How to dance like the temptations
soulful voices, close harmonies, and choreography that made you want to dance – JPROF.com
No group that Motown produced exemplified the Motown sound better than the Temptations.
Throughout the decade of the 1960s, the Temptations dominated the charts with their deep, soulful rhythms, the near-perfect blend of their harmonies, and most of all their mesmerizing choreography. Those guys could dance, and if you saw them either live or on television, they made you wish you had just half the moves they did.
They started, of course, in Detroit, the combination of two rival singing groups: Otis Williams, Elbridge “Al” Bryant, and Melvin Franklin and Otis Williams & the Distants, and Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams of the Primes. Motown founder Berry Gordy knew about these groups because he was good at scouting local talent, and in 1961 he signed them to a contract. Because of previous recording contracts, Gordy told them to get a new name.
The group considered various designations and took suggestions from Motown staffers. The name that stuck was the Temptations, and Gordy approved.
Despite their obvious talent, their success was not assured. They released various singles from 1961 to 1963 without much impact. But somehow, Gordy knew that if their talent could be developed, it could be overwhelming. Al Bryant, for one, couldn’t see that and grew sullen and frustrated at the group’s lack of success. At the end of 1963, following an altercation with others in the group, he quit (or was fired).
David Ruffin, a young Mississippian (shown here in the caricature on the right), had been following the group around, hoping that one day he could join them. Bryant’s leaving gave him his chance. He had a raspy baritone that had developed in the gospel singing churches of the deep South, and he carried that power to the North. In January 1964, the Temptations recorded “The Way You Do the Things You Do,” a song co-written by Smokey Robinson and Bobby Rogers, and by April the group had broken into the top 20 on the pop charts.
Subsequent recordings were not as big, but Robinson had listened closely to the group — especially to David Ruffin — and thought he could write the perfect song for him. In December 1964, the group recorded “My Girl,” another co-written song by Robinson and Ronnie White, and by March 1965, the Temptations were at the top of the charts again.
That song became the group’s signature piece and ushered them into what is called the Temptations’ “classic period.” They had hit after memorable hit, including “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” “Beauty Is Only Skin Deep,” “I Wish It Would Rain,” and “You’re My Everything.”
By 1967 the Temptations, to the outside viewer, appeared to have everything going for them. Inside the group, it was a different story. Ruffin had taken the lead on so many of their hits that he felt he should get special billing and lobbied Berry to change the name to David Ruffin and the Temptations. Ruffin regularly missed practices and was becoming increasingly dependent on cocaine. Ruffin had taken up with Motown star Tammi Terrell, and his abusive behavior toward her was no secret.
By June 1968, the group had had enough and got together and fired Ruffin. In his place they hired Dennis Edwards, but Ruffin began showing up at their concerts, coming onto the stage, and grabbing the microphone from Edwards. This stunt was repeated several times until Ruffin realized that he was not going to be able to rejoin the group.
With the addition of Edwards, the Temptations ended their “classic” period and shifted to what they called “psychedelic soul,” and they continued to produce hits such as “Cloud Nine” and “I Can’t Get Next to You. ” The group also had a number of successful collaborations with Diana Ross and the Supremes.
Throughout the years, the Temptations have continually changed styles and personnel, but their essential brand — highly charged music, close harmonies, and precision dance moves — has remained constant. The original Temptations were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.
See these previous posts about Motown:
Fifty years ago, Marvin Gaye asked What’s Going On?
Please, Mr. Postman
Berry Gordy began Motown with an $800 loan from his family
Martha and the Vandellas: Heat Waves, Quicksand, and but always Dancing in the Street
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Powered by ConvertKit« Clare Hollingsworth’s ‘scoop’ of the century, William Styron’s ‘mistakes,’ the Temptations, and reader reaction: newsletter, May 8, 2020
Clare Hollingsworth: A newbie reporter gets the scoop of the century »
‘Ain’t Too Proud’ tempts with distinctive dance moves and indelible hit songs
STAGE REVIEW
By Terry Byrne Globe correspondent,Updated April 21, 2022, 2:35 p.m.
