スカートの中が気になる

ある方のツイートを見かけて、銀座でやっているシャネルの展覧会に行きたくなりましたが、ダンサーの動きの元ネタはBeryozkaというロシアのダンスだそうです。

「スカートの中が気になる」と勘違いされそうなことを思ったんですけど、そこは皆が考えることのようでYoutubeでRussian Berezka Dance Has One Amazing Secret Moveなんて動画がすぐ見つかりました。

さらにこちらの動画ではスカートがない状態もありステップがよくわわかります。

ネット検索すると1972年の古いニューヨークタイムズの記事が見つかりました。新しいものではなく知る人ぞ知るもののようですね。タネが分かってからなら、次の英文もすんなり入ってくるでしょう。

Beryozka Dancers to Glide In Tonight

By ANNA KISSELGOFFSEPT. 20, 1972

It's a Secret

“That's a secret of the firm,” she replied in Russian with a smile, after telling a photographer, with another smile, in English: “Remember, make me young and beautiful.” But she relented in an interview and gave a technical explanation of what she said is now known as the “Beryozka step” in the So viet Union.

“Not even all our dancers can do it,” she said. “You have to move in very small steps on very low half‐toe with the body held in a certain corresponding position.”

The result is the floating effect that has been the trademark of the company, which started as a women's troupe in 1948.

The dance in which this smooth flow is best seen is the ancient Russian round dance known as the khorovod.

“The khorovod is characteristic of all Slavic peoples,” Miss Nadezhdina ex plained. “Its roots go back to pagan times. The circle represented the sun and the khorovod was danced to the god of the sun, Yarila.

“Since then the khorovods have been greatly developed and they are very varied. Perhaps it is immodest on my part, but I think I have contributed to this dance.”

“Beryozka,” the title dance, means “little birch.” As the girls move in this staged khorovod, choreographed by Miss Nadezhdina, they carry birch branches.

実際にステップを体験している動画もありました。最後の方に感想を述べていますが、やはり下半身がキツイそうですね。

ある程度調べがついてから、様々な英文を読んでみると、内容に同意するとともにこんな風に表現すればいいのかと英語表現の勉強もすることができます。

They Look Straight Into The Camera. When They Start To Move? I’m Speechless

by BARBARA DIAMOND

The internet is so amazing because with the click of a button, you can take a peek into art, cultures and traditions from around the world. While the type of performance you’re about to see may not be considered as hip or sexy to us Americans, there are other parts of the globe where it’s truly revered.

Prepare to be wowed by a group of Russian folk dancers that go by the name of Berezka. Because of the way these graceful dancers slide and glide on stage, it looks as though they’re on roller skates; there’s barely any movement from the hip down. This kind of dancing takes a lot of concentration and precise movements, so as not to fall out of sync.

問題集とつきっきりの勉強もいいんですが、息抜きで英語に触れたっていいわけですよね。