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The History and
Sensuality of Modern Dance
By Mary Ellyn Weissman
Throughout history,
various forms of dance emerged from sensual roots and have
experienced controversy. The art of dance has been a means of
telling stories, honoring royalty, soothing the gods, a means of
courting, and expressing celebration and emotions. Many forms of
dance faced criticism and censorship throughout history but
eventually evolved into acceptable art forms despite their
beginnings. Alternately, some forms of dance had non-sensual
beginnings but changed their form and later became socially
shunned.
The tango originated
in the brothels of ancient Argentina when the “gauchos” would arrive
after a day at work in the fields and the barmaids would entice them
into going upstairs by dancing close in their arms. The style of
this dance is said to have developed when these cowboys arrived
unwashed after working in the fields and on sweating horses, so that
their pants were stiff with sweat and dirt and their bodies
malodorous – thus the ladies would dance holding themselves slightly
away from them in the crooks of their arms, with their heads averted
to avoid the smell.
The ancient forms of
Middle Eastern belly dance are thought to have been based in women’s
rituals and celebrations. It was at one time apparently a dance to
induce fertility so women performed it at the pre-wedding
celebrations held with female friends and family. It was also taught
to young women in order to also strengthen their bodies in
preparation for childbirth by toning their muscles.
However, in 1893 when Little Egypt performed the belly dance at the
Chicago World’s Fair, there was outrage over her sexual dance style
and costume when she wore trousers and a sleeveless blouse. The
belly dance continued to be used in the burlesque shows, which were
beginning to become popular around this time.
The Rumba is a dance
of enticement and teasing. Through teasing and withdrawal it is a
courting dance where the woman uses all of her charms to conquer the
man she is dancing with.
Ancient striptease is
recorded in the Sumerian tablets as performed by goddesses and in
the Old Testament as performed by Salome for King Herod. In the
early 1900s as movies and theaters became more popular, the strip
tease dance was added to burlesques shows to entice at least the men
into continuing to visit.
During this time
traveling tent shows had strip tease acts and as the larger tents
drew more crowds when they could see several dancers in one tent,
the smaller tent dancers began to use the tent’s center pole for
dancing and acting out lewd performances on the pole in order to
compete with the draw of the larger tents.
In 1957 when Elvis
Presley appeared on the Ed Sullivan show, the cameramen were
directed to only shoot him from above the waist because of his
outrageous hip movements. Around this time, minors under the age of
18 were banned from dancing to Rock N’ Roll in public in Cleveland
Ohio and in the early 60’s, Catholic schools students were forbidden
by the Bishop to dance to “The Twist”.
More recently, the
art of pole dancing has taken on a respected role and is offered in
numerous fitness centers and health clubs. Pole dancing as an art
form is slowly becoming recognized, though its popularity is
strongest in the UK. There are also pole dance schools in South
Africa, Australia, Belgium, Singapore, The Netherlands, Croatia, and
Canada. Here in the USA, more pole dancing schools are established
on the west coast than anywhere else, but there are now almost 200
locations providing instructions in the art of pole dance across the
US.
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