Dancing Identity: an ethnographic study of the influence of Afro Latin social dances on the gender and sexual identity of dancers in the Netherlands and Guatemala

Abstract

This study shows how the gender and sexual identity of dancers of Afro Latin social dances is influenced by the relational process in which dancers embody their identity while dancing in the Netherlands and Guatemala. First is explained how both Guatemalan and Dutch dancers are aware of the way dance influences their gender identity while dancing and in daily life. Secondly is discussed how dancers experience their bodies while dancing, how they embody their identity, such as their gender and how they experience embodied feelings while dancing. The conclusion is that a dancer’s gender and sexual identity as well as their feelings of self are influenced by an intersubjective process between dancers, while embodying Afro Latin social dances.