OCAD University Open Research Repository

Gender in Motion: Exceeding Heteronormative Codes in Salsa Dancing

Domeikyte, Evelina (2020) Gender in Motion: Exceeding Heteronormative Codes in Salsa Dancing. [MRP]

Item Type: MRP
Creators: Domeikyte, Evelina
Abstract:

By conducting an analysis of salsa’s stereotypical configurations of femininity and masculinity through my own embodied experience as a dancer, this MRP (major research paper) considers how bodies in salsa are visually and discursively constructed as gendered and how through improvised compositions dancers exceed this heteronormative framework. My analysis focuses on the relationality of salsa dancers in local club settings in Toronto to explore how gestures and touch can exceed the gendered binary constructions of “leads” and “follows” to bring forth an alternative understanding of identity that is always in the process of becoming. Informed by the work of Judith Butler, Erin Manning, Carrie Noland, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, my analysis adopts a performative and post-structuralist lens to argue that a salsa dancer’s improvised movements can create an individuating body that approaches a Body without Organs.

Date: 2020
Uncontrolled Keywords: Dance, Salsa, Gender, Touch, Gesture, Individuation, Body without Organs
Divisions: Graduate Studies > Contemporary Art, Design and New Media Art Histories
Date Deposited: 12 May 2020 15:44
Last Modified: 20 Dec 2021 21:15
URI: https://openresearch.ocadu.ca/id/eprint/3025

Actions (login required)

Edit View Edit View