫生杂志》于2019年发表的一项调研表明，这个问题恐怕只是人们的感觉而已，并不符合实际情况。

16 研究员肖捷菱和安德鲁·希尔顿发现，按地区划分，对广场舞大妈持正面看法的受访者占比在63.6%至78.4%之间。此外，他们随后对广场舞音乐最普遍的反应是“没意见”。

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. ■

该调研还发现，大多数受访者表示，公共广场和公园是最适合女性跳舞的场所。

17 而至于那些仍然厌烦广场舞音乐的人，技术也许可以为他们排忧解烦。安柏然说，舞队正在尝试使用蓝牙耳机和扬声器来限制特定方向的音乐音量。

“我认为未来会出现更多用来减少广场舞噪声污染的技术设备，因为在我看来，这真的是最紧迫的问题。”他说。□