Posted on 06/29/2009 5:20:58 PM PDT by JoeProBono
"Where the man leads the lady must follow," wails one of the women in the cult classic "Strictly Ballroom." And indeed it might appear that the social dance milieu - where the gender roles of a male leader and a female follower are seemingly built into the structure of the dance - is at odds with modern life in which gender roles are less confined.
But in the world of Argentine tango, a growing community of dancers is looking to break the strictures of traditional gender roles. Queer tango - which has become popular with festivals in Hamburg, Berlin, Stockholm and, of course, Buenos Aires - is not just for gay and lesbian dancers, but rather a more all-encompassing term for tango that embraces ambiguity in the leader-follower system.
This not only allows dancers to take on nontraditional roles, but also gives them license to switch roles back and forth while dancing.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Can’t they leave anything untouched?
Whole thing is just queer.
So tired of dealing with butt pirates. Need a Jefferson to declare war on them.
Excuse my french, but I am just so f - - - in’ tired of hearing about gay men.
I say this as a very hetero female.
Lol! Is that cat wearing a bra??
They must destroy anything by which “normal” can be defined.
I think of the Islamofascists who shot to pieces the ancient and sacred Buddha statues.
That's why I call them homofascists now.
The rapture can’t come soon enough for me (sigh)
Oh, PLEASE! People are only trying to make this a big deal cause the people dancing are actually gay... I do ballroom dancing competitively, and at my level there are a LOT more girls than guys (in my club, it’s something like a 10-3 ratio) so you see girl-girl pairs all the time and NOBODY CARES!
Although the whole switching back and forth thing has to be insane. The taller and stronger person (the male in almost every girl-guy couple) leads for a few reasons: First off, it’s so hard to follow someone who’s smaller than you/lead someone who’s bigger, some of the moves at the more advanced levels require the leader to be able to support much or all of the follower’s weight, and last but not least, dancing while both people are wearing long skirts is tricky at best!
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