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterFrom left: Elijah Ahmad Lewis, Marcus Paul James, Jalen Harris, Harrell Holmes Jr. , and James T. Lane in "Ain’t Too Proud."Emilio MadridThe breakout star of the Broadway touring production of “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations” is choreographer Sergio Trujillo. Of course, the fact that dance dominates this musical biography reflects the Temptations’ ability to distinguish themselves from so many other outstanding Motown artists with their distinctive moves. And it doesn’t hurt that their music, including “The Way You Do the Things You Do,” “My Girl,” “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” and dozens more (they had 37 Top 40 hits), spans more than a half-century and has been baked into American culture.
The Temptations’ position as the No. 1 group in rhythm and blues history makes them ideal for the Broadway jukebox musical treatment. Based on original Temptation Otis Williams’s memoir, “Ain’t Too Proud,” which runs at the Opera House through May 1, brings together a can’t-miss creative team: director Des McAnuff and choreographer Trujillo, who collaborated on “Jersey Boys” and “Donna Summer: The Donna Summer Musical. ” The ringer, if you will, is Dominique Morisseau, who wrote the book for the musical and whose plays, including “Skeleton Crew” and “Pipeline,” capture the love behind work that can sometimes be hard, in every sense of the word.
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The challenge with giving Otis Williams all the responsibility for telling the story is that “Ain’t Too Proud” starts to feel like a slideshow of musical highlights narrated at high speed, with historical references dropped in occasionally to help keep us on track. While he tells us from the outset that the Temptations’ emphasis was always on the group, not individuals, the interchangeability of the members makes it harder to lock into a narrative about the people behind the music.
The linear storytelling slows the drama down, and the stops at boozing, drugging, womanizing, and marital breakups, as well as nods to the social and political upheaval of the ‘60s, feel more like boxes that must be checked than revelations about individuals responding to the pressures of fame and the world around them. But when the show turns back to showcasing the music and the Temptations’ stunning performances, the audience is lured right back and ready to swoon.
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This touring company features a high-energy cast who make Trujillo’s endlessly inventive moves look stylish and sleek. And, while every member of the group among the “classic five” Temptations gets a solo, James T. Lane as Paul Williams, Jalen Harris as the tenor Eddie Kendricks (“Just My Imagination”), and Elijah Ahmad Lewis as David Ruffin (“My Girl”) are the show-stopping standouts, while Treston J. Henderson, as the group’s early, short-lived lead singer, steals every scene he’s in, even when he’s also playing hitmaking songwriter Norman Whitfield.
While the Temptations were lauded for the blend of their voices, the mix at the Opera House favored the soloists, muddying the harmonies. That meant that Harrell Holmes Jr., as the deep-voiced Melvin Franklin, got a bit lost in the shuffle, although he helped add some much-needed nuance to the production as the group’s easygoing member. Marcus Paul James as Otis Williams sang and danced along with the rest of the group but focused much of his energy on his duties as narrator.
There are scenes in the offices of Motown mastermind Berry Gordy, when the tension between his notion of carefully cultivated crossover artists and the personal and creative needs of his artists seeps through and makes us lean forward. But there are too many years to cover, too many members of the Temptations to introduce — a total of 25 appear onstage for a reunion tour — and too many songs to cover.
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Even though the show drags a bit, the curtain call reprise of “I Can’t Get Next to You,” which included every member of the company and revealed the band, including two drummers and some horn players, left the audience dancing in the aisles.
AIN’T TOO PROUD: The Life and Times of the Temptations
Presented by Broadway in Boston. At the Citizens Bank Opera House. Through May 1. Tickets start at $25. 888-616-0272, www.broadwayinboston.com
Terry Byrne can be reached at [email protected].
