Women Who Dare to Dance
During the heat of the summer of 2022, a video of the Prime Minister of Finland, Sanna Marin, dancing caused a flurry of criticism ranging from inappropriate behavior as a mother to unbecoming actions as a leader. Mikael Jungner, a member of her own party said, the video has “…made her seem ‘ridiculous’ and there is now little chance for her to survive as prime minister in next year’s election.” In the video, her arms are folded behind her head, giving emphasis to her undulating hips as she gazes into the camera with an expression of elation. The Prime Minister offered a tearful apology, saying, “During these dark times, I need some joy, light and fun as well.” Subsequently, one opposition leader pressured her to take a drug test, which she did, and it was negative. But really, all this just for dancing?
Women who dare to dance are vulnerable to unexpected and intense criticism. I know, I am a professional dancer and have spent a lifetime deflecting people’s angst about dancing, whether it comes as snide comments conflating dancing with sex and prostitution, or through power politics, which marks dancing as frivolous. History helps us understand why women dancing is so volatile. I’ll start way back…
Goddesses from numerous cultures were believed to rule over fertility, love, birth, death, food, rain, and a few other important things. These were not the Christian archetypes that shaped western beliefs such as Eve, whose act of eating an apple caused suffering for every human thereafter, nor, Mary, whose virgin birth, led us to believe that virtuous women should never be seen twerking. These were women from cultures around the world who danced, who used their spiritual bodies to express the joy of living, such as the Japanese goddess Uzume the goddess of whirling dances, or Bastet, an Egyptian goddess of fertility, dance and music, or the Hawaiian goddess Laka, who inspired the movement the dancer dances in the hula.
Even then, a backlash was brewing. The Greek goddess, Aphrodite, a warrior, and patron goddess of prostitution, rose from the sea in the “foam of her father Uranus’ genitals. A hard beginning for any feminist. Krishna, one of the most revered gods in Hinduism, is famous for his dance on top of Kaliya, a serpent, which was meant to suppress human senses, thereby negating the sensuality that underlies all dance.
In time, goddess worship was replaced by male gods such as Christian’s Jesus, Muslim’s Mohammed, and Judaism’s Yahweh, who were mostly depicted sitting or standing, not dancing! Goddesses were demonized and the hysteria (the Greek root hyster means uterus) grew to a frenzy in the middle-ages following the major book release of Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of Witches) in 1492 by two Dominican friars, Jakob Sprenger and Heinrich Kramer. The book was a Christian guide to eradicate women who dared to dance and howl as they believed that these women consorted with the devil to fulfill their carnal lust. Leonard Schain, author of The Alphabet versus the Goddess explains, “Associated with dance, night, nature, the moon, sexuality, and procreation — witches possessed all the attributes previously accorded the Goddess. In the joyous ancient fertility rites of field and forest women could workshop one of their own.” During this period, Anne Llewellyn Barstow claims in her book Witchcraze, that over 100,000 women were killed.
The hysteria of dancing witches continued in the Salem Witch Hunts. A Puritan noted, “Surely the Devil had come to Salem in 1692. Young girls screaming and barking like a dog? Strange dances in the woods? Whomever was responsible for this outrage must be brought to justice.” Real justice didn’t come until just recently, when Carrie La Pierre, an eighth-grade civics teacher at North Andover Middle School, lobbied the Massachusetts state senate to exonerate Elizabeth Johnson, Jr, as one of the last people convicted during the Salem Witch trials. More than 200 people were accused of witchcraft and 20 people were executed.
With all this history, it is infuriating when white, pampered, privileged men such as Donald Trump, and Alex Jones, use the term “witch hunt” as a way to frame their perceived victimization. They do not get to use this phrase. Witch hunt can be used when women who dare to dance are targeted, such as Marin, who has shown exceptional leadership in negotiating Finland’s recent entry into NATO and responding to COVID.
Truth be told, Finland carries its own baggage, as dancing was prohibited in Finland during World War II. “The reasons for the ban were mainly to do with morality; women were supposed to be the backbone of society on the home front, and their sexuality — especially during wartime — was strictly controlled.” Despite fines and jail time, the people of Finland continued to dance in secret dances called “corner dances,” which took place anywhere. Mostly, the women were shamed and punished for these discretions.
Much of the criticism of Marin is based on the idea that a politician in a position of power can’t dance AND be competent and serious-minded. This type of thinking assumes a politician can’t be human and excuses the numerous male leaders who have purposely skewed the boundaries by grabbing pussies. More accurately, her dancing is riling up anti-feminist feelings, as it calls attention to the power women are gaining in government halls, board rooms and court rooms, as well as their fight against sexual harassment and for equal pay. The backlash is growing — we have only to look at the movements to further control women’s bodies, most importantly the recent reversal of Roe v. Wade, which relied heavily on the anti-abortion writings of Sir Mathew Hale from the 1600s, who tried and hung women for witchcraft!
We should be indebted to the goddesses and women throughout history who swayed their hips! Bravo to the women of Finland who were gloriously blasting the internet with videos of full-bodied, joyous, and abandoned dancing with the hashtag. #imwithsanna. Let’s celebrate feminine power by defiantly dancing while unabashedly howling at our friend the moon.
Jan Erkert was a professor and the head of the Department of Dance at the University of Illinois, 2006- 2022. She is the author of “Harnessing the Wind,” and is currently writing “Every Body has a Body full of Wisdom, Stories of Leadership and Life.” She was a 2020–21 Public Voices Fellow of the national OpEd Project.
