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Touloulou Ball
Carnival Friday is the night of the traditional Touloulou Masquerade Ball on the large with exotic flowers festooned terrace balcony of the
'Hoyo Loco Lounge and Tropical Grill' that overlooks the ocean. Touloulous are women wearing elegant highly decorative gowns, gloves, masks
and headdresses which cover them completely so that they are totally unrecognizable. Not an inch of their skin is visible and so, not even
the color of it can be determined. Sometimes women put color contact lenses on and change their fragrance. Some use false breasts like shells;
others pad the hips using petticoats. It is impossible to know who was this big doll shimmering sealed under the suit, especially since there
are about a hundred of them at the ball. Touloulous get in for free. Men have to pay admittance and they are not disguised. Wearing open-toe
sandals or a wrist watch are something as a faux pas. Undisguised women are not really welcome at the the Touloulou Ball and are not
allowed to dance. If one would get up to dance, the orchestra stops playing.
The male ballgoers stand to the side of the dance floor and the Touloulous take whoever partner they want by the hand to dance; men cannot refuse.
The Touloulous know most men that they invite. From behind their masques they are assessing their prey. The setup is perfect to make it easy for
a woman to create a temporary liaison with a man she fancies in total anonymity. They have the courage to invite someone they would not dare ask
in real life. It is exciting for a Touloulou to dance with a man who will not know who he danced with.
At the Touloulou Ball, the partners are
dancing extremely close to one another and in a manner that is very sexual. With his eyes closed, he is imagining that he is dealing with a
creature of his dreams. Who is this mysterious woman, the woman next door, a secret lover, or just his wife? Is she beautiful or not good
looking, young or more mature? One of the humble cashiers at the supermarket or a divorcee left with a sexy spirit of the devil? He may never
know. And, why did she pick him out of all others? Did she long to be close to her brother-in-law, her boss, or is she just the lonely woman
who is happy to get an opportunity to hold any man at all? Testing a husband or lover maybe?
Regardless of what may be the mystery, it just
feels good to be held in someone's arms all night; a feeling that he and his Touloulou both share. The Touloulous embrace their partners
tightly, harmonizing and synchronizing their hip movements in perfect agreement which basically consist of rubbing each other's areas
where the legs join the torso! Yet, most Touloulous have a charter of "good behavior". If she feels that a dance partner is getting a bit
over-excited, she can leave him in the middle of the dance; other Touloulous will see that and probably not invite him anymore.
Traditionally there is an opening dance. Long before the ball, in private meetings, the ladies have determined who the lucky Touloulou to
open the ball will be. It is Cynthia Bird. She was one of the candidates in this year's Miss St.Tosia pageant but was only the fifth runner-up.
This Touloulou all dressed in blue had revenge in her mind. To open the ball she invited Spencer Lewellyn who was one of the judges of the Miss
election. When Spencer saw the Touloulou approach him, he immediately packed up his heart for this carnival queen who chose him to start.
He perceived it as a confirmation that only the males of his species, had their place. He was aware that his honor as a dancer and his
manhood was at stake. With a silly grin he looked proudly in the audience with an expression of "Look! I'm privileged and exquisite". At
first her shoulders trembled slightly on rhythm of the dance. Not suspecting anything, he felt as if he was possessed by a mysterious power
and lover shivers went through him.
One by one, other Touloloulous had invited a partner and surrounded the dance openers. But then embrace
of Cynthia's gracious arms turned into an iron grip of a wrestler. The movements of her hips became raunchier. The movement of her thighs
became aggressive. He would have wished to wear a cricket 'box', because after a while his 'little general' took a battering. Then, Cynthia
let go of him and he stood in the middle of the dance floor looking like an idiot trying to find a way through the dancing crowd. No one
looked up or acted surprised. All the Touloulous and their partners were nested in an embrace. Everyone knows that some Touloulous are
sulfurous when they have control and go all the way to be like a Touloulou from hell and they love it. Spencer Lewellyn left the dance
floor with a psychoneurosis based on an emotional conflict in which an impulse that seeks expression in a disguised response or symptom
was blocked. He was not seen at the ball any more that night.
The ball just went on. All night the orchestra of Esteban Mahinez plays sambas, choro, Creole waltzes, and soft swinging music pieces that
enhance the artistry of slow rhythmic moves and opulent motion. Touloulous and their dance partners dance and dance and just keep on dancing
to exhaustion. In between dances, some of the disguised women would pick up a new partner by whispering to them "Touloulou thirsty!" in a tone
she tried to make as hoarse or high pitched as possible to camouflage her voice and thus her identity will remain a mystery. Those are usually
her only words of the evening. Exotic Cocktails are served at the bar. She drinks her thirst-quencher with a straw through the mask as not to
unmask in the slightest way. The general believe is that drinking through a straw gets you trashed faster. But the Touloulous know that it
isn't how you get the booze from glass to mouth that affects your buzz; only if you suck faster than you chug.
One of the highlights of the ball is the famous song 'Sway' that has the astonishing dexterity to thrill the crowds! The upper bodies of the
dancers are practically not moving, everything is like dreaming from the waist on down as the band's guitarist Bobby Oringo with his hypnotist
intoning sings the suggestive lyrics:
When we dance you have a way with me
Stay with me, sway with me
Bend with me, sway with ease
Dance with me, sway me please
The dancers reach the peak of pleasure in frenzied corps à corps dancing to the rhythm of the music.
Other dancers may be on the floor
Hold me close, sway me more
Only you have the magic technique
when we sway I go weak
The lascivious dances and the heated atmosphere bring the ball to the limit of an explosion. It's magic.
Touloulous love the pleasure of bewitching their partners with cajoling, flirtatious and mischievous dancing while being protected by the
anonymity of their costume. Their male partners enjoy the pleasure being frotti-frotta and dancing playfully and affectionately with strangers.
Although there are several layers of fabric and masquerading materials between them, they have dreams and imagination that make the camouflage
fade away in their minds. They are all mystified in an atmosphere of hypersensibilty and happy people rubbing against each other. Until very
late in the vertigo of the tropical night, the dance floor under the palm trees is packed. There are legends, wild rumors and speculations
around the Touloulou Ball and what happens after the de-masking ritual after midnight when the lights are dimmed. It may be best to let the
imagination and mystery hanging over this tradition.
Cdr. Bud Slabbaert
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