Run by Black journalists at The Boston Globe, “Black News Hour,” a new radio program, delivers reliable news that connects with our community and expands on deeper issues impacting our city.
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Dance as temptation | Otkryaya Gazeta
Last Friday, the second urban erotic dance competition among amateurs was held at the New Rome entertainment complex. This wonderful project was inspired by the showman Jacqueline Alexandria, well-known in the city, and the director of the Bravo dance school, Natalya Sokirko.
Erotic dance (erotic dance, strip dance) should not be confused with striptease. The main thing here is to seduce without undressing. Therefore, for a dancer, not elastic forms and predatory plasticity are much more important, but the ability to create a sensual image. No wonder the jury, headed by Talk magazine editor Anton Dubrovsky, evaluated the girls primarily by the level of acting skills and the richness of the choreographer's imagination.
In total, ten girls participated in the competition, each of which came up with a bright image for herself. For example, a young mother, Natalya Zaitseva, appeared as a biker. In a form-fitting bright red latex catsuit, she flew onto the dance floor on a motorcycle to the deafening riffs of Black Sabbath and immediately wrapped herself around the pole.
Another participant, Yulia Kolesnik, appeared as Trinity the vamp from the cult "Matrix": in a black cloak and dark glasses, with pistols in her hands, she fought with Agent Smith. But the most successful moment in her performance was the finale, when Yulia approached the chairman of the jury and handed him two pills in her palm - red and blue. If you remember, the main character Neo had to make the same choice in The Matrix.
This year two girls took part in the competition, who had already tried their hand at last year's project. For example, Marina Kalmykova last time appeared in the form of an exhausted technical worker who plunges into the world of her erotic fantasies. This year, Marina chose the image of Lyudmila Prokofievna - the legendary Mymra from Office Romance.
Only in her performance, Mymra turned out not to be a "cracker" at all, but quite the opposite - a real whore in the guise of a businesswoman. Having invited the hero of Novoseltsev to her office, she takes off her strict business suit and performs an incendiary pole dance to You can leave your hat on Joe Cocker.
By the way, the ability to handle a pole (what is colloquially called a pole) was also one of the criteria for evaluating the dance of the contestants. Many participants performed such super-complicated gymnastic tricks on a pole that it was sometimes difficult to suspect amateurs of them.
As a result, Oksana Bulygina won the Audience Choice Award for playing the role of Christina Aguilera's blond beast from the hit musical Burlesque. Well, the jury recognized Ellina Kirsanova as the winner of the competition, who chose the image of a seductive Amazon (pictured). In a luxurious leopard skin and a bold emerald green bikini, she rocked to the fullest, and then also demonstrated the wonders of handling the pole. After the contest, the Open correspondent met with Elina and took an exclusive interview with her.
– Why did you decide to participate in the competition?
- I always tried to keep my figure - and then one year ago I decided to take up oriental dancing. I came to the Encanto fitness club, but only late for the beginning of the class - but I got to another, strip dance. At first it was just curious, and then I fell in love with erotic dances. And when I found out about the competition, I immediately got a burning desire to show everyone what I had learned.
- Who came up with the number?
- Together with my coach Olya Abramova. By the way, she was in the room as a backup dancer. The costumes also had to be sewn by ourselves.
– Did you spend a lot of effort on preparation?
- The casting was half a year ago, many girls came to it, who are engaged in strip dance in different clubs of Stavropol. Of these, ten participants were chosen. Well, after that grueling training began. I gave my best, spending two hours in the ballroom every day.
– What do strip dance trainings include?
– Oh, there are a lot of elements! We study modern choreography, elements of classical ballet and oriental dance, pole dance (pole dance), stretching (stretching). Of course, at first all this seems very difficult, but the result is not long in coming - you learn to move beautifully, plastically, seductively to the music, develop your acting skills, improve your figure.
– And what was the most difficult for you?
