Well it's been fascinating catching up on this thread, I can't believe I missed it.
I can understand why some men and women would feel uncomfortable dancing with same sex partners. Many people feel that dancing has a sexual element to it (whether rightly or wrongly) and feel embarassed when dancing with the same sex. It makes them uncomfortable, and they should be allowed to opt out of dancing with that person if that is the case. However, these are also probably the people that feel very uncomfortable dancing with people under 16 or who are particularly old. That being said, who knows for what reasons people are against same sex dancing other than just plain old homophobia.
However, we live in fairly liberal times and many people are comfortable dancing with same sex partners, but not always in the same way they would dance with those of the opposite sex. I personally tend to dance with blokes the same way I would dance with a young girl, not so much UCP stuff and no real flirtation to it. I straight but don't mind dancing with blokes. I don't dance with all women the same way, and don't dance the same way with all blokes either.
I've had some great dances with DTS and many other guys. At the Best in the West competition there was a male/male dance couple. The follow was obviously a highly trained dancer in ballet and other styles and looked brilliant (and obviously gay). I spoke to him after the comp and told him I would have to have a dance with him later, much to his great delight. It's always funny when dancing with a bloke just how many people will watch you, whether or not it's an amazing dance, I think it's more just the spectacle people enjoy.
I would also still like to learn how to follow properly, and any one, male of female that feels like helping me learn (maybe at Brean) will have my thanks.
As for newbies seeing men dancing together, I do think it might put off some of your macho men types, but then these are also the ones that generally don't dance for long anyways, so no great loss imho.
And the argument that men dancing with men means women dont get to dance as much is rubbish. If every man there was occupied with another man then fair enough, but it happens so rarely it can hardly be seen to be affecting the dance experience of others. Usually the people that complain the most about not getting enough dances for one reason or another are the ones that are sat down the most looking like they are daring people to come and ask them.
So I look forward to Brean and many other Freestyles where I will get to dance with men and women alike!
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