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Methodology and Resources

This section covers our methods, key definitions, gender resources, and credits to collaborators and funders.

Methodology

Why queering DanceSport?

Previous academic work on the heteronormative gender binary in Latin DanceSport has detailed how gendered performances are on the competitive dance floor. Prejudices about gender affect every element of the dance – from the competition rules that define who can dance with whom, to the judging criteria, the clothes dancers wear, but also the dance itself; the steps, the technique, the partnering mechanisms. Many of these elements require explicit work to reproduce, limiting what Latin dance can look like (Richardson 2018; Meneau 2020; 2023; 2024).

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Inspired by Foucault's idea that power can only exist in relation to resistance, and Butler's idea that the citationality of gender is also its potential for subversion, this publication explores ways to queer DanceSport, that is, to reappropriate the vocabulary of dance while deconstructing any element that perpetuates the heteronormative gender binary (Foucault 1976; Butler 2004). Our aim is to expose and critique the constructions and mechanisms of power, knowledge and norms in DanceSport – and dare to imagine another world, another way of using dance principles and making something new out of it. 

 

Why did we choose this format?

This kind of digital publication is nowhere to be found. In the dance scene, work on deconstructing the heteronormative gender binary tends to take place behind closed doors. This contributes to the invisibilisation of queer dance practices in DanceSport. Furthermore, this empirical work is not systematised: there is an awareness of the need to deconstruct the heteronormative gender binary, but it is not based on academic research. In contrast, this digital publication aims to make visible a wide range of queering practices, while helping to highlight the mechanisms of productive and disciplinary power that produce the heteronormative gender binary in Latin DanceSport. 

 

Not only is there a need to make this work accessible to a wider audience, but we also believe that the format of a digital publication is the most appropriate. We want to make the results available to anyone who might be interested, including the dance world itself. As the barriers to academic publication are likely to make it difficult for dance enthusiasts, be they social dancers, competitors, professionals or ex-dancers, to access this work, we have designed this digital publication to reach out to the community and slowly work towards change through channels they already use and are familiar with. This format is also interesting because of the common difficulty of reducing dance to written and spoken language. Val and Giulia's research is about gendered performances in dance and it is difficult to imagine what the authors are talking about just by reading the words. However, it follows the usual academic format, with empirical examples from our own practice research that illustrate the points we make on a discursive level.

 

Where does our knowledge come from? 

The website is grounded in years of in-depth academic and movement-based research on the heteronormative gender binary in Latin DanceSport. This knowledge is distilled into several tools, each focusing on a different aspect of hegemony. The tools combine our personal experiences as members of oppressed groups in DanceSport and our own practice research with the academic knowledge that Val has been working on for the last seven years. Conducting their PhD fieldwork at the intersection of queer, gender and critical dance studies, they have gathered, structured and presented a plethora of data which they have published or are about to publish in academic publications. This publication is based on fieldwork and interviews conducted by Val and Giulia over four years in Europe and North America; discourse analysis of judging criteria, technique books, syllabus books; and dance analysis of dance lectures and dance performances.

 

In Val’s first book, entitled DanceSport’s Economy of Desire: A Queer Feminist Perspective (forthcoming with Bloomsbury), they argue that the DanceSport dispositive, Foucault's term for a network of power, creates and maintains an economy of desire that shapes the possibilities, desires and choices of its actors. This economy of desire leads to the reproduction of the heteronormative gender binary in Latin dance performances. In this way, the dispositive manages to shape Latin dance, despite resistance and counter-movements, by excluding or invisibilizing queerness and objectifying and sexualising female dancers. Val focused on the dance itself (the explicit rules published by the federations, the judging situation, the clothes the dancers wear, but also the actual dance; the steps, the technique, the partnering mechanisms). In this work they showed that women are encouraged to sexualise themselves, while queer people are excluded or required to erase their queerness to take part in competitions. If you want to know more about this, we suggest you wait for the book or read Val’s academic publications!