– Pole exercises. Pole dance requires plasticity and at the same time great muscle strength, therefore, during training, the muscles of the buttocks and legs quickly build up. You also need to learn how to properly grip the pole so that your hands do not slip during the dance. By the way, some dancers even perform in special gloves.
When I was preparing for the competition, I was just doing repairs in the apartment, and in the hallway I put a pylon in front of the mirror. So I had the opportunity to train not only in the dance hall, but also in the evenings at home.
- Does strip dance involve stripping?
- No. In training, we only imitate undressing.
– Choreographers, perhaps, only women? After all, it’s embarrassing to dance erotic dances in front of an unfamiliar man.
– Quite the contrary! The presence of a man in training is an additional incentive to open up brighter and more fully in the dance, add sensuality, lightness to your movements. Although I personally have not met a single male choreographer.
– How did your colleagues at work and relatives react to your participation in the competition?
– All these six months my parents supported me very much, although they could not come to the competition. But in the hall was my friend and colleague. Honestly, he is the only one at work who knows about my passion for erotic dancing.
– How many women are interested in strip dance today?
- It seems to me that it is still inferior in popularity to other types of dance and fitness. The reason is probably the stereotypes associated with the dubious reputation of strippers in second-rate nightclubs.
Although strip dance is far from striptease, it is only one of the steps in mastering your own body. And how then to use these skills, the woman herself chooses: either to dance in a club at a pole, or at home in front of a mirror, or in front of her beloved man.
– Now that you are the winner of the competition, do you think about becoming a professional dancer?
- No. I work as a dentist in a polyclinic, and it would be embarrassing if my patients, having come to the club in the evening, would see me near the pylon or in the go-go cage. Still, I do dance more for myself. Although next year I will certainly participate in the competition!
Anton CHABLIN
To be continued in the next issue
Dance as a seduction, therapy and spiritual path / Consumer
It is very fashionable to do Arabic dance or dance now. Why?
There is an old parable.
Once a man came to a sage and said to him: “O sage, teach me to distinguish truth from falsehood, beauty from ugliness. Teach me the joys of life." The sage thought and taught the man to dance.
These two dances are united not only by fashion, entertainment and exoticism. Both serve one of the main tasks of life - the union of men and women. But they do it in completely different ways. More precisely at different distances and different energies. The embodiment of primordial energies and rhythm, the sacred meaning of these dances make it possible to equate them with psychopractices.
... The combination of dance movements is natural and unexpected at the same time: plastic divorces allow you to admire them, hip beats concentrate attention, vibrations merge with the rhythm of the music. All joints and bones are untwisted in three dimensions, as if filled with magical sliding energy. The combination of the breath of the abdomen with the movement of the hips generates a smooth and sweet flow, from which each vertebrae seems to be dancing an ancient Arabic melody . ..
...This is a dance of attitude, a dance of relations between a man and a woman, a philosophy of passion, rivalry and love play. His music captured the main thing in human existence: the erotic beginning is combined with the theme of loneliness, because these two feelings go through a person's whole life. Sexual energy only transforms the energy of rest into subtle energies of movement - despite the looseness and frankness of the dance, it conquers with sophistication and ease of movement.
So, we will talk about Arabic dance, better known as belly dance, or "beautiful dance", and about tango, usually known as Argentinean. Both go back centuries and both have become more than just a dance, like tai chi chuan and bagua in China or capoeira and samba in Brazil.
Arabic dance existed both in pre-Islamic and pre-Christian eras, and even before Judaism. According to some vague legends, it originated in Tibet 11 thousand years ago, at the end of the Hittida civilization. It was a warlike civilization, and at first dances were part of male warrior rituals. According to other sources, the dance originated in ancient Egypt 2.3 thousand years ago. He was part of the rituals associated with the cult of the goddess of the earth Isis - a symbol of the feminine, fertility, motherhood and childbirth. Dance was a form of interaction between a woman and the earth, a carrier of feminine energies and vibrations. Approximately 300 years before the advent of Christianity, the inhabitants of Asia Minor and Arabia recognized him.
