Danças de salão numa perspectiva feminista e decolonial: amefricanizar e afrocentralizar o ensino

Abstract

This thesis was developed as part of the Doctoral Program in Dance at the Dance School of the Federal University of Bahia. The research was based on the premise that the historical relationship of the origin of Ballroom Dances with the reproductive influence of a hegemonic, Eurocentric, cis-heteronormative traditional mindset in the teaching of these dances results in the construction of concepts that contribute to the maintenance of socia standards. Considering this aspect, the research aims to analyze some historical, cultural, and social data that highlight the role of Black people in the history of Ballroom Dances. Thus, the goal of the research is to promote a feminist decolonial, Amefricanized, and Afrocentered perspective to offer a different view on the historical process and teaching of Ballroom Dances. The theoretical-methodological framework is based on decolonial feminist studies and authors who address and provide analyses that contribute to understanding the processes of colonization and their consequences in the cultural construction of Afro-Latin America. To gather data, it was necessary to make two trips to countries where Ballroom Dances are representative of national culture: Tango in Argentina and Salsa in Cuba. One of the methodological procedures used was the semi-structured interview, aiming to identify possible similarities or differences between the issues addressed in the research and the context of the interviewed individuals. Actions to promote and spread the decolonial feminist perspective, carried out in the environments where Ballroom Dances take place, were essential for the completion of the investigation. Therefore, this research is characterized as action-research. It is believed that, based on an Amefricanized and Afrocentered feminist concept, it is possible to bring about a change in approach to the teaching of Ballroom Dances. To achieve this, it was necessary to intersect the categories of gender, race, and social class, as it is essential to broaden the perspective and aim to affirm and reconstruct critical thinking, as well as to establish history from a decolonial perspective, whether in the classrooms or dance halls of these dances. As a result, the research not only points out that there is a predominance of dance based on the reproduction of cis-heteronormativity and Eurocentric standards, which we conceptualize in the research as “Cis Ballroom Dances”, but also, based on a decolonial feminist conception, Amefricanized and Afrocentered, the “Escrevidanças de Salão” (Ballroom Writing Dances), a concept rooted in the writing experiences of Conceição Evaristo, emerges, gaining strength as possible practices that challenge these normativities. This promotes more inclusive and diverse horizons for Ballroom Dances."