Exaltatum Divine Dancer, photo by Elena Cvjetkovic
A motion in the dark. Fluttering fingers, like night butterflies with soft and powdery wings that fly towards the nearest source of light, move with grace followed by the gliding movement of the hands of a dancer. As your eyes adjust to pitch-black shades and bright reflector light spots upon a stage, and as you immerse yourself into music and atmosphere, the more you observe a dancer move, the more moved you become. If you think about the most memorable dancing performance you’ve ever witnessed, and with all due respect to technical perfection and trained movements, isn’t it the way the dance moved YOU that made it unforgettable?
Divine Dancer Exaltatum Illustration
Emotion in motion, feelings transferred by music and movements, not only well-rehearsed steps or painfully mastered choreography – this is what moves our souls when we either observe dancers or immerse ourselves in dancing on our own. And if you’ve ever danced like no one is watching, completely losing yourself in movement, motion, and emotion, I’m sure you’ve felt the shift into a new space, a sense of vibrantly being alive, connected, and utterly in tune with Universe, moving with precision and grace you never thought you possessed, and yet at the same time knowing it’s the purest expression of your soul: you’re in the zone, you’re in the flow. You ARE the divine dancer.
Artisan Perfumer Eglija Vaitkevice was trained in Grasse photo courtesy of Eglija
And it’s not only sports, or dancing, or any physical activity that can transfer you into this state of mind that Buddhists call mindfulness! Artists experience it while creating, writers when they get involved deeply into the story that just seems to pour in perfectly right words, with fingers typing effortlessly. Some people experience it while observing nature, playing with children, making love, and many a perfume lover experienced it with some perfumes. The utter beauty, the flow, making time and surroundings irrelevant, and the moments when all worries, thoughts, and memories seem to melt away! A movement of the soul, the feeling of a complete harmony triggered by a fragrance – that’s what makes a perfume unforgettable!
Ruth St. Denis in Radha, ca. 1906 – Denishawn Collection/The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Eglija Vaitkevice’s newest release, Exaltatum Divine Dancer is a step outside her usual dancing routine: if we look at her previous, elaborate, and baroque-opulent fragrant creations, like my beloved Ruby Wood or breathtaking Osmathus Nobile, this perfume dances in a different, more ethereal form of artistic expression. The inspiration behind the perfume is this time connected to both location and a person, reaching back to hundreds of blooming magnolia trees in Kew Gardens in London in May, and an American modern dance pioneer – Ruth St. Denis (1879 – 1968). A skirt-dancer, a dance teacher, and a choreographer – she often performed on the vaudeville stage but also wrote texts about the spirituality of dance and the mysticism of the body. Motion and emotion, as seen by Exaltatum: “When the dancer emerged from the darkness of the stage, her presence was immediately captivating, the air suddenly fragrant with her appearance. Adorned in jewels from head to toe, radiant in a special gold sari, her hair crowned in jasmine, she is an embodiment of divine feminine.“
Magnolia Tree in Rain – Flowers Detail, photo by Pexels/edited by Elena Cvjetkovic
Movement, motion, and emotion: details of rainbow-colored raindrops gliding down the thick magnolia petals in May come to my mind, watery and soft pastel-colored, cold but with a promise of that tender warmth of Spring to follow – Exaltatum Divine Dancer’s opening movement is translucent and radiant, light like a sudden rain on a sunny day. The first impression is not tied to any particular note, it rather echoes a feeling of sparkling brightness, followed by a flow of watery-soft and galbanum infused, refreshing bitter-green nuances. The texture of the fragrance, liquid in the beginning heats up and shifts towards a more floral feeling: magnolia flowers seem to have shaken the raindrops away and unfold their petals with a denser and sweeter glow of jasmine shining through. And the dance of flowers begins, the texture gets denser, covered with white petals and slight traces of powdery pollen rising from this vivacious bouquet. A breath of fruitiness dances in, just brushing past. And yet, the opulent magnolia lurks in the shades, its lush flowers larger and thicker than the delicate, fragile petals that swirl around them.
image courtesy of Exaltatum and apped by Elena
Later into its development, Exaltatum Divine Dancer moves in big and round, opulent sways of its floral body slowing down, like water that ripples and spreads concentric circles of waves in an outward moving motion. While still feeling fresh and clean, a breath of osmanthus brings a touch of soothing serenity. It’s soft and sensual, and yet it also displays a slightly peachy-milky facet that blends well with softwoods, reminding me for reasons I can’t explain of the scent of wet, clean hair on a warm, late spring day after being drenched in a sudden rainfall in a park full of blooming white flowers. Like mists rising from the ground on a Spring morning, clean-feeling musks slowly unroll, still carrying along with twirls of an abstract-spicy-floral feeling. It is accompanied by a mild powdery-sweet hue and supported with waxy undertones. Exaltatum Divine Dancer that moved in layers of transparent watercolor-brush strokes of abstract florals applied with various grades of vigor and pressure finally settles down and ends its dance with musky, slightly creamy, and soapy-clean drydown tones.
Notes: guava, cassis, galbanum, magnolia leaf, ocean note, magnolia champaka absolute China, jasminum grandiflorum India, osmanthus absolute China, rose, violet leaves, lily flowers, sandalwood, rosewood Peru, musk, violet.
Elena Cvjetkovic, Editor and Author of The Plum Girl
Disclaimer: Divine Dancer EdP was kindly sent to me by Exaltatum for my consideration. Opinions and feelings are – as always – of my own.
Exaltatum Divine Dancer, 50 ml EdP, photo by Elena Cvjetkovic
Thanks to the generosity of Exaltatum, we have a 50 ml bottle of Exaltatum Divine Dancer for one registered reader in the US, EU and UK (you must register on our site or your comment will not count). To be eligible, please tell us what you enjoyed about Elena’s review, if you have tried an Exaltatum fragrance before and where you live. Draw closes September 7, 2020
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Photos: Elena Cvjetkovic, Pexels, Denishawn Collection/The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and Exaltatum
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