Tango is a younger, but also world dance, both in distribution and in origin. Its name is African, its music and movements are Creole, and it acquired its modern form in the port districts of Buenos Aires in the second half of the 19th century. But it originated in approximately the same places as the Arabic dance. The Spanish Moors danced it back in the 12th century, then the gypsies adopted the tango, who brought it to Argentina: there the Andalusian tango mixed with the Cuban habanera and the Argentine minolga - so, in a mixture of cultures, the Creole tango arose.
Around the 5th c. AD Arabic dance became known in all countries of the East, as well as in Africa and Europe (Spain, Italy). But it has already largely lost its esoteric and ritual meaning, becoming something like the first version of striptease. The time of the emergence and flourishing of Islam coincided with the spread of harem relationships, and belly dance began to be performed to attract the attention of the husband-master. Indeed, according to the apologists of Islamic polygamy, in those days there were many widows whose men died in endless wars. This was an additional reason for turning dance into a means of fighting for a man.
If the dance of seduction did not resonate with the master, then the wives danced it for lovers, despite the strict guard of the eunuchs. By the 10th century, this version of the dance almost completely replaced the previous ones. Women from different countries independently added seductive elements from folk and ritual dances to it, competing in the openness and strength of the sexual appeal.
A in the X-XII centuries. From a somewhat unexpected side, men also became interested in Arabic dances - they began to teach them to women as teachers and masters. The dance masters did not encroach on the classical movements, but diluted them with some pas from Chinese and Thai ritual dances. It would seem that a purely female dance was inoculated with a masculine principle, became tougher and more aggressive.
In tango, the main issue of women's life was solved differently: interaction with a man in it is equal and even competitive.
It is not for nothing that it is called a dance, where from love to hate is not even one step, but half a step. Perhaps because for a long time it was a cheerful light dance of the inhabitants of barracks, brothels and taverns. It was paired, but separate, and only a mixture of nostalgia could give rise to it: the unrestraint of the gaucho, the loneliness of the soldier, the melancholy of the emigrant.
By the end of the 19th century, tango had evolved from Creole to Argentine, in which the partners moved with their arms around each other's shoulders. Men set the theme, and women inspired and aroused desires. Tango became slower and more sensual only at the beginning of the 20th century, when the accordion appeared in the orchestra, which gave drama to the music.
Unlike Arabic dance, where a woman relied solely on her own art of seduction, tango originally resembled a love picture of birds courting each other. It turned all ideas about what is possible and what is impossible in dance. Playing with the hips, languid arching of the ladies in the hands of gentlemen and looking at point-blank range, sudden changes in direction, risky interlacing of legs, up to the invasion of a leg covered with black stockings on a high stiletto heel between the male knees... this dance. It took special permission from the Pope for the hitherto considered diabolical dance to become fashionable all over the world.
Arabic dance does not belong to any one Middle Eastern country. Rather, it is a mixture of movements, gestures, rhythms, melodies and costume elements that belonged to different cultures and historical periods. Today, up to 50 of its species are known, cultivated in 8 large schools (Turkish, Egyptian, Pakistani, Botswana, Thai, Bhutanese, Aden and Jordanian), as well as in many small ones.
The Turkish version, for example, is more erotic and artistic - it is believed that competition in harems made it so. In restaurant performances, you can see exactly this, often even more exalted version.
The Lebanese school is considered intermediate, that is, it tries to combine the sacred and the sensuous-artistic. Only the Jordanian school develops a direction - a dance for its man. The rest are dominated by open sex appeal and the struggle for male attention and energy.
