As any woman who has walked the streets of Havana and been catcalled can tell you, one of the most pervasive aspects of Cuban culture and society is its machismo. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines machismo as “a strong sense of masculine pride.” But in my opinion this definition does not do justice to the term, for machismo implies much more. The Spanish Royal Academy (Real Academia Española) defines machismo in a way that is more nuanced and truly reflects the hierarchies of power inherent in the term: forma de sexismo caracterizada por la prevalencia del varón (“form of sexism characterized by the prevalence of the male”).
Dances do not emerge from a vacuum, but rather are cultural and societal products. And like many aspects of Cuban society and culture, the dance of casino has certainly not escaped the effects of machismo. Intentionally or not, many Cubans who promote and teach this dance, having grown up in Cuba, pass down certain tendencies, beliefs, and idiosyncrasies to their students. Sadly, some of these have their roots in machismo.
What I seek to do with this post is scrutinize more closely some of these strongly held beliefs and the practices that many Cuban instructors and dancers have about the role of males and females in the dance of casino, for in many ways they reflect the machismo of the culture in which they grew up. By doing so, I want to bring awareness to some of the practices and beliefs that we may take for granted as “part” of casino, and which are actively contributing to an environment of sexism and toxic masculinity that are driving people away and excluding many others.
In the wake of the #metoo movement and all the awareness it is raising about sexism in our societies, I believe this is not only a timely post, but also a much-needed one, as serious conversations about topics like these can often be offset by the “fun” nature of dancing.
Here are some of the pernicious effects/beliefs that a culture of machismo has had in the Cuban dance of casino. The list is by no means extensive. Feel free to comment below with other instances of machismo-driven beliefs/practices that you have heard other Cubans express/perform/pass on as they pertain to the dance of casino.
The woman as embellishment
It is the (strong) belief of some male—typically Cuban—casino dancers that the predominant figure in casino should be the man. That is, they believe that when you watch a couple dancing casino, the man is what onlookers’ eyes should be drawn to. They—the men—are the ones doing all the turn patterns, the crazy footwork, and the tricks. The women, on the other hand, are there only as embellishments whose sole purpose is to make the man look good and let him “do his thing.”
Let’s examine some examples of the predominance of the male figure in casino.
Notice in this video how Roynet—the male dancer—shines a lot more than his partner:
This is Carlos Sánchez, a Cuban instructor. I know for a fact that he believes this woman-as-embellishment-only mentality, as he has expressed this on social media:
This guy looks likes he is dancing by himself, not to mention how he (mis)treats his dance partner:
This video is my favorite: the woman steps out of the frame, and the man starts doing a solo because, you know, a man’s gotta shine:
Now, some of you, after watching this last video, may argue, “But he was doing rumba columbia! Columbia is supposed to be done by males only.”
**Cough, cough.**
My point.
Rumba columbia is a product of this pernicious Cuban machismo: a dance which premise is to deny women access to perform it. And while there are women nowadays defying this and dancing rumba columbia, notwithstanding its “rules,” that is not the norm.
In conjunction, these videos also show another strongly held belief among some male casino dancers: not only are women there to adorn the male dancing, but they are there to keep the beat while the men shine. Indeed, if a man’s going to shine and do all that fancy footwork, a man’s bound to lose the count of the steps. It is the woman’s job, then, to let the man shine, yes, but to also make sure that when he’s done showing off, he returns to the beat. Notice how in the following video the man is turning and shining, and he loses the count. The woman, on the other hand, has been doing her steps steadily. So, to return to the dancing, the man looks down at her footwork and uses it to get back into dancing with her:
So, in short: women in casino: let them man do his thing until he decides to return to you. And when he does, you have to be there, having kept the beat the entire time and waited for him to be done. (I’m not making this up. I’ve heard the whole woman-keeps-the-beat-while-man-shines viewpoint from a number of Cuban instructors/dancers.)
This, of course, sounds like the recipe for a disastrous relationship. And it is no surprise that many women stop dancing casino because of all this perceived female passivity. I have personally talked to many Cuban (and non-Cuban) women who, having started with casino, switched to salsa and now prefer to dance NY or LA style salsa because they enjoy the freedom of expression that these dances allow them.
