These dances scandalized the masses

October 7, 2022
by RJ Hamster

Friday, October 7, 2022

In today’s newsletter, we learn the ballroom roots of Dancing with the Stars, watch Vienna’s forbidden dance, meet the historic warriors depicted in The Woman King, visit Italy’s last wild steppe … and hear tales from a tangerine-scented bird love-in.

ILLUSTRATION BY FINE ART IMAGES, HERITAGE IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES

Who knew the waltz was once scandalous?

The gliding, graceful grande dame of ballroom dancing (shown above in 1870), the waltz freed men and women to fling their arms around each other, a move beyond merely holding hands. Ballroom dancing spread to the masses and morphed from the waltz’s stately ¾ rhythm to the sultry foxtrot, intertwining tango, and exuberant cha cha that viewers watch today on Dancing with the Stars. But how did these dances come about? And how did they spread?

Read the full story.

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PHOTOGRAPH BY HANS VON NOLDE, AP

The Lindy Hop: The dance style emerged during the Great Depression as a contrast to those sobering times. Pictured above, Lee Moates and Tonita Malaushow off their winning moves during a Lindy Hop contest at Harlem’s Savoy Ballroom in 1953. Read more—and catch Vienna’s forbidden dance.

STORIES WE’RE FOLLOWING

LOOK AND LEARN/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES

The true story behind the warriors featured in The Woman King (depicted above in a 19th-century lithograph)

New x-ray scans have solved a 115-year-old paleontological puzzle

The U.S. treaty that promised the Cherokee people a seat in Congress

How the Lighthouse of Alexandria shone brightly for more than a thousand years

This seabird’s breeding season resembles rowdy, carnal swim parties

Archaeologists searching for Jesus are sifting fact from fiction

A pathbreaking—and accidental—Ice Age discovery

It was America’s first English colony. Then it was gone.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

PHOTOGRAPH BY ALESSANDRO GANDOLFI, PARALLELOZERO

Restoring beauty: Wayfarers along the Appian Way passed karst sinkholes and ravines, stone towers, and fields that yielded some of Italy’s best olive oil. When many of its people moved to cities, this corner of Puglia became an alcove for outlaws and an illegal dumping ground. Now, Nat Geo reports, it is experiencing a renaissance (pictured above, an abandoned quarry, cleaned of industrial waste, has been reopened to the public).

SEE IT

PHOTO OF THE DAY

VIDEO BY @JOELSARTORE, NAT GEO PHOTO ARK

The Octopus Reacher: Despite their excellent eyesight, red octopuses use touch and smell to find food, relying on chemical and texture receptors that line the rims of their suckers. Emerging at night, this species searches the seafloor, crawling in and out of rocky areas to flush out crabs and shrimp. Once prey is secured, the octopus will kill it with venom secreted from salivary glands before cracking the shell with its beak, says photographer and Nat Geo Explorer Joel Sartore. If you, like us, are fascinated by octopus stories, this one may be for you.

NOT ENOUGH OCTOPUS?

This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard, Sydney Combs, Heather Kim, and Jen Tse. Have a favorite nature trip? Let us know! And have a happy weekend.

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These dances scandalized the masses

These dances scandalized the masses

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