“The art of the striptease artist and erotic dancer is not to be found in any textbook or trade manual. Neither is it communicated in the language of intellectuals, professionals or tradesmen. It is a body of knowledge passed down via word of mouth, from mentor to protégé. Even the methods of stripping, teasing, psychoanalysing and eroticizing are constantly changing, from individual to individual, depending on the teacher and the students own sexual predilections.”
(E.H. Withnell
Bachelor of Arts Literature
First Class Honours in Semiotics)
The Evolution of Exotic Dance
The origins of exotic dance can be traced back as far as Sumerian times. As the story goes, Ianna the Goddess of love descended upon the underworld to find her lover. She removed an article of clothing or jewellery at each of the seven gates. It is believed by some that this myth evolved into the Dance of the Seven Veils, performed by Salome for King Herod.
“..at his (Herod’s) birthday celebrations the daughter of Herodias danced before the guests, and Herod was so delighted that he took an oath to give her anything she cared to ask. Prompted by her mother, she said ‘give me here on a dish the head of John the Baptist’….out of regard for his oath and for his guests he ordered the request to be granted. “ New Testament Matthew 14 3-9
Throughout history there are many references to women performing ‘erotic’ dances. Indian temple dances date as far back as 1st Century BC. When the devadasis (female who performs the dance) danced in the temple, their dance itself was considered a form of lovemaking, a sensuous celebration of their union with the beloved. In essence, their dance was the dance of love. At the same time, it was also a form of storytelling. J. Bonheim. http://www.aislingmagazine.com/aislingmagazine/articles/TAM22/Aphrodite.html
Some people believe that the art of striptease originated from middle Eastern belly dancing. There have been many theories about the origin of belly dancing, but most evidence links it to the Middle East and Africa. Some say belly dancing was originated by the Phoenicians; others claim that it was introduced into Egypt by the Turks. Egyptian tomb paintings dating from as far back as the fourteenth century BC depict partially clad dancers whose callisthenic positions appear to be very similar to those used in belly dancing. Anthropologists have recorded many types of tribal dances performed specifically as a prelude to sexual stimulation and initiation rites, courtship displays and fertility rituals. To many primitive societies living close to nature, the undulating movements of the pelvis and abdomen, involving muscular control, were symbolic enactments of both conception and birth and constituted an essential part of their religion and way of life. When a woman was giving birth, she would adopt a squatting position, bearing down as she moved her abdomen in a rolling motion, which assisted birth.
http://www.eijkhout.net/rad/dance_specific/bellydance4.html
In Japan Geishas have entertained audiences since c11th Century. In Japanese, the word Geisha means “artist”. Geisha’s are simply women who are professional hostesses who entertain their guests with their impeccable talents and sophisticated charm. Their talents include dance calligraphy, music and singing. The dances were perfected with years of training. These highly skilled dances were used to attract men, particularly a ‘danna’. It is common and encouraged for Geisha to have a client called a danna in which Geisha’s are more personally engaged with emotionally and sexually, a danna will also provide financial support. H.Durlong The History of Geishas 2006.
Notably, throughout history there have been many forms of sensual dance. Rumba Is a dance of enticement and teasing. The tango originated in brothels of Argentina.
Some claim the to origin of modern striptease to have come from Oscar Wilde’s 1883 play ‘Salome’ and the removal of the seven veils. However it is also believed to have come from Paris and the Moulin Rouge which opened its doors in 1889, putting on extravagant and risque performances using Can can dancers. http://www.moulinrouge.fr/html_gb/historic_sommaire.htm
In 1931 The Great Windmill Street theatre was the host to Britain’s first nude stage show, created by Laura Henderson. The Windmill then became the only theatre in London to stay open throughout the World War II.
http://www.windmillinternational.co.uk
American burlesque also bears resemblance to striptease and provides more clues to the origins of exotic dance that exists today.
Burlesque emerged in the first half of the 1800s, historically it involved comedy and songs, but the primary attraction of burlesque was sex in the form of ribald humor and immodestly dressed women. Although many dismissed burlesque as the tail-end of show business, its influence reaches through the development of popular entertainment into the present.
Without question, however, burlesque's principal legacy as a cultural form was its establishment of patterns of gender representation that forever changed the role of the woman on the American stage and later influenced her role on the screen. The very sight of a female body not covered by the accepted costume of bourgeois respectability forcefully if playfully called attention to the entire question of the "place" of woman in American society.
- Robert G. Allen, Horrible Prettiness: Burlesque and American Culture (Univ. of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1991), pp. 258-259
In the late 1860s, Lydia Thompson's British burlesque troupe became New York's biggest theatrical sensation. Their first hit was Ixion (1868), a mythological spoof that had women in revealing tights playing men's roles. In the Victorian age, when proper women went to great lengths to hide their physical form beneath bustles, hoops and frills, the idea of young ladies appearing onstage in tights was a powerful challenge. Kenrick 2003 http://www.musicals101.com/burlesque.htm.
In the early 1900s the striptease dance was added to burlesque shows, and these featured famous strippers including Gypsy Lee Rose. Traveling tent shows had strip tease acts. The smaller tent dancers started to use the pole in the tent's centre to dance around. These tents became known as the dance pole tents.
