From Ballroom to DanceSport: Aesthetics, Athletics, and Body Culture

180 Pages·2006·1.95 MB·English

by  Caroline Joan S. Picart

From Ballroom
to DanceSport
SUNY series on Sport, Culture, and Social Relations
CL Cole and Michael A. Messner, editors
SUNY series in Communication Studies
Dudley D. Cahn, editor
From Ballroom
to DanceSport
Aesthetics, Athletics, and Body Culture
Caroline Joan S. Picart
State University of New York Press
Published by
State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2006 State University of New York
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Picart, Caroline Joan, 1966–
From ballroom to dancesport : aesthetics, athletics, and body culture / Caroline
Joan S. Picart.
p. cm. — (SUNY series on sport, culture, and social relations) (SUNY series
in communication studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7914-6629-9 (hardcopy : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7914-6630-2 (pbk. :
alk. paper) 1. Ballroom dancing—Social aspects. 2. Popular culture. I. Title.
II. Series. III. Series: SUNY series in communication studies
GV1746.P53 2005
793.38—dc22 2005001027
ISBN-13: 978-0-7914-6629-2 (hardcopy : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-7914-6630-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgments ix
1. The Contested Landscape of Ballroom Dance: Culture,
Gender, Race, Class, and Nationality in Performance 1
2. Dancing through Different Worlds: An Autoethnography of
the Interactive Body and Virtual Emotions in Ballroom Dance 29
3. Ballroom Dance and the Movies 39
4. Paving the Road to the Olympics: Staging and Financing
the Olympic Dream 69
5. Packaging Fantasy and Morality 89
6. Quo Vadis? 107
Ballroom-Dance-Related Organizations 121
Appendix: Filmography of Selected DanceSport and Ballroom Films 125
Notes 139
Bibliography 151
Index 161

Illustrations
Photos by Cecil Greek. Used by permission.
2.1. Posing to begin: Feeling the relentless weightlessness of gazes. 30
2.2. In ballroom smooth dances, the upper body is stressed. 32
2.3. Along with the elongated necks and accentuated backs, the
pull of the smooth dances is upward. 32
2.4. The tango requires bent knees and an exaggeratedly arched
back, generating a tense, erotic energy. 33
2.5. The East Coast swing combines the vigor and athleticism
of African-American-inspired movements with elements of
European partner dancing. 34
2.6. One distinctive trait of ballroom dancing is its dependence on
blending two bodies into one. 35
2.7. Occasionally, I, too, lead, and it is fascinating to move from a
position of alertly waiting to subtly initiating. 35
Photos by Carson Zullinger. Used by permission.
5.1. Note the upright military bearing with which the male lead
frames his more ethereally clothed partner. 90
5.2. Women who compete in the International Standard category
often use boas, floats, or drapes around the shoulders to
catch the judges’ and spectators’ eyes. 91
5.3. The women are the hyperfeminized and colorful pictures that
the hypermasculinized and more soberly dressed men frame. 92
5.4. An example of the form-fitting and sensual attire
characteristic of Latin or rhythm dancers. 93
vii
viii ILLUSTRATIONS
5.5. The racializing of the female Latin competitor’s body as “other”
allows her more latitude; occasionally, she is even allowed to
stand over her male counterpart. 95
5.6. Note the exaggeratedly arched back of the female competitor
as she is supported in a version of an oversway by her male
lead. 97
5.7. Note the seeming effortlessness of the athletic pose. 97
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix
Acknowledgments
I wish to thank the English department of Florida State University for
allowing me a research leave in spring 2004, which enabled me to finish
this project, as well as a Research and Creativity Award, which enabled me
to travel and acquire necessary research materials. I owe a debt of thanks
to several student assistants whose assistance in getting every little format-
ting and citation detail in place was invaluable: Caroline Burgess, Laura
Pratt, Michael Goldsby, Erin DiCesare, Marietta Palgutt, Jodie Howard,
Dan Funes, Donna Gallagher, Micah McMillan, Erin Irving, Chris Faupel,
Andy Gately, John Browning, and Aimee Griffith. I also wish to extend my
thanks to all my friends in dance, who have kindly answered my seemingly
endless questions and endured numerous hours of interviews—without
your help, the last two chapters of this book could not have been written.
For the many times you have supported and cheered me on during per-
formances and competitions, my gratitude is boundless. To the many ball-
room teachers I have had—John Speros, Daniel Seguin, Gaspar Van der
Ree, Mike and Dena Dill, and Shirley Johnson—many thanks for making
these lessons rigorous, challenging, and fun. To my consistent dance part-
ners, Mike Dill and Hubert Baxter, thanks so much for your commitment
and professionalism but also for being enjoyable company during those
long hours of practice and those all-too-brief moments of performance. To
Carolyn Ellis, Art Bochner, and Norman Denzin, many thanks for encour-
aging me to explore an autoethnographic format to develop a distinctive
voice in reflecting on my experiences as a competitor and student of
ballroom dancing: that has opened many stimulating avenues for growth.
I am also deeply grateful to Carson Zullinger and Cecil Greek, who
have been kind enough to authorize my use of their beautiful photographs
in this book. Finally, I would also like to thank my family, and especially
my mother, for detecting very early my passion for dance and cultivating
ix