Dancing Gender: Exploring Embodied Masculinities
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University of Bath PHD Dancing Gender Exploring Embodied Masculinities Owen, Craig Award date: 2014 Awarding institution: University of Bath Link to publication Alternative formats If you require this document in an alternative format, please contact: [email protected] General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 09. Oct. 2021 Dancing Gender: Exploring Embodied Masculinities Craig Robert Owen A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Bath Department of Psychology June 2014 COPYRIGHT Attention is drawn to the fact that copyright of this thesis rests with the author. A copy of this thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and that they must not copy it or use material from it except as permitted by law or with the consent of the author. This thesis may be made available for consultation within the University Library and may be photocopied or lent to other libraries for the purposes of consultation with effect from………………. Signed on behalf of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences ................................... 1 Table of Contents Chapter 1 Introduction 7 1.1 Ethnography 12 1.2 The research sites: Capoeira and Latin and ballroom dance 14 classes 1.3 The research questions 15 1.4 The History of Latin and ballroom dance in England 15 1.5 A Brief History of Capoeira 19 1.6 The spread of Capoeira to the UK 21 1.7 A summary of the thesis chapters 23 Chapter 2 Billy Elliot, Strictly Come Dancing and YouTube Dance 27 Videos - A Brief History of English Dancing Masculinities 2.1 Billy Elliot: Dancing through the crisis of masculinity in 29 post-industrial England 2.1.1 Negotiating the problem of masculinity and dance 30 2.1.2 Repositioning dance as an embodied masculine practice 31 2.1.3 The Transformative Power of Dance 34 2.1.4 The Billy Elliot discourse 35 2.2 Strictly Come Dancing: the new visibility and celebration 37 of male dancers 2.2.1 The re-emergence of couple dancing 38 2.2.2 Traditional Gender Roles 39 2.2.3 The Female (Hetero-) Sexually Appraising Gaze 40 2.2.4 Metrosexuality 43 2.2.5 The Gay Gaze 45 2.3 YouTube Dance Videos: Dance diversity on the internet 46 2.3.1 Technological Innovation, Social Saturation and the Global 47 Flow of Dancing Masculinities 2.3.2 Online Participatory Cultures 48 2.3.3 Dancing Masculinities on YouTube 49 2.3.4 Single Ladies 51 2.3.4 Playful Masculinities 53 2.4 Conclusion 57 Chapter 3 Theorizing Masculinities in a Post-Modern Society 59 3.1 Orthodox Masculinity 60 3.2 Inclusive Masculinity 64 3.3 A Limited Sample 68 3.4 Multiple Masculinities, Power Relations and Hegemonic 71 Theories of Masculinity. 2 3.4.1 Engaging with Hegemonic Masculinity Theory 72 3.4.2 Critiquing Hegemonic Masculinity Theory 73 3.4.3 Incorporating Hegemony Theories 75 3.4.4 The problematic blending of theories of power 78 3.5 A Foucauldian-inspired theorisation of orthodox and 84 inclusive masculinities 3.6 Conclusion 86 Chapter 4 Theorising Embodied Masculinities when Learning to 88 Dance 4.1 The essential ingredients in my theory of embodiment 89 4.1.1 Locating the body as a product and producer of culture 89 4.1.2 The multi-dimensional body 89 4.1.3 The body embedded in power relations 90 4.1.4 The cultural and historical location of bodies 91 4.2 Theorising the embodied process of learning to dance 92 4.2.1 Body Techniques 93 4.2.2 Habitus and Historical Bodies 94 4.2.3 Technology 96 4.2.4 Technologies of domination 98 4.2.5 Bio-power 98 4.2.6 The disciplined body 99 4.2.7 Self-surveillance 100 4.2.8 The micro-physics of power 101 4.2.9 Technologies of the self 102 4.2.10 Critical self-reflection 103 4.2.11 Aesthetic self-stylization 103 4.3 An ethnographic method for analysing the transitions in 104 embodied masculinities 4.3.1 Mediated Discourse Analysis 104 4.3.2 Focal points 106 4.3.3 Problematization 108 4.3.4 Chains of action 109 4.3.5 Telling stories using process narratives 110 Chapter 5 An Ethnographic Adventure 112 5.1 Entering the field 115 5.2 University of McNulty* Latin and Ballroom Dance Club 116 5.3 The Capoeira Groups 117 5.4 An Emerging Methodology 119 5.5 Researching vibrant dance classes 120 3 5.6 Capoeira class 120 5.7 Latin and ballroom dance class 126 5.8 DanceSport Competitions 130 5.9 