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Beyond our academic research, our positionalities and experiences in DanceSport inform our work. As a cis woman and a non-binary trans* femme, we have both suffered from the hegemonic normativities applied to the expression of our gender and sexuality. So the kind of knowledge we bring to the work can be tapped into through autoethnography, a critical methodology that combines personal experience with ethnographic analysis of the situations in which that experience occurred. Autoethnography “offers fertile ground for interrogating dominant theoretical stances and hegemonic paradigms, and furthering social justice aims” (Lapadat 2017). We seek to analyse socially unjust practices, challenge “taken-for-granted knowledges that continue to marginalise, oppress and/or take advantage” of those excluded from the norm, and generate new practices for transformation. We aim to “‘disturbs the order of things’” (Jones and Harris 2018, 4), and not only on a theoretical level, but also on a practical one. Our practical experience also shines through in our practice-based research (Vear, Candy, and Edmonds 2021) – something we have both dabbled in, but in which Giulia has much more experience. Check out her artistic work! 

 

How to use the toolbox?

Two things to note before moving on: first, this knowledge is not ours alone. The academic research is indebted to the countless informants who agreed to share their knowledge in interviews, while we acknowledge many practices by queer feminist communities that came before us (about switching roles, for instance.) We did not invent most of these tools. We are bringing them to a wider audience; we are playing with them; we are exploring how they can liberate us. And secondly, we do not intend to crystallise the tools into a new normal, but to offer ways of imagining what DanceSport might look like. But we insist, based on academic research, that such an exploration is necessary. What your own exploration looks like is up to you, and ultimately we need a wealth of ideas to move beyond oppression in DanceSport. Finally, we specialise in Latin DanceSport, and some of our insights will be transferable to Standard - but you are free and welcome to build up on this discussion!

Definitions of terms

(Cis-)Heteronormativity

"A pervasive system of belief that centers and naturalizes heterosexuality and a binary system of assigned sex/gender when there are two rigid, distinct ways of being: assigned-male-at-birth masculine men and assigned-female-at-birth feminine women" (GSCC). 

Cultural Appropriation

Appropriation of “something of cultural value, usually a symbol or a practice, to others. […] The contextual conditions that can render acts of cultural appropriation more egregious include: the existence of a power imbalance between the cultural appropriator and those from whom the practice or symbol is appropriated; the absence of consent; and the presence of profit that accrues to the appropriator” (Lenard and Balint 2020).

Gender binary

"A socially constructed gender system in which gender is classified into two distinct and opposite categories. These gender categories are both narrowly defined and disconnected from one another. They are strictly enforced through rigid gender roles and expectations. Further, there is a hierarchy inherent to the classification, in which one gender, men/boys/masculinity, has access to power and privilege and the other, women/girls/femininity, is marginalized and oppressed. These classifications are seen as immutable; those assigned male at birth should identify as men and embody masculinity, and those assigned female at birth should identify as women and embody femininity. This binary system excludes nonbinary, genderqueer, and gender non-conforming individuals. All people are harmed by the gender binary system, but your place within the system determines the degree and quality of harm. The gender binary is weaponized through conquest, colonization, and continued occupation of indigenous peoples’ lands. The gender binary system is inherently violent and foregrounds all gender-based oppression" (GSCC).

Homophobia

"The irrational fear, hatred, and intolerance of gay and/or queer people. Sometimes used as an umbrella term encompassing phobias associated with marginalized sexual and gender identities" (GSCC). 

Hypersexualization

‘Accentuating of one’s sexuality in such a way as to make it extraordinarily sexual,’ also modifying girls’ appearance towards erotization (Liotard and Jamain-Samson 2011, 63).

Latin DanceSport

DanceSport is the competitive counterpart to ballroom dancing. It comprises two disciplines, Standard (featuring Slow Waltz, Tango, Viennese Waltz, Slow Fox, and Quickstep) and Latin (with Samba, Cha Cha Cha, Rumba, Paso Doble and Jive). 