It wasn't always like that. Arabic dance in the first millennium was performed only in the evening by the wife and only for her husband. In an individual dance for her beloved, a woman says in gesture and movement that she is always ready to be just as fiery, playful and attractive for him. And hitherto a married woman in the Arab world cannot demonstrate herself in public - she can only dance for her man. After all, everyone knows that Arab women, like everyone else, perfectly manage men, only in more subtle ways. For example, faces and hands are indeed covered, but the fabric is translucent. However, for her man, she can dance naked.
Tango is emphatically more democratic and rebellious - ironic, mocking, fatal, close to folklore. It has long been considered the dance of commoners. Only at the end of the 19th century, being improved by Parisian choreographers, it quickly spread throughout the world as a salon and variety dance. And in Europe, it should be noted, it has lost its fiery character: the expression of faces has acquired impassivity, in the modern manner of performance only vibrations of the body have been preserved.
However, tango allows for endless variations and improvisations according to the character of each country. Only the rhythm in which the Argentines live remains unchanged - the rhythm of the heart, clear, jerky, syncopated, usually 136 beats per minute.
It was the rhythm, as well as a special melodramatic intonation and the energy of all-consuming feelings that made tango an aesthetic model of the Argentinean's life behavior. In Buenos Aires, it is danced everywhere - in cafes, at house parties and on the streets, in the square.
Tango. Duets and trios are usually accompanied by the playing of accordions, concertino and bandoneon, an instrument similar to the button accordion.
The Arabic proverb “A woman dances the way she loves” is quite applicable to both tango and Arabic dance. The purpose of the Arabic dance is not only to know yourself and your abilities, but also to find a man, showing him the best aesthetic and physical aspects of his nature. This is a kind of quintessence of female dances, in which twists of the waist, wagging and swaying of the hips are indispensable.
Initially, belly dance was aimed at understanding the earthly rhythm, which is perceived by a woman primarily by the womb. The Egyptian dance is still dominated by small vibrations, complete relaxation and meditative self-absorption, elongation towards the sky and limited movement. The woman learned through dance to be filled with energy, to strengthen her spirit, to heal diseases. Now such an understanding of dance has been preserved only in some areas of Morocco, Egypt and Algeria, where the conditions for the development of society did not prevent a woman from maintaining the function of communication with the divine principle.
Beautiful dance today is a connection with the universal feminine principle, a source of magical female power over men.
Power is not for its own sake - after all, a woman can move to a new spiritual level only after her man. If there is no loved one, then there are rituals of his order. For a love spell, it is enough to imagine that the dance is being danced specifically for a certain man. No wonder they say that the love of dance is an intermediate form of love between a man and a woman.
If there is a man, then it is useful to harmonize relations with him. To do this, a woman needs to establish a connection with the woman within herself. In a harmonious woman, the ratio of the feminine yin to the masculine yang is approximately 7 to 3. But in today's world, where a woman needs to be strong, she is forced to have much more male energy. Dance helps to restore the natural harmonious proportion.
In tango, energy practice is different, most of all it is similar to the constant pulling of a single thread.
The interaction of yin and yang takes place in the form of a mixture of spatial and temporal spheres, internal and external. In form, this dance is an invitation, a meeting, it is philosophical, gentle and passionate, simple and complex at the same time. Partners reflect each other, their energies are connected through vision, hearing, touching with hands, chest and faces. Listening to each other is accompanied by subtle play and weaving patterns with the feet, interception and continuation of movements. Both enjoy the joy of this game.
Despite the apparent complexity of the Arabic dance, no special training is required to master it. Movements are learned element by element and only then are sealed with a gentle wave of warmth and inspiration. The delicate plasticity of the arms, the regally advanced toe of the foot, the grace of the femoral curves and the force of their blows are entirely subordinate to the rhythm. In folklore varieties of dance, it sometimes becomes more frequent to the sound of a horse's hooves. The movements of the torso describe a three-dimensional figure eight, and the stomach vibrates with such frequency that for some time you can think of nothing else but solving this mystery. The secret lies in the transfer of "shaking" from the muscles of the legs hidden by the fabric of the skirt. Therefore, by the way, light fullness is only a plus for dancers.
