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

Abstract

This article explores the nature of gendered and embodied interaction in American-style ballroom dance. Issues of femininity/masculinity, being subject-objects of the aesthetic gaze, and freedom and constraint are paramount to the exploration of what it means to do ballroom as both a competitive event and an art form. One of the aims of this piece is to use frame grabs from a dance video, as well as a streamed online version, to highlight the experience and expression of virtual emotions in ballroom (American-style) smooth and rhythm dances.