Male gaze

Consistent imagery deployed by Western media ‘of female corporeity in Western culture,’ which is ‘constructed and developed through a gender ideology at the service of the institutions of patriarchy, and covertly disseminated through the imposed and controlling definition of the “ideal” model of the female body.’ The exposure and objectification of women’s bodies in Western society socially constructed, created, and disseminated in the media to satisfy the men watching them (Ponterotto 2016, 134). 

Male supremacy

Ideology that ‘governs how the sexes are socialized (males to aggression, force, and efficacy and females to passivity, virtue, and obedience)’ (Waylen et al. 2013, 40).

Non-binary

"A gender identity term for a person who identifies outside of the gender binary. Non-binary is also conceptualized as an array of genders at some distance form the gender binary. Non-binary is sometimes written as “nonbinary.” A common abbreviation for non-binary is enby" (GSCC).

Objectification

Treating ‘a human being as a “thing,” disregarding [their] personality, autonomy, and sentience.’ Sexual objectification is by extension the tendency to ‘focus on women’s appearances in a sexualised way while ignoring women’s personalities’ (Ramsey, Marotta, and Hoyt 2017, 259) (2012, 1). 

Sexism

“Subjectively favorable and unfavorable attitudes (toward both sexes) that reinforce gender inequality. This new framework focuses on how sexist attitudes, both explicit and implicit, reconcile male dominance with intimate heterosexual interdependence. Sexist beliefs not only influence expectations about each sex, but prescribe how men and women ‘should’ behave. Favorable emotional and behavioral reactions reward members of each sex when they conform to gender-traditional traits, while gender ‘deviants’ are punished. Thus, although ambivalent and context dependent, sexist attitudes serve a common goal: to reinforce traditional gender role and power distinctions” (Glick and Rudman 2010). 

Transphobia

"Fear, hatred, and intolerance of transgender, nonbinary, genderqueer, and gender nonconforming people, or those who break, blur, or transgress assigned gender roles and the gender binary" (GSCC).

Transgender or trans*

"A gender identity term for an individual whose gender identity does not match or is at some distance from the gender identity assumed based on their birth-assigned sex. For some folks, transgender and/or trans are considered to be umbrella terms" (GSCC).

Bibliography and resources

Methodology

  • Butler, Judith. 2004. Undoing Gender. Routledge.

  • Foucault, Michel. 1976. Histoire de La Sexualité, Vol. 1: La Volonté de Savoir. Gallimard.

  • Glick, Peter, and Laurie A. Rudman. 2010. ‘Sexism’. In The SAGE Handbook of Prejudice, Stereotyping and Discrimination, by John Dovidio, Miles Hewstone, Peter Glick, and Victoria Esses, 328–44. 1 Oliver’s Yard, 55 City Road, London EC1Y 1SP United Kingdom: SAGE Publications Ltd. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446200919.n20.

  • Gender and Sexuality Campus Centre (GSCC). Glossary. Michigan State University.

  • Jones, Stacy Holman., and Anne M. Harris. 2018. Queering Autoethnography. Routledge.

  • Lapadat, Judith C. 2017. ‘Ethics in Autoethnography and Collaborative Autoethnography’. Qualitative Inquiry, 1–15.

  • Lenard, Patti Tamara, and Peter Balint. 2020. ‘What Is (the Wrong of) Cultural Appropriation?’ Ethnicities 20 (2): 331–52. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468796819866498.

  • Liotard, Philippe, and Sandrine Jamain-Samson. 2011. ‘La « Lolita » et La « sex Bomb », Figures de Socialisation Des Jeunes Filles. L’hypersexualisation En Question’. Sociologie et Sociétés 43 (1): 45–71. https://doi.org/10.7202/1003531ar.

  • Meneau, Val. 2020. ‘Coding Sexual Violence as Love – Choreographed Heteronormative Gender Performances in Latin American Competitive Dancing’. Journal of Gender Studies 29 (8): 962–80. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2020.1823824.

