Dance little lady dance….

Dance has always been part of the Hindu mythology, right when Apsara’s used to dance to seduce the gods - to the manly dance style, tandava” of Lord Shiva. In the 18th century in European taverns poets, intellectuals and masses mingled; ideas flowed along with the wine, while inebriate they would cavort with the sequined cabaret dancers.

The Moguls who invaded India also brought in their own variety of dances where nubile dancers (Tawaifs) used to perform for Kings and rich landlords; this was a fallout of the Harem dances of the 18th century Ottoman Empire. Later the Middle Eastern dance forms like “Raqs Sharqi” loosely termed as “dance due ventre” or Belly dance were introduced which mainly featured gyrations of the belly and hips. The sequined dancers moving with fluttering eyelashes, heaving bosoms and flashing their long legs added to the oomph factor.

Dance and music of the romantic 18th century flourished as the Society was repressive in those times and this counter culture was part offensive to the puritans. Though faintly decadent this art form appealed to everyone alike and was liberating to the senses. The man-woman armour, revived a pale longing- stirring a reflective desire for passion worship.

The Cabaret and Indian dance bars were the watered down sexually explicit dance forms derived from the “strip clubs” of the West and the later more popular “Pole” dance; a combination of dance and gymnastics all designed to fuel the bloated male ego. “Dirty Dancing” and “The Last Tango were movies that portrayed this physical passion permeating the tenuous link to achieve the realism of sensuality, carrying the yoke of masculine pride and aggression.
Just move that booty, darling! Waltz, and the Fox Trot started as art forms in their original avatar, but the Belly dance beneath the veneer of costumes, though depicted as an art form explores the emotional turmoil and unabashed sensuality which oozes out of the sensuous moves and pelvis thrusts of the vamp and her seductive mating dance.
It is said that “Dancing is a vertical expression of a horizontal intention” In the Waltz, Tango and Salsa the movements of dance form are similar to copulation on the bed; beneath the patina of the dance on the floor is the quest for sex.
In Indian movies the central plot and storyline have long been obliterated to the classical “Item number’ (slang for a sexy woman in skimpy clothes doing a cabaret style dance) with a multitude of men drooling and cheering at the juicy gyrating butts and sighing bosoms! –Vinay-