Abstract
How does it feel to dance naked for money? Drawing on seven audio-taped interviews, this article examines how exotic dancers use the language of “spirituality” as a narrative resource. We suggest that exotic dancers who describe their time onstage as spiritual, at least temporarily, experience “flow” while dancing. Further, we argue that dancers' descriptions of flow and peak experiences represent what Mead (1934:280) referred to as a “fusion of the ‘I’ and the ‘me.’” Given that informants themselves claimed a spiritual identity, we seek here to tease out what they mean by this, as well as how and why this occurred in a strip bar. We speculate that such narration results from a unique combination of elements present in strip bar environments, specifically the lights, music, movement, nudity, and performance.
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