Fieldwork Diary Entry (March 27, 2014)

I attended a local Zumba class tonight. It is the only dancing I have done since I embarked on this dissertation fieldwork.  Although it isn't strictly relevant to my topic, I feel compelled to write about. Just to write about dancing that I have done, rather than read about.

This class is popular at my gym because of the instructor. He is male, seemingly in his early thirties. The way he dances indicates some kind of dance training, probably jazz, Latin and some musical theatre. I always enjoy myself at his classes because he is a great instructor. He is a great instructor because he can really dance.  By really dance, I mean that when he executes the Zumba choreography, he does so with great rhythm, musicality  and enjoyment. Most importantly, when he moves, it makes me want to move.

Which to me, is one of the signs of a great dancer.

It reminds me of the idea of kinaesthetic watching that was raised in the BBC 2 Radio World Service interview on The Why Factor. One of the interviewees discussed her research into kinaesthetic watching, meaning that some audiences during and after watching dance shows felt like dancing themselves. I think most trained dancers have experienced this sensation in their bodies when watching dance. The involuntary muscle twitching that happens when you watch a dance performance.   

As I danced through the Zumba class, it occurred to me how one creates ones own social dance space. At the beginning of the class, I was crammed into the far corner with hardly any room to move. A couple of songs in and I had loads of space around me, enough to swing the veritable cat. This was deliberate on my behalf. I created this space by being quite aggressive and encroaching upon others space during the movement so they backed off, leaving a wide perimeter of space around me.

Although deliberate in this case, this jostling for space is something that occurs constantly on a social dance floor. The on-going attempt to create just the right amount of space for oneself to dance in. The type and amount of space is different for everyone but I think most people have a sense of what they feel is right for them, given the context.

Thinking along these lines further, I will be curious to see if men on the dance floor give way to space creation the same way that women do. As there are no men in my class (apart from the teacher), I cannot test my theory. However in my personal experience of being on public transport, public swimming pools, movie cinemas and airplanes, I think men (generally) are raised to be space eaters whilst women are raised to give up space.