When Men Dance: Choreographing Masculinities Across Borders

433 Pages·2009·4.67 MB·English

by  Jennifer Fisher

WHEN MEN DANCE
JohnPenningtoninCuirass(2001).PhotographbyChrisCampolongo.Used
withpermission.
WHEN MEN DANCE
CHOREOGRAPHING MASCULINITIES ACROSS BORDERS
edited by
Jennifer Fisher
Anthony Shay
1
2009
3
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Copyright©2009byJenniferFisherandAnthonyShay
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Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Whenmendance:choreographingmasculinitiesacrossborders/editedby
JenniferFisherandAnthonyShay.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-0-19-538669-1;978-0-19-538670-7(pbk.)
1. Maledancers. 2. Maledancers—History. 3. Maledancers—Socialconditions.
4. Masculinity. 5. Genderidentityindance. 6. Dance—Sociologicalaspects.
7. Dance—Anthropologicalaspects.
I. Fisher,Jennifer,1949– II. Shay,Anthony,1936–
GV1588.6.W52009
792.8081—dc22 2008050034
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
onacid-freepaper
To my father, Dale, and brother, Ron, whose dancing was
undoubtedlycurtailed, and who supported mine anyway
jennifer fisher
To mydear friend Patrice Marandel, for all his support
anthony shay
This page intentionally left blank
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First and foremost, our thanks go to the men who dance, and then to the
womenwho have taken a relative backseat when a topic like this becomes the
focus.And,forthatmatter,toeveryonewhofindsconstrictioninthelabelsthat
inevitably arise while the topic is being explored. In some way, the idea that
“masculinity,”initsmanyincarnations,canbedefinedandlabeledassuchisa
condition of this volume, yet potentially its limitation, too. We thank our
contributorsandourreadersforbearingwithusonourjourneytoilluminating
some of the many ways concepts of masculinity have existed in general and
specific cases. Given that many of these concepts of masculinity have haunted
ourcontributorsofthe“personalhistories”thatenlivenandgroundthisbook,
wethankthemespeciallyforsharingaspectsoftheirstorieswithus.Theywerea
great gift. To the countless friends, acquaintances, and colleagues who shared
evenmoreanecdotesand experiences that involvedthe many facets ofmascu-
linityanddance,weapologizefornotbeingabletofolloweveryintriguinglead
and include them all. We trust that many of their themes are found in our
selectionsandthattherearemanymorerevelatorystoriestocome.
OurthanksgoaswelltotheCongressonResearchinDance,whichgaveus
the opportunity to present at an annual meeting the panel on dance and
masculinity (with Fisher, Krishnan, and Shay) that eventually evolved into
this volume. We are most grateful to all our essay writers, who often worked
throughrevisionsthatenhancedtheiralreadycogentscholarshipandprovided
us with timely responses that made our job easier. Their sometimes detailed
help with illustrationwas also appreciated, especially in the case of Jill Nunes
Jensen,whoseenthusiasmandefficiencyaidedtheprojecteverystepoftheway.
To the following, we also owe a debt of gratitude for providing photographs:
British Library Board, Chris Campolongo, Aaron Cota, Timothy Fielding,
Andrea Flores, El Gabriel, Stephanie Garcia, Joe Goode Performance Group,
LoisGreenfield,StephenJohnson,LeslieKlein,SharonKung,DonaldMcKayle,
BrianMengini,RichardMerrill,ArtemisMourat,RyuichiOshimoto,BillPack,
FrankPeters,ThomasRodrigues,C.P.Satyajit,BeatrizSchiller,StephenSchrei-
ber, Marty Sohl/Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet, Davesh Soneji, David Street,
viii Acknowledgments
RichardTermine,CatherineTurocy,SharonVanderlindeattheNationalBallet
of Canada Archives, Cylla von Tiedemann, Bobby Ysias, the Ibrahim Farrah
Archives,andNortonOwenattheJacob’sPillowDanceFestival.
Jennifer Fisher thanks in particular her colleagues at the University of
California, Irvine, for their constant support and suggestions; her intelligent
dance major students and MFAcandidates, who are always full of insight and
opinion; her colleagues Thomas DeFrantz and Naomi Jackson for helpful
scholarlyandstructuraladvice;andherfamilyandfriendsforgeneralsupport,
inparticularLennaDeMarco,whosejourneyindancehashappilyintertwined
with hers ever since they were snowflakes who neverquestioned why the guys
weren’tsnowflakes,too,backintheLouisvilleBalletNutcrackerland.Fisheralso
thanks Tony Shay for his longtime friendship, patience, and ever-optimistic
soldiering on when it came to collaboration. In relation to the men she has
dancedwith,actedwith,arguedwith,andwrittenabout,whooftenseemedcast
inanotherworld,shestandsinaweoftheirmaverickstrain.
At Oxford University Press, we are grateful for the copyediting expertise of
SusanEcklund.AndweofferthanksofthehighestmagnitudetoOxfordeditor
NormanHirschyfortheintelligentandgraciousshepherdingofthismanuscript
into bookhood. His keen interest, patience, enthusiasm, and belief in the
project’spotential,fieldingallquestionsandofferingastuteadviceonalllevels,
strengthenedthebookandmadetheprocessapleasure.
CONTENTS
Introduction 3
PARTI ISSUESINTHEPINKANDBLUEWEST
1 MaverickMeninBallet:Rethinkingthe“MakingItMacho”
Strategy 31
JenniferFisher
AaronCota 49
KristopherWojtera 53
2 WhatWeKnowaboutBoysWhoDance:TheLimitations
ofContemporaryMasculinityandDanceEducation 57
DougRisner
DavidAllanandMichelGervais 78
3 IsDanceaMan’sSportToo?ThePerformanceof
Athletic-CodedMasculinityontheConcertDanceStage 91
MauraKeefe
FredStrickler 107
RennieHarris 113
4 TranscendingGenderinBallet’sLINES 118
JillNunesJensen
ChristianBurns 146
5 ThePerformanceofUnmarkedMasculinity 150
RamsayBurt
DonaldMcKayle 168
JohnPennington 173