* * *
This kind of “male-first” mentality can be further glimpsed in some of the metaphors used by some instructors—I’m guilty of using some of these myself—when explaining the basic dynamics of the dance to beginners. Here are some examples:
- The man is the Earth, and the woman is the Moon.
- The man is the Sun, and the woman is the Earth.
- The man is the center, and the woman is the periphery, walking around the man.
All of these metaphors have one thing in common: everything revolves around the man.
And what better example of this than the renowned tornillo? Isn’t a tornillo performed when a woman walks around the man, turning him as he progressively lowers himself to the floor until he’s parallel to it, thus mimicking how a screw is screwed? Let’s watch an example:
And yes, women can do tornillos. (If you rewind the video above a little, you will see the man doing a tornillo to the woman.) But while tornillos are not exclusively for men, female tornillos are not as organic. What I mean is that you cannot lead a tornillo for a woman. There’s no turn that a man can do which signals the woman that she’s about to do a tornillo. Indeed, women who have done tornillos socially know that a tornillo comes more as a surprise than anything else.
* * *
Although it is not too common, in the Cuban dance community you may see, every now and then, a man dancing with more than one woman. Here are some examples of this:
With two women
With three women:
Dancing with two or more women is considered a feat of prowess for men. Indeed, the men get all the credit and show that they are synchronized enough to be able to handle not one, but two—and in some cases three—women at the same time. It’s the machista’s wet dream. Never mind that the women themselves have to show creativity and flexibility to not run into each other while they dance, and a great deal of improvisation. The man gets all the credit while the women are just there to help him shine; they are embellishments.
Even in the rare occasions when two men are dancing with a woman, the credit typically goes to the two men for being synchronized enough to pull it off:
The “Unmanly” Man
Machismo affects not only women. Indeed, its effects also extend to any man who falls outside of the strict social and behavioral norms and practices of what constitutes masculinity in the island—a construct deeply ingrained in the construction of the Revolution. In an interview in 1965, Fidel Castro, then Cuba’s leader stated that, “We would never come to believe that a homosexual could embody the conditions and requirements of conduct that would enable us to consider him a true revolutionary, a true communist militant.” From 1965 to 1968, the Cuban government sent homosexuals, among other people it considered insidious to the cause of the Revolution, to work camps known as Military Units to Aid Production (UMAP). Gay men were sent to these facilities for conversion, for punishment, and as a kind of deterrence.
With this dogma that barred gays—and more noticeably homosexual men—from Cuban society, it is no wonder that some of it seeped into the dance of casino, which is only two or three years older than the Cuban Revolution. Indeed, the sight of two men dancing together—as a couple, not doing synchronized shines individually—in the Cuban dance scene is very rare. And in a performance? I’ve yet to see it. (If you find a video, please send it to me).
The Cuban Revolution’s dogma of the strong, virile male revolutionary, or the “New Man,” as it was called, left no room for anything else. In dancing, this translated to what you have already seen: a man-centered dance. Needless to say, this man at the center could not look effeminate, unmanly. And if he did, he was shunned by others, criticized, called amanerado (effeminate). On the other hand, two women dancing together are fine. Two women dancing do not damage patriarchy. Two men dancing together and exhibiting “effeminate” traits constitute a threat to a society built on the premise that males are superior to females.
Homophobia makes it really hard for heterosexual men to be close to each other as men and also makes it harder to be vulnerable. Any characteristics that society deem “gay”, like love, gentleness, compassion, sharing with others instead of competing with others etc., makes it hard for guys to be their full selves. Therefore some men get caught up in the machista persona thinking that this is real manhood.
This belief is alive and well today. I have lost count of the times I’ve seen Cuban men—and sometimes women—criticize other males because they look too “feminine” when they dance casino, and use this argument to discredit their dancing altogether.
