Shake your lemons, donna!
The Pope called it a ‚devilish dance‘, American dance critics labeled it ‚extreme‘ and ‚undisciplined‘. But the sexy, hip-shaking mambo dance, – originating in Cuba, spreading from the USA to Europe – was THE dance phenomenon of the 1950s. Mambo mania reached a fevered pitch in Italy, where ‚maggiorate‘ (bombshells) like Gina Lolobrigida showed off their curves and Italian sass to mambo’s irresistible rhythms. Mambo Italiano was born. What sets the mambo apart from other partner dances are its ‚pasitos‘: moments of free, solo improvisation. Fed up with women’s passive position in ballroom pair dancing, Italian ladies used these ‚pasitos‘ to – quite literally! – break away from their partners and have their own little party on the dancefloor. Such a fun, festive form of feminine feminism! Just watch Sophia Loren dance in the 1955 movie ‚Scandal in Sorrento‘ which takes place on the Amalfi coast, famous for its big, juicy lemons. ‚Nothing makes a woman more beautiful than the belief that she is beautiful‘, the actress once said. Well, shaking her stuff to Rosemary Clooney’s hit ‚Mambo Italiano‘, her famous curves barely contained by her red satin dress, Sophia embodies her own motto perfectly. After all, how can you not feel bellissima when you dance the mambo?
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MD Friends
Building bridges
From the Erasmus Bridge and the Mercedes-Benz Museum to Qatar’s metro network; Ben van Berkel’s iconic landmarks bring people together in rapturous beauty, again and again. I talked with the Dutch architect and educator about sensuality, ‘healthy’ buildings and the remarkable parallels between our designs.
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MD Friends
More than a feeling
Don’t ignore your emotions; they are much more powerful than you can imagine. By linking the magical world of emotions with hard science, Dutch scientist Pierre Capel, professor emeritus in experimental immunology, shows us the consequences of our feelings and the power of our minds. The message: we can do much more than we think. “Meditate. It’s the single best thing you can do for your health.”
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Marlies Says
Keto curious?
The fact that I feel bikini-confident all year round is, of course, a nice bonus. But for me, the biggest payoff of following the keto diet is the way it optimizes my health and gives me tons of energy.
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Marlies Says
Super (skin) food
‘If you can’t eat it, why put it on your skin?’. I pretty much live by this beauty adage. After all, with your skin being one of your body’s largest organs, anything – and I mean anything! – you put onto your skin will end up in your bloodstream.
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