Queering Social Dance

[leg028]

I'm doing a project (due Monday, and I just started) about queering social dance. I'm defining that as anything that defies the male lead/female follow norms. Men in skirts counts as queering as well, as does all genderswitching, etc. While people may not do this to be political it has political ramifications, such as increasing acceptance of queer

Comments

Its long, its late--I hope this helps you somehow!

[squeekiemouse]

I do dancing with two allied groups doing english country dances from the 16th century. On stage, we try our best to keep the genders proper in a historic way, because usually we are playing for an audience at a Ren Faire, and history is a factor in what we do. Sometimes we do school performances, and, especially if we're teaching, it doesnt matter as much there. Experienced dancers are experienced dancers

Re: Its long, its late--I hope this helps you somehow!

[leg028]

That's awesome, thanks! It sounds a lot like my experience in Scottish Country, that women lead because of the huge gender gap, and that that's normal and acceptable. But Scottish Country is less okay with genderswitching outside of that. I definitely agree with your analysis of men versus women genderbending. I actually wrote a paper on that last year.

[mackelzinzie]

you should bug me about talking about this I think. I would say "call me" but I'm not sure where my phone is.

[mackelzinzie]

hmmm. It always bothers me a little when people comment on or make fun of gender-bending. Like when I dance lead and people say, "If men looked like you, I'd be gay."

And I'm just like, What?

So even where it is acceptable, it isn't always welcoming.

[mackenzie]

For starters, when I describe my dancing habits in a profile on this one website, I say "I usually follow, but also am a respectable lead". That should give you a sense of where I'm coming from here. I like feeling like a talented, responsive follow. I like feeling like a subtle, clear lead. I don't like getting strange looks from bystanders, but if I feel that they are impressed, or viewing me as I want to be viewed, I am appreciative

Dancing with Someone of the Same Gender

[mackenzie]

Most people who dance with the same gender feel the need to have an excuse for why they're doing it. Oddly enough, "because it's fun" doesn't seem to be sufficient for most people. Women dancing together comes with the easy excuse: "well, it's period". Men have a harder time on this front. Luckily, leading will make you a significantly better follow, and following will make you a significantly better lead, so those excuses are always on hand. The fact that most people feel the need to have an excuse makes me feel as if the participants don't view the act as political and don't want it viewed as political

Dancing with Someone of the Opposite Gender in the Opposite Role

[mackenzie]

Of the three options, I find this one to be the most effective at creating a place for queer dancers in a heterosexual dance community, as it is the most accessible to a bystander. A random person who might become bitter that two of their favorite follows or leads are dancing together (thus leaving them out) but not find the notion of dancing in the opposite role unappealing

Intentionally Switching Over the Course of a Dance

[mackenzie]

I got into leadswitching when my repertoire as a lead was small. I only knew three or four moves and I would be out of stuff to do after thirty seconds. I wasn't confident enough at that point to improvise, so I needed a way to hand the reigns off to my partner. Again, practical rather than political (or fun). As my repertoire has gotten more generous, I've stopped leadswitching mid-dance. Indeed, at this point, it annoys me with very few exceptions

[terpsichoros]

First: there is a small group of very experienced male dancers who mostly show up to the Palo Alto dances (FNW and FasterPolka or whatever they're calling it) who often dance with each other. I'm fairly certain that at least half of them are straight, and I don't know whether the others are straight or not. (Bob C is one of these, so if you have info for him, you can ask him more about that.) They're often doing experimental or very high-energy dance moves when they dance with each other

[edge_of_within]

Side Note - attendants to a WWII Ball in Nazi getup have been denied entry. Is that similar

[firecat]

Here via mackenzie. My partner Aahz has some thoughts about this subject, but he doesn't use LJ. You can contact him via the email address on his web page: http://rule6.info/

[leg028]

Will do. Thanks!