But don’t take my word for it. Can you remember the last time you saw two men dancing together in a Cuban dance social/event? When I go to non-Cuban dance socials, I see it all the time. But I can count with my the fingers of one hand the times where I have seen it in the Cuban dance community—and I’m including there the times where I danced with other men.
Let’s admit it: the Cuban dance community (not the people, but the cultural and societal practices on which it is built) is not a very welcoming place for LGTBQ people, especially gay men.
Concluding thoughts
Casino is, sadly, historically and culturally embedded in sexist and machista practices and beliefs from Cuba. This doesn’t mean that casino is a machista dance. What this article seeks to highlights are certain perniciou beliefs and practices perpetuated by some people are teaching this dance. It has also tried to contextualize the effects that a top-down ideology that sought hypermasculinity in order to carve the path forward to a new, better society (what a failed experiment that was!) may have had on the dance.
By examining these practices and beliefs more closely and understanding why they exist (and I’m not saying that the why’s I provided are definitive), we can take steps toward creating a more inclusive, welcoming, and gender-equal Cuban dance community.
Certain aspects of the dance of casino can be sexist and homophobic, yes. This does not mean that casino is sexist and homophobic. These beliefs and practices come from people. We, the people, have the power to change them, or to keep perpetuating them.
Son y Casino 
I would like to add the mistreatment of female dancers in casino to this list as well. I have been pushed into turns, roughly turned before the count and pretty much grabbed into an adiós. No concern about my safety and much less enjoynment. It was so bad on one occassion that I stopped dancing in the middle of a song, said to the man “you are very rough and I will trip and fall”, turned around and walked off the dance floor.
I have also heard criticisims from these same men about how I have to “keep up”. I mean…wth?!?????
There are, of course amazing male dancers out there that recognize casino is a partnered dance with a whole other person working to follow spontaneous moves conjured up and combined in a split second. These are the dancers I seek- those than dance in partnership with me.
One thing to consider in the above videos referenced is the consistent lack of connection with the female partner. I’ve attended many non-Casino salsa events and have led many LA-style follows in Casino. Despite the differences in styles, I feel I’ve been pretty successful in dancing Casino style with non-Casino dancers because of making the effort to connect with my partner.
Can you do a blog on establishing a better connection with your partner (in both directions), if you haven’t already?
Hi, Rob. Yes, the lack of connection is symptomatic of the “male-first” practice in some casino dancers. When the males think it’s all about them, and they are the ones that need to shine, well, there goes your connection.
Better connection with partner was the next post I was going to write about. So stay tuned. Thanks for reading!
In a communist society, a man cannot attract a women with financial security. He cannot take the role of bread winner/provider. That is the job of the state. But a man can attract a woman with his machismo, sexuality, good looks, etc. In a communist society, men are going to focus on these traits in order to attract women. Dance is a part of the overall culture. The way people express themselves in dance is going to be influenced by the dominant cultural norms.
Yes, exactly what I am saying: dance is a reflection of the culture from which it stems. However, OUTSIDE of Cuba, especially in non-communist countries, this macho-drive approach to dancing casino shouldn’t be the case (not that this makes it okay in Cuba to begin with).
Look, your article is well argumented and although I have some reservations, it is undeniable that there is truth in it. However, for everything bad that communism has done in Cuba, sexism did not began with the Cuban revolution. In fact, the opposite is true, although all Cubans lost power, relative to men, women in Cuba gained power with it. There is no need to look for an explanation (communism) for the sexism in the society and the dance other than the fact that we are a Latin country with a strong Spanish and African heritage.
With respect to your article, many of the things you say ring true. However, I do notice many of the examples you put show older people, some of these people may have been dancing for 40 years or something. I don’t think that younger crowd, like me, that may go to the Casa del Arabe in Havana, really dance like this. In particular, I would say it is very rare to nonexistent to leave your partner for over a minute to shine and if you do step out briefly to shine a bit, it is welcomed if your partner shines as well.
