The Choreography of Gender

Abstract

The popularity of ballroom dance has ebbed and flowed over the years. In this article we argue that the attitude Americans have toward ballroom dance reflects society's acceptance and rejection of different expressions of femininity and masculinity. Although ballroom dance is predicated on rigid gender roles, its popularity has increased in the United States over the past few years. We use in-depth interviews and participant observation to explore how modern ballroom dancers express their masculinity and femininity on and off the dance floor. We find that men and women construct complex gender identities that are both traditional and progressive. Some are creating gender identities incorporating traditional and nontraditional traits. Our interviewees reinforced this gender complexity and showed that no one is bound to one standard of masculinity or femininity. Rather, each person is free to choreograph his or her own gender identity.

Gender and Sexuality Performances Among LGBT+ Equality Dancers: Photo-Elicitation as a Method of Inquiry

“…The purpose of this paper is to advocate the inclusion of visuals in sociological studies on dance, by highlighting how its use in the study of competitive ballroom dancing (Dancesport) generated new embodied knowledge which queers the idealised, conservative forms of masculinity and femininity endorsed by mainstream Dancesport bodies (Marion, 2008, p. 148) and documented in existing scholarship. Yamanashi Leib and Bulman (2009, p. 603) aptly describe the performance space of traditional ballroom dancing as one where “costumes, songs, and gestures coordinate seamlessly to produce traditional images of aggressive, domineering males and delicate, sexually receptive females.” This amplification of Judith Butler’s (1993) “heterosexual matrix” in mainstream Dancesport supresses wilful transgressions enacted through equality Dancesport, a home space offering more latitude between gender binaries (Sloop, 2004) and alternative displays of sexualities through gender-neutral dance partnerships. Despite the three-decade long history of equality Dancesport, and growing visibility of same-sex dancing through reality TV programmes such as Strictly Come Dancing and Dancing on Ice (Wong et al, 2021), queer knowledge, experiences and theories remain under-represented in qualitative studies on Dancesport.…”

“…Other studies examining the dynamics of dance partnerships (Majoross, et al, 2008; Harman, 2012) exclude the circumstances of queer subjects. Leib and Bulman (2009) and Lányi (2013) are the only two studies discussing same-sex dance partnerships, albeit with a limited focus on the deconstruction of traditional femininity through female/female dance partnerships, as such indirectly reinforcing the essentialist attribution of traditional femininity to female dance followers. This paper argues that embedding photo-elicitation into a broader ethnographic study on the lived experiences of LGBT + equality dancers contributes to queer knowledge which disrupts the essentialist framing of the classical dance form.…”

Transmedia Education: Masculinity in Tiktok Within Traditional Dance

“…BM added that from her experience as a Sumatran who migrated to Java, society's acceptance of male dancers is better in Java because according to BM, Sumatra is still too strong with religious norms and traditions that prohibit men from acting feminine. In fact, according to history dancing is also part of culture which is also part of social, political and ritual (Leib & Bulman, 2009). What is interesting, the rejection of male dancers does not only occur in Indonesia, but also in America.…”

“…What is interesting, the rejection of male dancers does not only occur in Indonesia, but also in America. Leib & Bulman (2009) explain that there, male dancers in ballroom also experience stigma and ridicule because they are considered not in accordance with the standards of masculinity that most people understand.…”

Between Sport and Leisure: Competitive Senior Ballroom Dancing as Serious Leisure

“…The subjects that have got a lot of interest among ballroom researchers are also whether ballroom dancing is sport or art (Picart 2006;Marion 2008;Byczkowska-Owczarek 2019) and gender roles in ballroom (Marion 2008;Leib and Bulman 2009;Bosse 2015;Richardson 2016;Harman 2019). On the one hand, researchers noted problems feminist women have with accommodating the rule that men lead and women follow in ballroom dancing, which goes against the major cultural tendency in developed countries such as the USA.…”