Critique of the matrices and consensus in partner dances and/or Brazilian paired popular dances, in-side and/or outside the salons

Abstract

This article critiques the historically and culturally established norms and consensuses in partner dances and/or Brazilian paired popular dances (in their frontierness); matrices that repress/oppress possibilities of existing and dancing in the world. The text explores how partnership practices (in conduction) were/are shaped by patriarchal-capitalist structures (and problematic notions of control) that coercively condition what pairs are and what they can do in their shared intimacy. We therefore question any standardization and categorization that reduces practices/bodies/dances, ignoring the diversity and potential of an instant of encounter (in movement). Thus, the complexity of conducting is presented as a more than human phenomenon and a creative/vital force of composition and space-time; and, as pointed out throughout, of crossings and crossroads, yes, but also potential for experimentation, reinvention and creation of new modes, grammars and dance steps, as we feel in the world.