Tango, on the other hand, is rather difficult to learn by studying only the structure of steps and body position: it is not a set of structures, but it is not chaos either. Training begins with absolute rest: thoughts do not touch, there is only an intersection of feelings and energies, felt as a premonition of movement. The movement of the legs is the main thing in the dance: the steps form figures, which the partners improvise in the future. The main step is sliding, with second stops and advance, or, as it is called, Argentine. It is also called the "crab step" in connection with the characteristic manner of lateral movement, which gives the figures a special flexibility.
The form of the dance largely depends on the correct positioning of the feet: the foot is placed gently. A woman uses a half-toe raise, which requires precise coordination of the movements of the knees and feet. The legs of the dancers move synchronously, observing a single line. The knees are relaxed and slightly bent. At the moment of performing a wide step, they are almost straightened, but not tense. The back is slightly tilted back, the head is slightly thrown back and turned to the left. Tango also often uses opposite body movements at the shoulders and hips. It is important to follow the free manner of holding, to observe posture, to keep the spine taut.
Dance requires control over the whole body, as well as over breathing, balance, emotions. The position of the head, shoulders, body, movement of the arms and hands, waist and hips, position of the legs and feet are also important.
The costumes of both dances are historical and functional. A tango woman usually dances in a beautiful straight open dress with a deep slit that does not hinder freedom of movement. The fashion for a skirt of two panels, as well as a skirt-trousers, is generated by tango. She dances in high heeled shoes, and if barefoot, then on socks so that the heel does not touch the ground. This creates lightness, the woman connects with the space and seems to come off the ground.
Dancers of a beautiful dance are dressed more exotically: usually they are long tapered skirts and a high colorful bodice, sometimes a slanting hip scarf, consisting of many silver coins. During the dance, they emit a thin melodic chime, like a stream of treasures. Only the waist itself and the beginning of the hips remain naked. This makes it possible for the dancer to feel like a woman, elegant and desirable. We have not noticed that the joy of dancing reflects the primary living joy of courtship.
Critics of belly dance argue that in our time, under the influence of commercialization, it has largely mutated.
After all, by emphasizing his sensual side, the dancer involuntarily provocatively makes promises, which she then cannot fulfill.
At the same time, the woman, her nature, also suffers. It is no coincidence that dancers have accidents, attempts at violence, injuries, female illnesses, and so on. Sometimes, for fun, restaurant entertainers draw a diagram of the digestive organs on the performer's stomach. Spiritual and physical improvement requires different approaches.
In the best schools of Arabic dance, women do not learn movements by rote and do not invent them from the mind. In the process of action, a spontaneous birth of dance from the depths of the body occurs. The dance turns into a game and a fascinating knowledge of its possibilities.
Rolling and rolling motions massage the feet. Gradually, the whole body tunes in to a certain rhythm, and the usually enslaved pelvic bones acquire ease of movement, comparable to the rotation of a ball. The flow rises higher, pushing the joints of the body apart and forcing the body to move voluntarily. Hips, chest, head roll like in oil, performing a dance-massage of the internal organs. This manifests the effect of the pendulum - the forces are spent only on maintaining the movement, and there is a feeling that the body is moving by itself.
In order for the wave to run freely throughout the body, it is necessary to release all unnecessary tension, therefore the healing effect of dance is used in body-oriented psycho-practices. There is a feeling of harmony of choral singing, joy and sharpening of physical feelings. During the dance, it is not uncommon for a woman to smile "inward", like a Buddha.
The tango is a much more extroverted dance, reminiscent of a kind of exciting circular journey. The body of the partner is slightly deployed. He puts his right hand on the partner's waist, and takes the left back or takes the partner's right hand in his. It is the work of the lower body that allows you to fill the legs with energy and connect it with other parts of the body. The form of movement is not very complicated: partners play with their feet, discovering new variations of movements and allowing circular diagonal movements to involve themselves in one direction or another. And in the end return to the same place where we started.
