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Dealing with Sweat


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How do dancers deal with the problem of sweat during performances... their own sweating... their partner's sweating...?

Is there a problem with the floor getting slippery from sweat during performances?

Why is it in filmed close-ups the men often have sweat dripping off them but not the women?

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How do dancers deal with the problem of sweat during performances... their own sweating... their partner's sweating...?

Is there a problem with the floor getting slippery from sweat during performances?

Why is it in filmed close-ups the men often have sweat dripping off them but not the women?

Not only men!...In my Youtube account's "favorites", i have a clip of Viengsay Valdes doing the Black Swan, and at the end, when she's bowing, you can see her dripping wet from sweat...(understandable after dancing that killer Alonso's coda... :) )

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Great questions, innopac. And one most of us have probably thought about at times, but never articulated.

Just before I read these posts, I was watching a video. I was struck by the pronounced "glow" on Aurelie Dupont's face and neck during the bows after the longer pas de deux in Rubies, and the juicy beads of sweat on Alessio Carbone's brow. Dupont ordinarily seems like such a cool and aloof dancer, so I was actually surprised.

And how about all those times we've seen huge drops thrown great distances into the air by a dancer turning at the center?

Other aspects of the question: how does a partner keep a grip on bare skin areas when lifting, etc.? and what about sweaty palms when holding hands for balance or gripping the torso for lifts?

We need :) from those who've been on stage.

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Some male dancers put a little rosin on their hands to keep their grip secure. I doubt this is appreciated by those who must clean the ladies' costumes, though. There has never, in my experience, been enough perspiration on the floor to make conditions dangerous or even noticeably different. The main way dancers deal with it is deodorant and antiperspirant!

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In the one performance of State of Darkness I saw from the fifth row, I have to admit to having had a little worry in the back of my mind about 3/4 of the way through, when sweat from the dancer's brow whipped halfway across the stage, and I was concerned that he'd slip.

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I once viewed a performance from the second row of a theatre (and I think that this row was actually where the orchestra was supposed to be, if there had been one), and saw many dancers dripping and "flinging" sweat all over the place. I actually was afraid I was going to get sprayed when one of the guys started turning! At that point, I decided I would never let anyone else buy my tickets again. But more importantly, I decided to become a disciple of the idea of dance being an illusion. That being so, I buy my tickets so I can't see the "glow" so up close and personal. It's just too gross. :)

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Although we can't avoid perspiration from vigorous exercise, it often detracts from what we are trying to do. Of course it IS cooling our bodies and so we is providing a very vital function.

We can assume that dancing under hot lights would only add to overheating and perspiration. I would have thought that some of the more "advanced" theaters would have designed HVAC systems to reflect the need for cooler temperatures on stage. I don't know that this would solve the "sweat problem" but it might mitigate it a bit.

Athletes and dancers require their body and muscles to be warmed up so perhaps performing in "cold" environments is not advisable. Perhaps some dancers can comment on the optimal conditions temperature wise.

There are many reasons to NOT sit up real close to the stage... and flying sweat is right up there at the top.

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Yes, I remember the guys using mostly rosin, but sometimes those little "chalk pillows" gymnasts had: just patting to absorb and immediately wiping palms so no white smudges appeared on partners in the wrong place. I've also seen the surreptitious onstage brushes of brows against a partner's brow, cheek or costume to wipe away an annoying trickle tracking the wrong way.

My hair, which was usually too thick to hold a chignon properly, and so had nets, or was braided instead in a tight headwrap, sometimes acted as a dike to catch the drips. But most of the time, the movement itself created a welcome 'breeze', and it was only when still for a while that it was felt and of course had to be ignored.

Stage-lighting, like film/video lighting, has greatly improved in the last 10+ years, so that the temp has come down quite a lot as 'lamps' have changed over from tungsten. (This has also saved many gaffers' from blisters, and theatres from exploding lamps or fires--I once saw a 5K explode, and a jumbo Mole-Richardson fall off a stand and almost bean Bob Hope.)

But my favorite quote re dancers and sweat occured during the "Live from Lincoln Center" broadcast of that famous Makarova/Nagy "Swan Lake" when Dick Cavett, who was hosting, commented during the backstage intermission interview with Makarova, (as best my aging memory allows)..."[ie. sports]-Atheletes sweat, we perspire, but dancers glisten." :blushing:

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