From Ballroom to DanceSport , livre ebook

180

pages

English

Ebooks

2012

Écrit par
Caroline Joan S. Picart

Publié par
State University of New York Press

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180

pages

English

Ebooks

2012

Lire un extrait

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne En savoir plus

Publié par

State University of New York Press

Date de parution

01 février 2012

Nombre de lectures

EAN13

9780791482414

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

2 Mo

Drawing on recent media portrayals and her own experience, author and dancer Caroline Joan S. Picart explores ballroom dancing and its more "sporty" equivalent, DanceSport, suggesting that they are reflective of larger social, political, and cultural tensions. The past several years have seen a resurgence in the popularity of ballroom dance as well as an increasing international anxiety over how and whether to transform ballroom into an Olympic sport. Writing as a participant-critic, Picart suggests that both are crucial sites where bodies are packaged as racialized, sexualized, nationalized, and classed objects. In addition, Picart argues, as the choreography, costuming, and genre of ballroom and DanceSport continue to evolve, these theatrical productions are aestheticized and constructed to encourage commercial appeal, using the narrative frame of the competitive melodrama to heighten audience interest.
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments

1. The Contested Landscape of Ballroom Dance: Culture, Gender, Race, Class, and Nationality in Performance

2. Dancing through Different Worlds: An Autoethnography of the Interactive Body and Virtual Emotions in Ballroom Dance

3. Ballroom and the Movies

4. Paving the Road to the Olympics: Staging and Financing the Olympic Dream

5. Packaging Fantasy and Morality

6. Quo Vadis?

Ballroom-Dance-Related Organizations
Appendix: Filmography of Selected DanceSport and Ballroom Films
Notes
Bibliography
Index

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Publié par

State University of New York Press

Date de parution

01 février 2012

Nombre de lectures

EAN13

9780791482414

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

2 Mo

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

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press, 194 Washington Avenue, Suite 305, Albany, NY 12210-2384

Production by Marilyn P. Semerad Marketing by Fran Keneston

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

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

2005001027

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Contents

The Contested Landscape of Ballroom Dance: Culture, Gender, Race, Class, and Nationality in Performance

Dancing through Different Worlds: An Autoethnography of the Interactive Body and Virtual Emotions in Ballroom Dance

Ballroom Dance and the Movies

Paving the Road to the Olympics: Staging and Financing the Olympic Dream

Packaging Fantasy and Morality

Quo Vadis?

Ballroom-Dance-Related Organizations Appendix: Filmography of Selected DanceSport and Ballroom Films Notes Bibliography Index

vii ix

107

121 125 139 151 161

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Illustrations

Photos by Cecil Greek. Used by permission. 2.1. Posing to begin: Feeling the relentless weightlessness of gazes. 2.2. In ballroom smooth dances, the upper body is stressed. 2.3. Along with the elongated necks and accentuated backs, the pull of the smooth dances is upward. 2.4. The tango requires bent knees and an exaggeratedly arched back, generating a tense, erotic energy. 2.5. The East Coast swing combines the vigor and athleticism of African-American-inspired movements with elements of European partner dancing. 2.6. One distinctive trait of ballroom dancing is its dependence on blending two bodies into one. 2.7. Occasionally, I, too, lead, and it is fascinating to move from a position of alertly waiting to subtly initiating.

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. 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. 5.3. The women are the hyperfeminized and colorful pictures that the hypermasculinized and more soberly dressed men frame. 5.4. An example of the form-ﬁtting and sensual attire characteristic of Latin or rhythm dancers.

vii

30 32

viii

5.5.

5.6.

5.7.

ILLUSTRATIONS

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 Note the exaggeratedly arched back of the female competitor as she is supported in a version of an oversway by her male lead. 97 Note the seeming effortlessness of the athletic pose. 97

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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

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