Hello steem people :D!!!
So how is my audience doing today?Ready for another journey with me?
Good because today we’ll Dance!!
Yes that’s right, we will start the day the way I do!!!
An hour that consists of ballet (used to do ballet from the age of 5 to 14), ballroom, contemporary dancing (the last 8 years have been doing contemporary dancing and love it) and depending on my mood could also include some belly dancing, samba or salsa.
So I would usually start with something slow in the rythm so I could warm up and continue with something powerful like this one from George Michael
Dancing now is not something that we have discovered you know; it has existed ever since we have! It is said that at the years of Caveman, dancing was used for mating! Yeah that’s right! It was even used –as a matter of fact it was essential – at the Ancient Greek Theater too! Even the Romans loved it. Oh yes they did especially at their famous Roman baths!!
Probably though, the most famous and notorious dancer of Ancient times-if not of all times- was Salome!!! The dance of the 7 veils, her seductive dance, made Herod Antipas crazy from lust for her and he even killed John the Baptist- as we all know from the Bible- so she could have his head on a tray!!!!
But dancing wasn’t expressing only the feelings of lust, pleasure and desires of people! It was in a way a ritual and a type of training for fighters before the war too!!!
Spartans were practicing something that is very close to what we call dance today, before their heroic battles. The Greek warriors of the Pontos area were doing it. As a matter of fact, Pirixios dance that is how is called, is considered one of the most loved folklore dances of our days here in Greece and it was part of the opening ceremony of Olympics 2004!
And since we talk about Olympics, the last few decades dancing on ice, or as it is officially called, Figure Skating, has been so popular that has its own world championship!!!
Other times, dance has been used for protection against wounds Tarantella dancing (against spider Tarantella's bite)! Or other times to cause evil like Voodoo dance! Even Ricky Martin became worldwide famous with a song that was praising this dance!
But dance has always been an expression and like so, was also an escape to after life!
Like the The Zaloggo dance which was a mass suicide of the women and their children of Souli (Greece in 1803 so they would not be captivated by the Ottomans)!
Something similar happened with the Maroon slaves in Le Morne Mauritious, where a group of slaves, tragically but yet heroic, chose their freedom and death over an enslaved life, from Le Morne mountain!!!
Even great writers were influenced by dance! Victor Hugo was very much so, to the point that his leading character in one of his books was a dancer!!! I am talking of course about Esmeralda in "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame"!!! Who hasn't read that book and hasn't seen the amazing scene-on numerous different movies- where Esmeralda's dance bewitches the crowds….and not only!!!
But it seems that humans we have it in our DNA!!! It wasn't just the people of the caves that were using dancing as a mating ritual. In the 19th Century Debutantes’ ball was the event where all the young ladies of aristocracy would make their entrance to the high society and possibly meet their future husbands as well!!!
And it looks like young ladies, through dancing, after all, had found the secret to a successful wedding😀! Mathilda-Marie Feliksovna Kschessinskaya also known as Princess Romanovskaya-Krasinskaya after her marriage) was a Russian ballerina that met her husband the Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich of Russia, through the ballet concerts she was giving in the Tsar's palace.
Walking into the 20th century, dance took some gigantic steps and even expressed social movements! But the glory days arrived on the magic carpet of the silver screen bathed in a glitter cloud 😀!!!!!
From Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, to Gene Kelly and Marilyn Monroe to Rita Hayworth and Elvis Presley!
They were all multi-talented icons of the previous century and one of their many talents was dancing!!!
One of my all-time favourite films, is a musical, by beloved Buz Luhrman, filled with music and dancing!
I am talking of course about Moulin Rouge!!!
And finally I will close this beautiful medley to Dance with one of my most favourite scenes in the history of cinema!!
Who can forget the amazing performance of Al Pacino at 'Scent of a Woman' that gifted him his ONLY!!!!!! Oscar!!
Only dance can create so vivid and powerful emotions!!! Don’t you agree?
A friend of mine who is one of the best contemporary dance performers I know, says: “Dance shouldn’t have a function. It should just exist! Dance is Dance! It’s an expression of emotions”!!! I couldn’t agree with him more !!! 