Week 6 ~ gender & therapeutics of dance

Leading on from lasts week's discussion on carnival, we talked for the first part of this week's lecture about calypso; its rituals of reversal and inversion, and it's use of the body, and its element of catharsis. J. Skinner's own research several years ago having been on Calypso (with a focus on Montserrat), we benefitted today from his insights and experiences of the events - with some fantastic photographic images accompanying the talk.



Of course the aspect of gender features greatly in the Carnivalesgue, however its is used again to emphasise this idea if inversion - thus gender often manifests itself in the cross dressing of men as women. Funnily enough this process of role reversal is not seen in the use of the female body at carnival - femininity, or rather female sexuality, seems to be emphasised as bodies bear all and areas perceived as sexual are accentuated.

I have already discussed the therapeutic role of carnival last week when referring to it as 'safety valve' in society. This is probably the most obvious, and perhaps for some the most significant, form of therapy that can be perceived. This whole idea of allowing that which is not permitted in everyday life enables people to 'let off steam' and revel in their 'unacceptable' behaviour. One can only imagine what it is like to let go of all restraint and have no boundaries - it must to quite a significant extent be therapeutic - to the individual as well as society, as society only functions if the individuals 'function'.

Although, a point worth mentioning here is that Carnival is changing somewhat, as children become more involved and the event itself more publicised - seen as a good attraction for tourism. Will this alter the nature and thus the 'benefits' of the celebration?



Moving on from Carnival to Salsa, we see a whole different sort of therapy and gender portrayal at play. Leslie Gotfrit (1988) talks of "going out dancing in clubs" (set in Canada), and how this is often seen as a scene where roles of stereotypical male machismo and female subordinaeity are a play. However, Gotrfrit, rather than giving into these ideas, argues that dancing at night clubs can also offer the opportunity for "embodied resistance" to these stereotypes [pp122-3]. I found it interesting to hear that when the article was used in class the title Women Dancing Back was taken/interpreted as woman dancing back to a lost self or youth, whereas when I read it I interpreted the title very differently - more along the lines of 'dancing back' as in answering back.

Gotfrit's article does have some interesting points, especially about the "role" of women in these settings, one which they impose upon themselves, as well as those imposed on them by means of 'expected behaviour. Her article is very focused on the personal pleasures we find in dancing, the release, the opportunity to act sensually, etc. This got me thinking, within the club scene Gotfrit is referring to, these personal pleasures would probably not be shared by many - especially men (but that's a whole different story). Although Gotfrit makes some great points I am not entirely convinced by everything she argues, I find her too feministic in approach, and i am not sure how well it reflects women's sense of self today - but then it was written over twenty years ago.

Jonathan Skinners article then applies some of Gotfrit's ideas to the sphere of Salsa dancing in Northern Ireland Although not in agreement with Gotfrit's feminist stance, he does see some of the arguments reflected and expressed in the sentiments of the female salsa dancers he speaks to (for example self-regulation and separation of day self/salsa self).



From my own experiences of dancing I guess I could agree to a certain extent with both articles; Skinner's thought that "the dance floor might be an intersection point between desire and resistance, empowerment and self-regulation..." [2008:7] I find to be extremely succinct.



Then from a discussion on salsa we move to the 'doing' of salsa. This week's session saw us attempting Salsa Rueda - were aiming for something like this;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQszYBK-vR8
However, for the moment we'll make do with just the steps that we know. As you can see from the above the Salsa Rueda is danced in a circle with the followers changing partners on given ques - the partner change is achieved by (for us) either an enchufla or a 'dame' which is a dile gue no. The energy and vitality this dance style created in the group today was amazing, and I can finally say that the leaders definitely found there voice today - they were great ques were clear and most were able to be concise and assertive in their movements. The rueda requires quite a lot of strength and tension between the partners, which showed me that the prior problems I was having with leaders was merely due to lack of strength/tension, but today they all seemed to have it.