  • ———. 2023. ‘DanceSport’s Economy of Desire – a Dispositive Analysis of the Heteronormative Gender Binary in Latin American Competitive Dancing’. PhD Dissertation, University of Salzburg.

  • ———. 2024. ‘Queer Dancers’ Experiences in the Dancesport World: Exclusion, Invisibilisation, and Assimilation’. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion 43 (9).

  • Ponterotto, Diane. 2016. ‘Resisting the Male Gaze: Feminist Responses to the “Normatization” of the Female Body in Western Culture.’ Journal of International Women’s Studies 17 (1): 133–51.

  • Ramsey, Laura R., Justin A. Marotta, and Tiffany Hoyt. 2017. ‘Sexualized, Objectified, but Not Satisfied: Enjoying Sexualization Relates to Lower Relationship Satisfaction through Perceived Partner-Objectification’. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 34 (2): 258–78. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407516631157.

  • Richardson, Niall. 2018. ‘“Whether You Are Gay or Straight, I Don’t like to See Effeminate Dancing”: Effeminophobia in Performance-Level Ballroom Dance’. Journal of Gender Studies 27 (2): 207–19.

  • Vandenbosch, Laura, and Steven Eggermont. 2012. ‘Understanding Sexual Objectification: A Comprehensive Approach Toward Media Exposure and Girls’ Internalization of Beauty Ideals, Self-Objectification, and Body Surveillance: Media, Adolescent Girls, and Self-Objectification’. Journal of Communication 62 (5): 869–87. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01667.x.

  • Vear, Craig, Linda Candy, and Ernest Edmonds. 2021. The Routledge International Handbook of Practice-Based Research. 1st ed. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429324154.

  • Waylen, Georgina, Karen Celis, Johanna Kantola, and Laurel Weldon, eds. 2013. Oxford Handbook of Gender and Politics. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199751457.013.0004.

Switching

  • Kaminsky, David. 2021. Social Partner Dance Body, Sound, and Space. London: Routledge.

  • McMains, Juliet. 2006. Glamour Addiction: Inside the American Ballroom Dance Industry. Wesleyan.

  • Meneau, Val. 2020. ‘Coding Sexual Violence as Love – Choreographed Heteronormative Gender Performances in Latin American Competitive Dancing’. Journal of Gender Studies 29 (8): 962–80. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2020.1823824.

  • ———. 2024. ‘Queer Dancers’ Experiences in the Dancesport World: Exclusion, Invisibilisation, and Assimilation’. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion 43 (9).

  • ———. 2025. DanceSport’s Economy of Desire: A Queer Feminist Perspective. Bloomsbury Academic.

  • Robinson, Danielle. 2015. Modern Moves. Dancing Race During the Ragtime and Jazz Eras. OUP.

  • Wong, Yen Nee. 2024. Equality Dancesport: Gender and Sexual Identities Matter. New York, NY: Routledge.

  • Young, Iris Marion. 2001. ‘Justice and the Politics of Difference’. In The New Social Theory Reader, edited by Steven Seidman and Jeffrey C. Alexander, 2nd ed. Routledge.

Desexualising

  • Kaminsky, David. 2021. Social Partner Dance Body, Sound, and Space. London: Routledge.

  • McMains, Juliet. 2001. ‘Brownface: Representations of Latin-Ness in Dancesport’. Dance Research Journal 33 (2): 54. https://doi.org/10.2307/1477804.

  • ———. 2013. ‘Hot Latin Dance: Ethnic Identity and Stereotype’. In The Oxford Handbook of Dance and Ethnicity, edited by Anthony Shay. Oxford University Press.

  • Meneau, Val. 2020. ‘Coding Sexual Violence as Love – Choreographed Heteronormative Gender Performances in Latin American Competitive Dancing’. Journal of Gender Studies 29 (8): 962–80. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2020.1823824.

  • ———. 2024. ‘Queer Dancers’ Experiences in the Dancesport World: Exclusion, Invisibilisation, and Assimilation’. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion 43 (9).