An emerging ontology of complexity 133 5.10 Creative engagements with the methodological literature 135 5.11 Methodological Bricolage 137 5.12 Co-performance: Cultivating Rapport, Collaboration and 144 Ethical Fieldwork Relations 5.12.1 Cultivating rapport and collaboration 146 5.12.2 Cultivating ethical relationships 148 5.13 Embodied fieldwork in the form of learning to dance 152 5.13.1 A conceptual move from ‘participant observation’ to 152 ‘embodied fieldwork’ 5.13.2 The centrality of the researcher’s body 152 5.13.3 Undertaking flexible and eclectic embodied fieldwork 153 5.13.4 Reflexive embodied fieldwork 154 5.14 Writing field notes & collecting multi-media artifacts 158 5.14.1 Writing field-notes 158 5.14.2 Collecting multimedia artifacts 160 5.15 Digital Photography 163 5.15.1 My photographic practice 163 5.15.2 My digital SLR camera and lenses 164 5.15.3 Learning to be a digital photographer 165 5.15.4 Where was I pointing the camera and what was I focusing on? 168 5.15.5 Co-performance: performing with the camera and performing 171 to the camera 5.15.6 Facebook publishing 173 5.17 Ethnographic Interviews 177 5.17.1 The interview sample 178 5.17.2 The interview structure 179 5.17.3 Ethnographic interviewing 180 5.17.4 Interviews as co-performance 182 Chapter 6 Dancing with Women 184 6.1 Re-positioning dance as a heterosexual practice 184 6.2 Dancing with women in closed ballroom hold 192 6.3 The performance of gentlemanly masculinities at DanceSport 200 competitions 6.4 DanceSport competitions 200 6.5 Looking like a gentleman 202 6.6 Acting like a gentleman 205 4 6.7 Conclusion 207 Chapter 7 Performing Awesome Moves 209 7.1 Capo-what? 209 7.2 Promoting cultured and contextualised capoeira 215 7.3 Problematizing ‘awesome moves’: isn’t it just showing off? 217 7.4 Problematizing ‘awesome moves’: masculinity and inflexible 222 historical bodies 7.5 Performing awesome moves as a technology of the self 227 7.6 Performing more than just ‘awesome moves’ 229 7.7 Conclusion 231 Chapter 8 Stiff Hips 234 8.1 Problematizing Stiff Hips 235 8.2 Explaining gender differences 236 8.3 Learning to walk with your hips in the Latin dances 240 8.3.1 Lone mirror work 243 8.3.2 Mastering the hips 245 8.3.3 Performing heterosexual hip movements in DanceSport 248 competitions 8.4 The Samba de Roda - try a little bit of a wiggle then hide 250 away 8.4.1 ‘Hard waist, Easy waist’ 252 8.4.2 Learning to samba through legitimate peripheral participation 254 8.4.3 Heterosexual performance in the samba de roda 258 8.5 Conclusion 260 Chapter 9 Conclusion 263 9.1 A summary of the main research findings 263 9.1.1 The transitions from orthodox to inclusive masculinities 264 9.1.2 Developing respectful embodied relationships with female 264 dancers 9.1.3 Developing an aesthetic appreciation of performing awesome 265 moves 9.1.4 Transitions in the aesthetic appreciation of men’s Latin hip 267 movements 9.1.5 The arc back to orthodox masculinities 268 9.2 Evaluating inclusive masculinity theory 269 9.2.1 The strengths of inclusive masculinity theory: Explaining 269 cultural transitions 9.2.2 A critique of hegemonic masculinity 270 9.2.3 The concepts of ‘orthodox masculinities’ and ‘inclusive 271 masculinities’ 5 9.2.4 Augmenting inclusive masculinity theory with Foucauldian 271 theory 9.3 Issues of concern with inclusive masculinity theory 272 9.3.1 Masculinities in transition 272 9.3.2 Masculinities and power relations 273 9.3.3 Locating the emergence of inclusive masculinities within the 273 wider social landscape 9.3.4 The conceptual challenge of integrating Latin/Brazilian 274 masculinities 9.4 My criteria for a ‘good’ ethnography 277 9.4.1 Flexibility 278 9.4.2 A credible and evocative account 278 9.4.3 Readability 281 9.4.4 Reflexivity 283 9.5 Dissemination 284 9.6 Critically reflecting on this research 286 9.7 Final conclusions 288 References Academic references 290 Newspaper articles 309 YouTube videos 310 Films, documentaries, television shows, songs, radio and web 313 links Research workshops 314 Appendices Appendix 1: Interviewee information 315 Appendix 2: Interview consent form 317 Appendix 3: Interview questions 319 Appendix 4: Transcription conventions 323 6 Abstract Dancing Gender: Exploring Embodied Masculinities Within popular culture we have recently witnessed a proliferation of male dancers.