The strippers soon dominated burlesque, and their routines became increasingly graphic. The ladies covered their groins with flimsy G-strings and used "pasties" to cover their nipples to avoid total nudity, but still give the audience what it wanted. This was usually enough to keep the cops at bay.
In the 1920s, the old burlesque circuits closed down, leaving individual theater owners to get by as best they could on their own, the strip tease was introduced as a desperate bid to offer something that vaudeville, film and radio could not.
There are a dozen or more popular legends as to how the strip was born – telling how a dancer's shoulder strap broke. In fact, it had been around since Little Egypt introduced the "hootchie-kooch" at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, and had always remained a mainstay of stag parties. Burlesque promoters like the Minsky brothers took the striptease out of the back rooms and put it onstage. While stripping drew in hoards of randy men, it also gave burlesque a sleazy reputation. As moralists once again expressed outrage, male audiences kept burlesque profitable through most of the Great Depression. Kenrick 2003 http://www.musicals101.com/burlesque.htm.
Although striptease and erotic dance may have originated from burlesque, it is observed by E.H Withnell that Striptease is not the same thing as burlesque, despite being often described as a “burlesque” performance. The Dictionary defines “burlesque” as being a noun, thus specifically naming the performance as being, “a parody or comically exaggerated imitation of something, especially in a literary or dramatic work. Exaggeration, absurdity; e.g. the argument descends into burlesque”. How a “performance where the performer removes their costume while tantalising the audience”, is deemed to parody or comically exaggerate, is a contradiction. Again, the only explanation is through inference, and the only inference which supports striptease being a “parody” or “exaggerated imitation”, is when it is acted out by amateurs or mimicked by prostitutes or burlesque, whose intent differs from that of the bona fide striptease artist’s or erotic dancer’s intent.
Burlesque is, therefore, merely the shell of true striptease. It is a bourgeois parody of something it doesn’t understand and fears, thus neutralises by ‘use of parody’ and fills up the gaps it cannot intellectually grasp ‘by exaggerated imitation’ (an enigmatic formula whereby striptease = less because it is more, whereas burlesque = more because it is less). Burlesque is dumbed down striptease to appease middle-class morality, because the bourgeoisie are unable to feel the Dionysian in the erotic and fear the intellectual which analyses it. (E H Withnell)
How did the Pole come into it?
As previously observed when striptease was an established part of the Burlesque performances, the travelling tent shows had striptease acts. The smaller tent dancers started to use the pole in the tent's centre to dance around.
Another idea of where pole dance started is linked to the Maypole. This Pagan ritual was seen by some as a phallic symbol, this may explain why some link it to the pole dancing we know now.
The earliest recorded pole dance was in the US in 1968 with a performance by Belle Jangles at Mugwump strip joint in Oregon.
Today's pole dancing is believed to have started in Canada in the 1980's in exotic table dancing and lap dance clubs. Fawnia Mondey, originally from Canada, is one of the worlds first pole dancing champions. During the 1990's Fawnia started teaching pole dancing to every day women. She produced the very first instructional pole dance DVD.
Pole dancing and exotic dance quickly spread to the US followed by the rest of the world, helped by multi corporations such as Spearmint Rhino.
The new Pole Dance.
Pole dancing has since evolved from something performed in a strip-related environment to an art form in itself, performed in various environments from more mainstream theatre to cabaret to corporate conventions. National and international competitions are hosted by organisations such as Miss Pole Dance (http://www.polepassion.co.uk), where pole dance is showcased as an art unto itself, without nudity and bearing little resemblance to its counterpart. Pole dance is now perceived by many to be a stand-alone art. Many pole dance aficionados support pole dance as a display of gymnastics or sport, and would like it to be represented as an Olympic event. The general public are unlikely to be able to embrace the much tabooed ‘sleazy’ type of pole dance. However presenting it as a means of achieving fitness has brought about a huge interest in pole dancing as a regular activity for the everyday person.
Arguably it is pole dancing’s exotic and erotic tint which is the ultimate draw card, the component which has brought so many out of the gym and into the studio. J.DeVille http://www.dancepages.com.au/articles/view/49/.
References:
The New English Bible, New Testament, Popular Edition. Oxford CambridgeBelly Dancing, sensual, erotic and an inseparable feature of Turkish tradition for centuries
http://www.eijkhout.net/rad/dance_specific/bellydance4.html
Jalaja Bonheim Aphrodite’s Daughters
http://www.aislingmagazine.com/aislingmagazine/articles/TAM22/Aphrodite.html
Jamilla DeVille . The Art of Pole Dancing; History of Pole dancing
http://www.dancepages.com.au/articles/view/49/
Hayley Dulong. The History of Geishas 2006
http://www.uoregon.edu/~hdulong/japan/geishahistory.htm
J. Kenrick 1996-2003
History of the Musical Burlesque
http://www.musicals101.com/burlesque.htm
http://www.moulinrouge.fr/html_gb/historic_sommaire.htm
E.H. Withnell Bachelor of Arts Literature First Class Honours in Semiotics
‘Striptease’
http://www.voodoolounge.com.au
http://www.windmillinternational.com