Purified from manipulation, Arabic dance becomes really beautiful and even healing. It effectively treats adhesions of the intestines and internal organs that have arisen after serious injuries. In traditional medicine, there is the concept of "uncontrolled muscles", which would be more accurately called intimate. In dance, they are used to excite the reproductive system and help to conduct healing orgasmic pulsations throughout the body, opening up the opportunity to dance anxiety, longing, fear, passion, resentment, and ultimately experience the bliss of release from tension and the joy of flight.
The eroticism of tango is of a slightly different kind and is better explained from tantric positions. The dancing woman has always been closely associated with the power of initiation and sexual energy. In many temples of the ancient world, dancers conveyed the very essence of eroticism in movements. Many of them became influential priestesses - it was believed that a dancing woman had the power of sexual rejuvenation and even had power over life and death.
The dual nature of tango allows for a more natural adjustment of the couple's energy relationships. A woman has a special role in tango. She beats the axis that the man holds for her, decorates, spins energy spirals around. She is always relaxed and supple, always inside. She listens to the man, follows him, reaches out to him. He is her support, her guide. A woman listens to a man with her breasts and hands - these are their points of contact. With her breasts she listens to his heart, the heart kindles a fire...
Controlling herself and her sexual centers, a woman spins their energy, creating a rising energy whirlwind. It is from her special strength that the ability of a couple to transform energy, raise it, spread it in space and on earth will depend. A man remains, as it were, chained to the ground, this is his element. Slightly bent knees give the impression of being rooted, and the upper body is calm in movement. Legs move as if gliding on ice. The feet of a woman are like the wind, their movement creates energy whirlwinds. She pulls up her leg - and immediately retreats, leaves - and immediately returns. Sharp and unpredictable movements create a unique flavor of the dance.
The energy of a woman in tango must go up - this is the condition for her grace. Movement in a spiral draws out energy, opens it, which is very important - after all, it is a woman who creates the conditions for the unification of male and female energy. In tango, everything is based on constant change - it manifests itself as the closing and opening of partners to each other, as advance and retreat, the alternation of hardness and softness. Moving and changing, partners comprehend the internal movement of energies. Advance - step forward - this is yang energy, it is a little aggressive. Giving in is a step back, it is a balancing yin energy. Mutual understanding unites. Tango sometimes resembles a paired form of tai chi.
Arabic dance is more self-sufficient, adjusted for the epoch, it can even be called feminist - it in itself gives every woman beauty, strength and health. He helps a young woman to open up, a mature woman to stay young. Knowing how to control her physical body, a woman becomes beautiful, like a flower - lush, fragrant, alluring, attracting.
Researchers have established links between many dance movements and movements during childbirth, indicating its basic life support function. These natural movements exercise the deep muscles that form a flexible waist and strengthen the internal organs of the womb, where the child is conceived and created. Through language, ritual and vivid performance, dance makes it possible for a woman to feel her body, learn to treat it with love and respect. And, of course, share the joy of vibrations with your beloved man.
Tango is rich in subtle inner feelings, but at the same time it looks great from the outside. This is a kind of meditation of movements, in which harmony, joy, subtle spirituality are also realized. In it, a woman can develop harmoniously and work with her energy - she must learn to dance her life. This is a very harmonious practice for both a woman and a man; in it, as in an act of love, there is an awakening and merging of their principles. That is why tango remains a classic, retro and modern dance at the same time. Romantic and loving, tango, like the waltz, has become a kind of symbol of the 20th century.
But the Arabic dance has not yet said the last word. Its esoteric essence combines various spiritual practices of the world: Chinese qi-gong, Hindu yoga, Osho's dynamic meditation. Dance also lives as a pure pleasure of beauty, health, youth. Its open plasticity makes a woman truly desirable and naturally sexy - a goddess woman.