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

6. Quo Vadis?

107 SIX Quo Vadis? In chapters 4 and 5, tracing the evolution of ballroom dance from a recreation or performance art into a competitive sport has served as a test case through which rhetorical constructions of gender, race, class, sexuality, and nationality may be critically examined. The point of the exercise has been less to bash this highly popular and demanding art and sport form than to point out the ambivalences and complexities that studying, practicing , competing in, performing, and teaching DanceSport entail. Admittedly , ballroom choreography at this point predominantly privileges a heterosexist, patriarchal, white, aristocratic aesthetic. Nevertheless, there have been experimental breaks from the system; they neither have become widespread , nor do they constitute all-out revolutions against the status quo, but they reflect a yearning for something different. It would thus be wise to close this book with an examination of a few noteworthy instances of a critique of DanceSport’s raced, gendered, classed and sexualized aesthetic. DANCESPORT COMPETITIONS In Dancesport competitions, a new category called “showdance” has been initiated, which allows a couple to perform a solo choreographed piece to music of their own choice for three minutes. Dima and Olga Sukachov’s 1999 Ohio Star Ball showdance rumba was a particularly bold experiment. Though their number still entailed traces of conventional costuming (she wore a very tight, short-skirted black outfit and high heels; he wore a black bodysuit), it was clearly an attempt to revisualize the conventional narrative of the rumba. Using techno music, characterized by a slow, even beat, the couple walked slowly in, in time to the music, their hands at their sides. For the majority of the number, they performed the same steps side by side, with their hands quietly at their sides, quite unlike the typical hyperactivity of the hands characteristic of Latin dancing, with their exaggerated display of curvy feminine lines and straight masculine lines.When they did use their arms, which was well into their number, they used very simple 108 FROM BALLROOM TO DANCESPORT figures: the cucaracha, a side-to-side motion; the alemana, a basic turn; a rope spin; rumba walks which reversed, such that at times it seemed that they took turns leading, with him moving forward in one sequence, only sharply reversed, with her advancing toward him the next.There were no dips or drops or splits, which have come to be part of the standard spectacle , and which tend to perform the masculine/feminine dichotomy of domination/submission. In addition, though the couple’s costuming did entail traditional elements, it is important to note that she was not swathed in the usual extra rhinestones or glitter so vital to demarcating the female in conventional ballroom presentations; instead, her hair, like his, was simply tied back, as if to create an androgynous look. He, as well, did not have the usual chest-revealing top characteristic of most testosterone-inspired male Latin costumes.The fact that both of them wore serious expressions, rather than the typical flirtatious or coy facial expressions for her, and the typical powerful, domineering expressions for him, further enhanced the androgynous look: none of the usual sounds created by Latin dancers as they simulate sex were in evidence. Everything about the routine was clean, quiet, and precise. The quietness of their movements forced the camera, so used to miming the conventional dance’s hyperactive movements and assuming a voyeuristic stance to shoot them predominantly in side-by-side medium or long shots, drawing attention to the unadorned synchronicity of their movements, executed in stark simplicity. Ron Montez, one of the Ohio Star Ball’s hosts, and former Latin champion, exclaimed in surprise that he had never seen the rumba portrayed this way before. Sandy Duncan, the other host, described it as “very new millennium” and declared that she liked it. Montez, the seasoned competitor, carefully remained quiet on whether or not the rumba reinterpretation was pleasing to him. Unfortunately, the Sukachov’s inventiveness was not valued by the judges that year; they ended up sixth—the last place in the finals. Bill Sparks and Kimberly Mitchell, who performed a conventional paso doble, done admittedly with tremendous energy and attitude, won first place, which tells us how entrenched the conventional expectations are. While the Sukachov’s dance experiment could be hailed as a radical break away from particularly traditional characterizations of gender, substituting a more equal androgynous relationship between the two partners, there are dangers that lurk in their interpretation. One...