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Is it sexist to be sexy? Dancers talk about the line between artistry and sex appeal.

Article Excerpt
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Dance is, by its very nature, a sensual art form, one in which the body becomes an instrument for channeling emotions and ideas. Indeed, it is precisely this physicality that gives dance the transcendent power to seduce, beguile, and fascinate an audience. Whether one finds innocence in the tilt of a chin or the swan-like flick of a wrist, or blatant allure in a shoulder-shimmying salsa, a leg-entwined tango or a hip-grinding Bob Fosse move, dance is decidedly the body talking.

But in today's politically correct world, what happens when the body not only talks, but seemingly shouts? In other words, when the female figure has, throughout history, been sexualized, fetishized, worshipped, and, in some cases, derided, is it cool to be sexy onstage these days--or is it sexist?

When the renowned post-feminist critic Camille Paglia calls the striptease a "sacred dance of pagan origins," you know that women--or at least the thinking about them--have come a long way.

In our quest to shed light on what it means to perform with a consciousness of your sexuality, Dance Magazine spoke to five dancers from different genres, each of whom has been...

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