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UMf DANCING CARICATURES: RACE, AND GENDER IN BALLROOM DANCING KAREN ANGUS A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS GRADUATE PROGRAM IN SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO AUGUST 2010 Library and Archives Bibliothèque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l'édition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaONK1A0N4 OttawaONK1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-68285-2 Our file Notre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-68285-2 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant à la Bibliothèque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par télécommunication ou par l'Internet, prêter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des thèses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, à des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non- support microforme, papier, électronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriété du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protège cette thèse. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformément à la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privée, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont été enlevés de thesis. cette thèse. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1+1 Canada Dancing Caricatures: Race, and Gender in Ballroom Dancing By Karen J. Angus a thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of York University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS ©2010 Permission has been granted to: a) YORK UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES to lend or sell copies of this thesis in paper, microform or electronic formats, and b) LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA to reproduce, lend, distribute, or sell copies ofthis thesis anywhere in the world in microform, paper or electronic formats and to authorize or procure the reproduction, loan, distribution or sale of copies of this thesis anywhere in the world in microform, paper or electronic formats. The author reserves other publication rights, and neither the thesis nor extensive extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's written permission. Abstract: In ballroom dancing, rigid ideas about gender and racial differences are embedded into the narratives and movements of each dance. As such, ballroom manifests and reinforces social inequalities. Through participating at weekly social dances and dance classes in the Greater Toronto Area as well as interviewing several dancers, this thesis explores how and why the gender and racial politics of ballroom are maintained and cherished while simultaneously being critiqued by dancers. Exploring issues of agency, politics and pleasure, this thesis argues that these contradictions hold because the strict rules of the dance facilitate physical expression. Moreover, it is through limiting the possibilities of interpretation with regard to both the gendered lead/follow roles and the performance of racial stereotypes that enables dancers to feel exciting sensations, spark their imaginations and experience new ways of moving. iv Acknowledgments The researching and writing of this thesis could not have occurred without the generous help I received from disparate places. I'd first like to thank my Supervisor, Natasha Myers for providing invaluable comments, resources and insight, and for helping me work through my ideas in our many meetings. I would like to thank David Murray for his comments, and suggestions. They were invaluable in helping me focus my work and integrate my often discordant ideas. I would like to thank Kenneth Little for providing a space for me to explore my ideas in a more experimental fashion, some of which was integrated into later drafts. I owe a great debt of gratitude to all the dancers in the Toronto area that I have encountered over the last few years, but most of all to Cathy Gullo and the instructor I've renamed "Christopher" throughout this text for permitting me to conduct fieldwork at the social dance and group lessons respectively. I couldn't have written this without all of the participants I interviewed, who not only provided me with some amazing insight into ballroom dancing, but also valuable feedback on early drafts of this thesis. Lastly, I'd like to thank Jason Timermanis for proofreading this draft in record time. ? Table of Contents Abstract iv Acknowledgments ? Introduction 1 Dancing into the Field 1 Division and Inseparability. 8 Chapter One: Categories of Race: Bodies, Movement and Authority 15 Ballroom Classifications 20 ABrief History of Ballroom 23 Classifications and their Narratives 27 Movement, Bodies and Proximity. 37 Inventing Techniques of the Body 41 Dying to be Latin 44 Chapter Two: The Gendered Experience of Dance 49 Introduction: Gendered Roles and Embodied Knowledge 49 The Power of Gender Roles 55 Dancers' Understandings of Gender Roles 62 Backleading 68 Crossing the Floor. 71 Same Sex Dancing 76 Conclusion 81 Chapter Three: Enjoyment on the Ballroom Dance Floor. 84 Part 1: Cultivating an Atmosphere for Expression 89 Learning to Express Yourself 90 Structure and Control 93 Taking Pleasure in Norms of Decorum 94 Trust 98 Part 2: Seeking Pleasure 102 Addiction 102 Gender and the Possibilities of Sensation 104 Continental Imaginaries 107 Playing a Character 110 Joy, Critique and Contradiction 113 Conclusion 116 vi Introduction In recent years there has been a renewed interest in ballroom dancing, with such popular television programs as Dancing with the Stars, So You Think You Can Dance, America's Ballroom Challenge, and the popular British show Baby Ballroom captivating audiences throughout North America and Europe. More dance studios are opening up throughout North America, and enrollment is increasing among most age groups. My entrance to the world of ballroom dance did not result from this increased media attention, but from the persistent efforts of my mother, herself a ballroom dancer, to share her favorite pastime with me. My reactions to the ballroom world were ambivalent. On the one hand, I was infuriated by the imperative that I learn a particular role simply because of my sex. On the other hand, I love dancing, and have always been driven to learn as many forms of dance as possible. My initial reactions to ballroom dancing reflect my experience as a white, lower class, feminist woman in my late twenties. As a woman, the gender dynamic was immediately apparent. My recognition of racial issues followed a few weeks later. This delay in recognizing the racial aspects of ballroom likely resulted from my privileged position as a white woman in a predominantly white art form. Recognizing the rigid gender roles and oppositional depictions of Europeans and Latin Americans made me question the reasons for this increase in popularity, as well as why they were not subjected to critique by anyone in the community. I was most intrigued by the seeming lack of feminist criticism among the women at the studio and so I decided to continue taking classes in the hope that I would come to understand why 1 such archaic gender roles were maintained. Less than a week after my first dance class, I received a phone call asking if I wanted to work the door charging admission at a weekly ballroom dance on the outskirts of Toronto. The woman who organized the dance had been calling around the community to see if anyone would be interested in the position, and my instructor passed on her number to me with strong recommendations that I take the job in order to speed up my learning process. I accepted and began working there, making connections that would later be crucial to this study, asking questions, and continuing to observe this strange new world that I had entered. While I had been dancing for about two years before I formally undertook this study, I do not consider this to be "insider ethnography," both because of the relatively short duration of my involvement in the community, and because in the ballroom world, I decidedly do not fit in. I am much younger than the majority of ballroom dancers who are regulars at this site, most of whom are in their mid 40s to late 60s. I am not financially secure, am a student (a fact that seems to make some people underestimate my age considerably), and while I am easily identifiable as a woman I am not particularly good at performing my gender. As such, people react with surprise when they find out I dance, indicating that the community largely does not consider me an insider either. In the past few decades there has been an increase in scholarly work on the subject of dance. With regards to partner dancing, much attention has been given to the way particular dances are used in the production and reinforcement of national identity (Daniel 1995, Taylor 1987); the movement of dance styles across class and race 2 boundaries (Desmond 1997); the ways in which dance acts as a site where whiteness and 'otherness' are embodied in performance (Bosse 2007); transformations the tango underwent when popularized in Japan (Karatsu 2003); and how codification acts as a civilizing process as dances become international (Savigliano 1995).