Fan dance
A fan dance is an erotic dance performance, traditionally by a woman. The performer, either wholly nude or apparently so, dances while moving two large fans, typically constructed from ostrich feathers. The essence of the choreography is suggestion, limiting the parts of the body exposed to the audience while focusing attention on illusions of exposure: at least a series of successive illusions of specific imminent and inevitable exposures. As with magic tricks, more detailed questions are possible (for which ignorance of the answers may be more valuable than knowledge), including whether the performer manages even the illusions of the viewer
- having (already) seen what was never exposed,
- not being able to shift ones gaze fast enough to see what seems surely to be presently exposed, or
- being aware of currently "seeing" what in fact is not exposed to be seen.
There is also room within the form of the fan dance for erotic stimulation, for esthetic appreciation of grace and beauty, and for simple astonishment at the virtuosity of the illusionary spell that is cast.
As of 2004, no exponent of the fan dance has surpassed, at least in fame, Sally Rand, who popularized it in the 1930s, remained the symbol of it throughout the middle of the 20th century, and continued to perform it beyond the age of 70.
See also: belly dance, bubble dance
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