Queering DanceSport

Queering DanceSport is a website and social media campaign aiming to open a conversation about gender and sexuality in the Latin DanceSport world. The project, created by Val Meneau (they/sie/elle) and Giulia Settomini (she/her), blends research and art to explore practical ways to "queer" Latin DanceSport. DanceSport, as it exists today, is heavily influenced by the heteronormative gender binary. Gender expectations influence all aspects of the dance, be that the competition rules, judging criteria, costumes, and even the steps and partnering dynamics. As a result, the Latin DanceSport scene often excludes queer individuals and objectifies women, leading to discrimination and potential abuse. In addition, the heteronormative beauty standards imposed by the scene make people with non-conforming bodies feel unwelcome, contributing to the spread of eating disorders and mental health issues. Queering DanceSport seeks to challenge these norms. Drawing inspiration from Foucault`s theory of productive power, and Butler`s concept of gender performativity and its subversive potential, the project aims to reimagine DanceSport by destabilizing the rigid gender roles embedded in its practice. This involves exploring new ways to perform dance movements and breaking down the strict binary structure that currently governs the scene. The website presents different "chapters" that address various aspects of the heteronormative gender binary in DanceSport. The chapters are supported by photos and videos that demonstrate alternative dance practices and illustrate how to queer the dance. This project is grounded in years of academic and artistic research, combining the expertise of Val Meneau, a researcher and queer dancer, and Giulia Settomini, a professional choreographer and researcher. The main goal of this digital publication is to make the research accessible to a broad audience, including the DanceSport community. Unlike traditional academic publications, this publication uses platforms dancers are familiar with, making it more likely to raise awareness. Furthermore, since dance is a physical and visual art form, the inclusion of visual media is crucial for understanding the proposed changes. Finally, in the DanceSport world, efforts to deconstruct the gender binary are often private and unstructured, making queer dance practices largely invisible. The Queering DanceSport project aims to fill this gap by systematizing and showcasing these practices. The overall mission is not only to critique existing power structures, but to imagine and create new possibilities for the future of DanceSport. By queering the dance, the project seeks to expose and dismantle the mechanisms of power that uphold the gender binary, while opening up space for more inclusive, creative expressions of movement.