It takes a lot of stamina to live the life of a juicy, sensuous female in our culture. That’s certainly the line that Annetta Luce preaches in her energetic, if not somewhat confronting, workshops in the art of sensual dance.

The curious excitement and eagerness I signed up with metamorphoses into self-conscious nervousness as I survey the room full of women and ponder what will happen next. I suspect they are all going through the same self-dialogue I am: Will I have to dance in front of all these strangers? Am I going to make a complete fool of myself? Oh my god, will I have to take my clothes off?

Peek-a-boo and purr

Fortunately, our clothes stay during the afternoon of strutting, pouting, peek-a-booing and purring, but I can honestly say that even with my clothes on I’ve never felt so exposed.

Luce’s French-chic hairstyle and groovy librarian-esq glasses belie the uninhibited, naughty sex kitten that lives inside her neat petite frame. On one hand she’s seductively sweet and on the other enviable and intimidating in her overt sensuality.

A self-proclaimed ‘sensual revolutionary’, Luce has explored the art of sensuality through dance for more than 30 years. Her life took an erotic twist during her first university summer vacation in the United States when she became a go-go dancer at an Atlantic City nightclub. It was there, caged and clad in fishnet stockings and a skimpy costume that Luce discovered that performance was in her blood. She swapped from a Major in Physical Education to Contemporary Dance and so began her career as a dancer, performer, researcher, choreographer and teacher.

During a 10-year stint in New York as a performing artist and dancer, Luce stumbled across a Senegalese dance teacher who taught her how to unleash the technical restraints of her classical dance training and flow with what she calls ‘tribal juiciness’.

‘My body starting tasting the movement and rhythm of a culture that not only lived in an exotic place, but the pelvis as well’, Luce said of her awakening.

The pelvis is another mouth! 

It is that awareness of the pelvis that is pivotal to Luce’s teaching.

‘The pelvis is another mouth!’ she declares as she encourages us to ‘shine up’ our pubic bone and walk whilst feeling the space between our legs. It’s obvious I’m not the only one in the room hideously confronted by the discovery that I am scared of expressing my own sensuality.

As Luce explains that ‘the intelligence of a woman is in how she opens her legs’, I acknowledge that I am sensually stupid. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at my futile attempts to mimic Luce’s tantalising touch of the skin, the subtle movements of her hands and pelvis, not to mention the way she slithers around on the floor as she demonstrates how the tongue is an extension of the leg!

In her workshops Luce draws her own sexual exploration and a vast range of techniques including Taoist and Tantric teachings, yoga, capoeira, NLP and Native American shamanic practices to help participants discover their own unique sensuality.

Through the medium of dance, I discover that what Luce is teaching is more psychological than choreography, and more feminist than sexual. The real lessons are not the moves, but how we value our sensuality and the intimacy of human connection.  Luce tells us that the problem is women have been taught to put a lid on their sensuality and sexuality, and ‘become what is expected of them’. I realise how sad it is that women don’t even feel comfortable expressing their femaleness in front of each other.

‘Every woman has their own mystery,” says Luce. ‘There’s no competitiveness in sensuality either. It’s so important for women to connect and spread the word about embracing their creative feminine’.

Luce is passionate about her work. ‘My vision is to spread the pleasure and intuitive knowledge of the body,’ she says. ‘ Our sensuality is our feminine beauty. My belief, supported from teaching thousands of women of all ages is that every woman knows how to strip (and dance) and that holds her deep mystery as a woman.’

Strangely enough I believe her. By the end of the workshop I feel a newfound self-confidence in the way I move. It’s seems that the other women do too. I vow to let more of my sensual self shine. As I step out onto the street I realise it’s going to take some practice, but I make a conscious effort to feel the space between my legs. I am a sensual goddess after all.

Contact
Annetta Luce runs courses and workshops in Australia and the USA for men and women in the art of movement, sensuality and stripping. Annetta also teaches private dance sessions. For information on workshop dates and locations visit www.annettaluce.com or www.artofstripping.com