There’s a special kind of woman who moves in rhythm with the music of the world. She’s abundantly feminine, and when she’s happy, wonderfully radiant. Attuned to the deep currents of life, she uncovers hidden meaning and connection. Keenly intuitive, she divines the truth about people and relationships.
In the Teska Type System™, she’s known as a Dancing Fox. Some examples of her type are Karen, the sultry cop in Out Of Sight; Ariel, the little mermaid falling into the arms of her beau; and Annie, the loopy baseball fan in Bull Durham. She’s the secretary who doesn’t miss a trick, the math whiz flirting with the cameraman, the buxom lady at the Ren Fair.
The Dancing Fox is very feminine.
The Feminine is fundamentally about life energy, and the Dancing Fox channels it powerfully. With her vivacious spirit, she energizes people. She can suffuse a room with vitality, making it a place where everyone feels optimistic and good about themselves.
That’s what she was meant to do. In humanity’s hunter-gatherer past, women of her type evolved to bind larger bands together with strong emotional ties, and to defuse tension between men. Because her role involved facilitating relationships, and the Feminine is about relationship, she channels more feminine energy than any other type of woman.
The three basic aspects of the Feminine—flow, sensitivity, and relationship—are the Dancing Fox’s particular strengths:
- Her spirit flows like the water she loves. (She enjoys being at the beach, in the pool, in the tub, etc.) Water is a symbol of the subconscious, the source of desire and insight, and she “swims” comfortably in this unseen realm.
- She’s very sensitive to emotional undertones, so many Dancing Foxes serve as counselors and confidantes. People seek her out to talk about personal issues.
- Personal relationships are important to her, and she’s good at forming them. Her friendships are more intimate than most, her romances more passionate.
She’s frequently misunderstood.
American culture celebrates the Dancing Fox in the mediagenic form of a Beyonce or Britney Spears, but mostly she’s misunderstood. One wag expresses the prevailing attitude toward women of her type when he recommends that men avoid “redheads, strippers, hairdressers…”
Indeed, men often get the wrong idea when interacting with her. She exudes sexuality and loves to flirt, which can overwhelm men who aren’t mature and centered. If one of them makes a clumsy advance and she deflects it, she may be called a “tease.”
Why is the Dancing Fox so often misunderstood? Because our culture tends to regard her abundant Feminine energy as “too much:”
- Her feminine energy flows so strongly that it can become chaotic. When she expresses that in mood swings, lashing out, breaking down, etc, this gets her labeled “crazy.”
- She needs to give and receive lots of love, affection, and attention, and when she can’t do that, she may turn to booze, food, or drugs. Some read this as “self-destructive.”
- If her feminine energy is especially intense, she can make uncannily accurate predictions and assessments, which in the past made her feared as a “witch.”
She thrives when provided with structure.
With her high flow of feminine energy, the Dancing Fox likes having masculine structure around to smooth it out. Even if she can provide that structure herself, she doesn’t like doing that, because it drains her. So, she seeks the structure she needs through one of the basic aspects of the Feminine: relationship.
Marilyn Monroe, who channeled a tremendous amount of feminine energy, provided a good example of this. While she was always put-together in public, her house was a mess, and sometimes she’d go on hours-long crying jags. Knowing instinctively that she needed more structure in her life, she went about getting it by playing to her strengths in relationship.
Unfortunately, she never formed the right relationship. Her first husband, the playwright Arthur Miller, lacked the rock-solid presence a man needs to handle a woman of her powerful energy. Her second husband, slugger Joe DiMaggio, was a star in his own right, and that didn’t work for her, either. She needed a strong frame to her beautiful picture, a man who liked her being the center of attention.
A Dancing Fox who did form a good relationship was actress Blythe Danner. She didn’t marry another artist, as Marilyn did. Instead, she married a man whose job involved providing artists with the structure they needed: a director. As a result, she and TV producer Bruce Paltrow lived a happy life together.
The Dancing Fox needs a man who is as masculine as she is feminine, which is why she tends to date “bad boys.” To be happy, however, she must be with a man who is masculine in a positive way. In the words of Kate Rose, she needs “a goddamn warrior,” but he must be, in the words of David Deida, a Warrior of Love.
She likes a strong masculine presence.
Many Dancing Foxes seek this abundant Feminine/strong Masculine dynamic at work as well, gravitating toward men who hold positions of authority. They often work as secretaries, but they serve more as advisors. Smart managers ask them for their take on people and situations, and consult with them often.
Another job that Dancing Foxes typically hold is counselor. They frequently work as school and therapeutic counselors, and even if their job title doesn’t include the word “counselor,” they usually end up doing informal counseling anyway.
With their energetic physicality, Dancing Foxes also work as yoga instructors, dance teachers, massage therapists, and in other jobs that require movement and touch. Whatever jobs they hold, they like to form complementary relationships with men who make decisions and wield power.
We should honor the Dancing Fox.
In the ancient world, women of the Dancing Fox type were considered to be in touch with the divine, and they were accorded special places as oracles and healers. They were also consorts to leaders. Hetairai, for example, were women in Greek society who served as companions and advisors for men of the ruling class. Courtesans had the same elite status in belle epoque Europe.
Unfortunately, our culture has yet to rediscover the power of the Dancing Fox. Following World War II, she was confined to domestic and clerical roles that stifled her. In the 1970s, she was encouraged to take traditionally-male roles that didn’t suit her. Today, she still isn’t often put in social roles where she can be who she is.
We need not take our cues from the broader culture, however. We can honor the Dancing Fox and put her in positions of influence. Leaders who seek her guidance will make good decisions, and suitors who win her heart will be happy men indeed.