the cosmopolitan partner dancer

Cosmopolitan Latin partner dance is not exclusively a space of or for Latinos. Of course, many New Yorkers of Latino heritage might default to or prefer Latin partner dance over other styles. But many of the stakeholders in cosmopolitan Latin partner dance in New York City are not Latino or Hispanic, and nobody thinks twice if they see an instructor, dancer, manager, etc., who is Eastern European, Asian, African American or of any non-Latino-appearing race or ethnicity.

While individual members of the Latin partner dance community mirror NYC’s cultural, racial, and ethnic diversity, I also believe that cosmopolitan partner dance carries values and behaviours of its own, which dancers—whether Latino or not—adapt to or adopt. Here are some of the cosmpolitan partner dancer’s characteristics:

DANCE FOR DANCE’S SAKE

Dancers are primarily there to dance, not to date, not to have long conversations, not to drink.*

ARTISTIC

Dancers are interested and find pleasure in developing their dance skills from a technical perspective.

AMATEUR

Dancers are not there to make money. In fact, those who get bitten by the partner dance bug will often spend not insignificant amounts of money and time developing their skills. This might mean going to classes or events two or more nights a week, auditioning and paying joining fees for amateur performance teams, traveling to other cities or countries to attend large-scale multi-day events and purchasing clothing designed for dance such dance shoes.

While some arrive with friends, the context and structure of a dance class or dance event is not great for building friendships or going on a date. For this reason, many dancers arrive and leave alone.

NORMATIVE

In Latin partner dance, most dancers align with normative chatacteristics such as: being heterosexual, cis-gendered, traditionally feminine or masculine in appearance, and monogamous.

Everything from brand new to partner dance, to advanced professional.

Dancers can include men, women and gender nonbinary people.