I have been fortunate in getting some invitations to dance in different venues. One in particular will be quite a challenge, and I am holding off relaying information because things are not set yet. However, this will be a great opportunity to dance with my husband.
I have a tall, well built husband (a bit younger…) with long flowing hair! It makes him ‘look good’ on a dance floor, but it’s been more of him in the past 5 years watching me (and the other bellydancers ) than him dancing.
That is about to change.
We are working up a routine. He actually is excited about it, but of course, as a man, he is very modest about expectations…
At first, I thought of him more as a ‘pole’ to dance around, but then, thought again. He’s strong, flexible (mostly) and can be trained.
So! we are taking tango lessons in a few weeks…and he tells me ‘this isn’t necessary”. Hah! We are going to do the difficult and violent “Apache Dance”…”Ah poe shay” in French. Has nothing to do with Native Americans.
It’s a dance that sprang out of tango at the turn of the 20th century. It’s basically a lowerclass dance, a dance of the underworld. It has quite an interesting and colorful history, full of bad characters and women who died because of broken backs and necks. I am trying to avoid this, hence setting the basis in tango.
I have lost weight in the past months, and when I came home from Montreal just a month ago, I thought this period was over…and weight loss would slow down. It did for a while, and then picked up. I think there are probably many reasons a woman loses weight: stress, exhaustion, excitement, love, etc…but I have been talking to some of my students about this and trying to figure out why, now….I would be losing weight.
One of my students is in her mid forties. She lost 40 lbs. and went to size O. She looked like a skeleton in my estimation. She gained back 19 lbs. She looks great, not a walking bunch of bones. And belly dance, well, you have to have some curves and something to ‘throw’. Hips that stick out are painful to look at…and even more painful to sleep on. She now has regained the status of woman, not concentration camp victim.
In losing about 30 lbs. this fall and winter, I told her that I noticed that people’s behavior, especially men, were different. I was the same person as I was before losing that weight, why did people treat me differently?
She was emphatic: No, you are NOT the same person. You feel differently about yourself, and you look and act differently. This sends a ‘signal’ to others..especially men. You walk differently (hell, I thought that was just the ‘bellydance walk’ we cultivate…)
She’s right. My self-confidence has gone up, too. I am approaching more the weight I want to be…and losing more will be beneficial to doing this particular “Apache Dance”. You need to be thin enough to be picked up and thrown around, though the point is also to be able to ‘break fall’ without getting hurt. Properly, it can be done.
Well, I already know I will be spinning on my knees so I intend to wear knee pads under my very high, thigh high boots. Extra padding will help in this “Apache”.
We are having fun, my husband and I, contemplating this new partnering. I didn’t expect him to be so enthusiastic, but there is a lot of violence and sexy moves in the Apache. Perhaps it appeals to some “inner Gangster” in him, but we shall see. The tango lessons are to contain and control, give a basis for the movements, and this can only be a good thing. We have already been talking “choreography” and have walked through some steps.
The violence and sex comes later.
A good example of “Apache” is below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clXRBPHrWLA&feature=related
Lady Nyo
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