Tuesday, 18 April 2017

A Purer Form of Sexy.

Ever since I first saw Riverdance the fact hasn’t been lost on me that there is something subtly erotic about young women performing Irish dance routines. Over the past few nights I’ve been watching some performances – both traditional and modern – by the Culkin School of Traditional Irish Dance based in Maryland, USA, and another interesting fact has occurred to me: erotic isn’t the same thing as sexy.

While the erotic clearly has a connection with sex, it seems to exist on a more rarefied level which sets it apart from the physical act. And that makes me think that perception of the erotic resides in a different part of the brain from perception of the merely libidinous.

I’m sure artists have known this for centuries. It just takes me a long time to catch up.

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