Anthropology News • December 2005 20 FIELD NOTES By Jonathan Marion (UC San Diego) Ballroom Culture Frederik’s concern with losing sight of the local within the translocal is an important point, and precisely why I had pointed out that “each new city, each new studio, each new competi- tion involves renegotiating issues of access and belonging.” In trying to localize the social system she is familiar with, however, I think that Frederik overlooks the larger culture that is shared across competitive ballroom venues. I am not suggesting that the local should be ignored but, rather, sim- ply wish to highlight that in limiting one’s perspective to the local, one can neither find nor study the transnational component of ballroom dance. It is not merely by happenstance, for instance, that ballroom dancers from different countries who share no verbal commu- nication can easily partner each other. While there are certainly local variations within ballroom (and there are many), the cultural world of ballroom still remains more consistent than different across these venues. Competitions Are Central Just because competitions are fleeting does not mean that they are not cen- tral. Political elections are rare in the Why “Ballroom” is Bigger than the Studio Floor Jonathan Marion and Janelle Bouey competing in Championship American Rhythm. Photo courtesy of Victor Ha, 2001 COUNTERPOINT ment in dance including competitions in both the American and International dance styles at both collegiate- and NDCA- (National Dance Council of America) sanctioned events. Indeed, it was my own participation at the local level that convinced me of the impor- tance of the translocal to understand- ing the cultural values of ballroom at the local level. Local teachers, after all, look to regional teachers, regional to national, and national to international in developing their ballroom knowl- edge and skills. Ultimately it is world- level coaches and competitors who set the stage, values and models for ball- room dancing for dancers from all localities. Interviews thus become methodologically imperative, as partic- ipant observation alone cannot provide insight into the lived worlds of dancers throughout the ballroom strata. Even when lived locally, the practices of ball- room competitors ultimately function within a translocal field of values and commitments. ■ AN Jonathan Marion, a PhD Candidate at UCSD, is also a co-owner of Dance- Forums.com, the largest and most active English language bulletin board for partner dancing in the world. an American to fit into a communi- ty defined not just by dancing, but also by language, ethnicity and the experience of immigration. We might be able to cha cha together, but not have a friendly and open conversation. Integration happens over time and through a slowly growing sense of familiarity. Furthermore, one does not enter or leave the competition field, as Marion describes; rather, partici- pants themselves become the field: they ebb and flow within marked boundaries. The field is fluid and dynamic, yet its movement can be tracked and predicted. Competitive dancers spend most of their time practicing in the studio. When trav- eling to competitions, the mem- bers’ fields expand regionally, often in concentric circles, growing increasingly outward along with their dancing success, expertise, fame, obsession or with the sizes of their pocketbooks. New competi- tors dance in local competitions to which they can comfortably drive. Eventually they will fly to bigger and more important competitions farther away. Only the ultra-elite travel internationally, usually invit- ed abroad after winning a national title, or when invited to perform at a private event for payment. Competitions are fleeting. They provide titles and prizes won or lost, but are not the main hub of the ballroom dancing culture. Competitions are goals; events that become memories and which pro- vide cultural authority to successful individuals. Competitions are mo- ments of hero-making and heart- break. Competition is where we go, where business relationships are established, where dance partner- ships are created and broken up, where careers are made and from whence they retire. On Participation Marion leads us to believe that his methods of learning about the ball- room dancing community were solely through interview and observation. Yet he even admits that membership in the competi- tive community is ultimately based upon participation and commit- ment. It is also based on invest- ment and sacrifice—from which the visiting researcher is not exempt. To join the ballroom dance community, competitor or not, one must first learn ballroom vocabulary, technique and eti- quette. One must learn about the community’s internal politics (local, regional, national), and its hierarchy: who are the social dancers, who are the stars, who are the favored teachers and coaches, who are the most powerful judges, and which competitions are more important than others in the eyes of the community. One must also find the appropri- ate costume and learn proper com- petition aesthetics. False eyelashes, long nails, theatrical make-up, hair shellacked tightly back, three-inch heels, lots and lots of rhinestones, feathers or fringe are a must for women. Men also wear make-up to a lesser degree, and wear slick, open-collared Lycra shirts and Latin pants or customized tail suits. All of these skills are progressively learned in one’s own local studio, through teachers and through other more advanced and experienced dancers in that same locale. Participation in the competition circuit shows clearly how it is an extension of local studios; it is only through the learning and training that occurs in home studios—how amateurs becomes pros and can remain pros—that the activity dis- played in international competitions can occur. Competition is crucial to a competitive dancer’s identity, but it is not a field in its own right. ■ AN Laurie Aleen Frederik has competed in ballroom dance for 15 years and was the finalist with her partner Toshi Hera in the USA DanceSport National Senior 1 Championship International Latin Final. She is a PhD candidate at the University of Chicago and does research in Cuba. day-to-day political process and the Olympics are rare in day-to-day athletics; far from being tangential, however, elec- tions and the Olympics are central. It is in this same way that the hundreds and thousands of hours put in at the studio are still about what happens in the few minutes on the competition floor. While I certainly do not advocate a top-down only approach, neglecting such pivotal events ignores too much of the institu- tional and cultural salience encompassed within their respective arenas. Intrinsic versus instrumental considerations aside, who wins an election, the Olympics, or a ballroom competition, is an important contextualizing element of the fields within which politics, sports and ball- room, respectively take place. “The” System While Frederick makes an important point in stressing the importance of the Pro-Am system within the US, she overlooks the fact that Pro-Am competition remains pre- dominantly a US phenomenon. There is no Pro-Am, for example, at the two largest ballroom events in the internation- al circuit, Blackpool and the German Open Championships. While national (and even more local) competition circuits certainly matter, there are also larger systems con- comitantly at play. The US Pro-Am circuit exists, after all, within a larger field of ball- room activity and values. What counts as, is taught as, and is judged as good ball- room dance technique within the US can- not be divorced from the larger transna- tional circuit of ballroom dancing; indeed it is inextricable. Methodology Contrary to Frederik’s supposition, my research was inspired by my own involve- Ballroom Dancing Continued from page 19