France: Dirty Dancing, Ma Cherie?

“After the new chastity, it’s a return to sin,” proclaimed the French weekly Le Nouvel Observateur. It is the lambada, a sensuous dance that sets the pelvis-to-pelvis physicality of Dirty Dancing to a steamy Brazilian beat. Spawned on the northeast coast of Brazil, the lambada has swept through France this summer. A soda commercial showing young bodies entwined in a lambada frenzy was an instant hit, and Lambada, a song that served as the ad’s sound track, has sold more than 1 million copies.

The lambada is especially hot along the Cote d’Azur, where touring Brazilian dancers are showing French vacationers how to thrust their stuff. But is the lambada just this summer’s hype? “It will become a classic,” declares singer Loalwa Braz. “And it will be even more agreeable to dance in the winter. It’s a way to keep warm.”