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Rebellious Wallflowers and Queer Tangueras : The Rise of Female Leaders in Buenos Aires’ Tango Scene

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This paper interrogates the history of same-sex dancing among women in Buenos Aires' tango scene, focusing on its increasing visibility since 2005. Two overlapping communities of women are invoked. Queer tangueras are queer-identified female tango dancers and their allies who dance tango in a way that attempts to de-link tango's two roles from gender. Rebellious wallflowers are women who practice, teach, perform, and dance with other women in predominantly straight environments. It is argued that the growing acceptance of same-sex dancing in Argentina is due to the confluence of four developments: 1) the rise of tango commerce, 2) innovations of tango nuevo, 3) changing laws and social norms around lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights, and 4) synergy between queer tango dancers and heterosexual women who are frustrated by the limits of tango's gender matrix. The author advocates for increased alliances between rebellious wallflowers and queer tangueras, who are often segregated from each other in Buenos Aires' commercial tango industry.

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... Despite some attempts to delink gender from the roles of leader and follower, the vast majority of social dance partnerships maintain a gendered division of labor in which men initiate movement and women are taught to "follow." This system reinforces a troubling cultural norm where women are taught to subvert their own needs in service of others (McMains 2015b(McMains , 2018. In my classes, I do not use the word "follow" for the role historically danced by women as I believe it encourages women to internalize a passive identity. ...
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Bu çalışma, bedensel engelli bireylerin sosyal tango deneyimlerini ve bu deneyimlerin etkilerini değerlendirmeyi amaçlamaktadır. Sosyal tango, dünya çapında yaygın olarak yapılan ve doğaçlama hareketlerle gerçekleştirilen bir eşli danstır. Araştırma, bedensel engelli bireylerin sosyal tango etkinliklerinden nasıl etkilendiğini ve bu etkinliklerden nasıl yararlandığını incelemektedir. Çalışma, sosyal tango öğreniminin engelli bireyler üzerindeki kişisel ve duygusal etkilerini detaylı bir şekilde değerlendirmeye odaklanmaktadır. Bulgular, bedensel engelli bireylerin dans etkinliklerine katılımının sosyal, duygusal ve fiziksel sağlıklarında genellikle olumlu değişikliklere vesile olduğunu göstermektedir. Araştırma, nicel ve nitel veri toplama yöntemlerinin kombinasyonu ile kapsamlı bir araştırma süreciyle yürütülmüştür. Nicel veriler, sayılar ve istatistiklerle ilgili bilgileri sağlarken; nitel veriler, deneyimler, düşünceler ve hisler gibi ölçülemeyen bilgileri sunar. Veri toplama aşamasında video kayıtları, anketler ve değerlendirme ölçekleri kullanılmıştır. Video kayıtları, katılımcıların dans performanslarını gözlemlemek ve değerlendirmek amacıyla kullanılmıştır. Anketler, katılımcıların demografik bilgileri ve dans deneyimlerine dair görüşlerini toplarken; değerlendirme ölçekleri, katılımcıların kendilerini ve deneyimlerini nasıl algıladıklarını ölçmüştür. Rosenberg Benlik Saygısı Ölçeği ile yapılan ölçümlerde, eleştiriye duyarlık ve depresif duygulanım alt başlıklarında istatistiksel olarak anlamlı düşüşler tespit edilmiştir. SF-36 Yaşam Kalitesi Ölçeği sonuçlarına göre ise sosyal işlevsellik dışında istatistiksel olarak anlamlı bir değişiklik bulunmamaktadır. Çalışma, engelli bireylerin dansa ve sanata bakış açılarında, uyarlanmış eğitim programları ve ulaşılabilirlik şartları geliştirilirse dansın, sosyal engellerin aşılmasında destekleyici bir araç olabileceğini ortaya koymaktadır. Araştırma, sosyal dans ve engellilik konularının kesiştiği noktada önemli bir bilgi boşluğunu doldurmayı hedeflemektedir. Mevcut literatür, bu alanda çok az sayıda araştırma olduğunu göstermektedir. Çalışma, bu bilgi eksikliğini gidermeyi ve engelli bireylerin sosyal tango deneyimlerine dair daha fazla bilgi sağlamayı amaçlamaktadır. Hazırlanan uyarlanmış eğitim programı, engelli bireylerin dansa katılımını teşvik etmek ve dansın olası faydalarını en iyi şekilde sağlamak için kullanılabilir.
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