  • ———. 2025. DanceSport’s Economy of Desire: A Queer Feminist Perspective. Bloomsbury Academic.

  • Young, Iris Marion. 2001. ‘Justice and the Politics of Difference’. In The New Social Theory Reader, edited by Steven Seidman and Jeffrey C. Alexander, 2nd ed. Routledge.

Further readings

  • Bonner, Frances, ed. Imagining Women: Cultural Representations and Gender. Repr. Cambridge: Polity Press u.a, 1995.

  • Bosse, Joanna. Becoming Beautiful: Ballroom Dance in the American Heartland. University of Illinois Press, 2015.

  • Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble. Routledge, 1999.

  • Connell, Raewyn W., and Rebecca Pearse. Gender: In World Perspective. John Wiley & Sons / POLITY PR, 2014.

  • Desmond, Jane, ed. Dancing Desires: Choreographing Sexualities on and off the Stage. Studies in Dance History. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2001.

  • Ericksen, Julia. Dance With Me: Ballroom Dancing and the Promise of Instant Intimacy. NYU Press, 2011.

  • Fausto-Sterling, Anne. Sex/Gender: Biology in a Social World. Routledge, 2012.

  • Foster, Susan Leigh. ‘Choreographies of Gender’. Signs 24, no. 1 (1998): 1–33.

  • Foucault, Michel. Surveiller et Punir. Naissance de La Prison. Gallimard, 1975.

  • Harman, Vicki. The Sexual Politics of Ballroom Dancing. Palgrave McMillan, 2019.

  • Kammeyer, Kenneth C. W. A Hypersexual Society: Sexual Discourse, Erotica, and Pornography in America Today. New York: Palgrave Macmillan US, 2008. 

  • Kuhn, Annette. The Power of the Image: Essays on Representation and Sexuality. 1st ed. Routledge, 2013. 

  • Lloyd, Moya. ‘Power, Politics, Domination, and Oppression’. In The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Politics, edited by Georgina Waylen, Karen Celis, Johanna Kantola, and Laurel Weldon, 111–34. Oxford University Press, 2013. 

  • Malnig, Julie, ed. Ballroom, Boogie, Shimmy Sham, Shake: A Social and Popular Dance Reader. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2009.

  • Marion, Jonathan. Ballroom: Culture and Costumes in Competitive Dance (Dress, Body, Culture). BergPublishers, 2008.

  • ———. ‘Rumba Encounters. Transculturation of Cuban Rumba in American and European Ballrooms’. In Making Caribbean Dance. Continuity and Creativity in Island Cultures, edited by Susanna Sloat. University Press of Florida, 2010.

  • Mulvey, Laura. ‘Unmasking the Gaze: Some Thoughts on New Feminist Film Theory and History’. In Lectora 7: Revista de Dones i Textualitat. Edicions de la Universitat de Barcelona, 2001.

  • Oksala, Johanna. ‘Microphysics of Power’. In The Oxford Handbook of Feminist Theory, edited by Lisa Jane Disch and Mary Hawkesworth. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.

  • Picart, Caroline. From Ballroom to DanceSport: Aesthetics, Athletics, and Body Culture. SUNY, 2006.

Credits

Funder

Austrian Science Fund (FWF)

Concept, research, performance

Val Meneau & Giulia Settomini

 

The FWF funds the production of the website and media content, but not the work that goes into creating the content, which amounts to thousands of hours of unpaid labour that goes into researching, writing, editing, translating, choreographing, managing social media, conceptualising. 

Webdesign

Kalena Designs

Switching

Maja Karolina Franke – Performance

Vedran Nedelkovski – Performance 

Silas Isenmann – Videography

Carina Armes – Photography 

Volkskundemuseum Wien – Location 

Lena Fletcher - Coordination

Desexualising

Silas Isenmann – Videography

Carina Armes – Photography 

Volkskundemuseum Wien – Location 

Lena Fletcher - Coordination

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