Christa's art collection "the dance" captures raw emotions in latin dance

Christa Michelle Chatham, Muse Artist, exposes the raw emotions of life, death, love and sex in her new art collection titled "The Dance." Latin dance was Christa's inspiration for this collection but "The Dance" is not necessarily just about latin dance. It is about the dance of life, how our hearts dance with other people's hearts. Images of women bleeding, masks, tears, nudity, animals, and of course dance, are metaphors of raw emotions. Dancing brings out these deep emotions which we normally hide, perhaps that is why dancing helps to bond with other people without talking. People dancing together are also dancing with each other's emotions, not just their bodies.

We feel vulnerable exposing our emotions, so we wear masks "The masks protect us while we dance so passionately and so vulnerably, especially because we are surrounded in the clubs by human coyotes and wolves." Christa explains that the wolves and coyotes in her paintings "'the trickster', 'the magician.' They are the users, the insincere predators who disguise themselves as heroes and caballeros as they sniff the air for vulnerability before making a move." But masks can inspire beauty, so Christa paints women wearing beautiful feather masks.

The image of a man grabbing a woman's bleeding breast is a strong image but it does elicit deep emotions that Christa aims to describe in "The Dance". The contrast of skin color of the two subjects (black and white) can be thought of as a metaphor of the concept of dualism. "At the most basic level, the blood refers to the passion that is such an integral part of Latin dance. Nudity symbolizes the extraordinary social vulnerability that comes from displaying so much uninhibited passion in a dance club full of equally passionate strangers. But it’s more than that" says Christa.

Love balances vulnerability and even death. Christa explains that "Latin dance is, first and foremost, a celebration of life and its triumph over death. It is also a celebration of love and its most fervid expression, sex. The dancers appear to be in love and they simulate sex. In doing so, their movements in relation to each other give a graceful and beautiful meaning to life." Muse Artist's "The Dance" collection gives beauty and expression to difficult life concepts.

"The Dance" art collection by Christa Michelle Chatham, Muse Artist, can be seen and purchased at http://www.museartist.com