The dance is asymmetric, and I think it is likely that there is no escape to this. It seems unavoidable that there is a leader and a follower (you can think of things like switching roles, and so on but at any give time, it is necessary that someone leads to provide the illusion of synchrony). As an asymmetric dance, most of the responsibility to make it beautiful, fluid and coherent lies on the leader so it seems likely that the leader (whether man or woman) will keep getting more than half of the praise. With that said, yeah, the blatant sexism has to go, and in my opinion, it is indeed receding in the way the dance is practiced inside Cuba, which after all is the mothership of all this.
By the way, Fidel Castro’s speech in 1965 about homosexuality is a bit out of context for Cuban society today, don’t you think? It’s kind of like quoting what politicians would say about race in the 60s in the United States. It may help to understand the history, but things are in a different place now? There is a vibrant gay/queer scene in big cities, particularly Havana and Santa Clara. There are gay bars. And there certainly are gays or lesbians dancing casino with each other. That is not to say Havana is now Berlin, obviously, but asking a poor city in the Caribbean to become a leader in LGBT rights may be unrealistic. However, from my, many gay friends in Cuba, my understanding is that it’s not like they feel powerless.
Hi Daniel,
I agree with you that sexism didn’t begin with the Cuban revolution. Sexism has been part of our societies for a long, long time. However, when I mentioned the Revolution, it wasn’t in relation to sexism but rather homophobia. And yes, while homophobia existed way before–and still does–the Revolution did discriminate homosexuals actively. I mean, look at “Fresa y Chocolate.” One of the lead characters is the personification of the Revolution.
I also agree that many of the examples are showed are of older people. The older generation has a tendency to think this way (the newer one doesn’t care much for casino anyway, with all the reguetón that they dance). The thing to remember here is that I am talking about the mentality of CERTAIN people. “What I seek to do with this post is scrutinize more closely some of these strongly held beliefs and the practices that many Cuban instructors and dancers have about the role of males and females in the dance of casino.” If most the people who think this way happen to be a bit older, so be it.
I also agree that dance is asymmetric, but the examples highlighted something else: the lack of connection between the dancers. You can clearly see that some of the men in this video don’t think much about their partners, only about how THEY shine. That’s a machista attitude, which is what I was trying to point out.
Also, the comment from Fidel was to contextualize. Yes, it’s an old comment, but it had an effect throughout the society, and we still feel it today. Just because slavery has been abolished it doesn’t mean that we don’t have to deal with the remnants of it. On the other hand, I’m not asking Cuba to become a beacon of LGBTQ rights. I’m asking the Cuban dance community (mostly OUTSIDE of Cuba because that’s who reads this blog), to be more conscious about some of these homophobic beliefs so that we may become more inclusive. Thanks for reading and your comments!
Thank you for bringing this subject up. Although there are some problems with exporting casino dance to other cultures, one of the aspects I like about dancing casino in my community ( in Albuquerque, New Mexico with a diverse group) is that men and women can switch traditional roles and in general other people are fine with that. Also, the more serious dancers in my community try to learn both lead and follow roles.
Interesting subject I must say. I started dancing casino end 90’s, nowadays I hardly dance any more casino, my wife is colombian (and not so “salsa” minded) so I had to switch to a more colombian salsa style (which in my sense more adecuate dancing style to old(er) salsa music).
In those times when I started casino the teacher(s) told us that the man in the dance is “the centre of the universe” ; he meanted that men have to know the turns, mark the ritme, interpret the music, look for the safety of the woman that is dancing with him, follow and adapt himself to the abilities of the woman (the man is in fact a “follower”). Women can quickly be a good dancer meanwhile men have a harder time to learn all those abilities. About dancing with other men I did it once because I wanted to learn a turn; I don’t it is well perceived two men dancing together, while two women no problem. This I wouldn’t call it “machismo” at the countrary to me it is pure “feminismo”, men in dance and life are sometimes depending of the “goodwill” of women while they try the best they can.
Robert Rice, YOU are spot on! Remember that it’s not simply “machismo” as it lives in the entire Latino/Hispanic world, not to mention probably most of Eastern Europe and certainly Arabic countries. Cuba’s people, as Robert has explained, have developed ways to express profound pride in themselves individually as well collectively, as a strategy for cultural survival. There’s a lot more to the dynamic of the sexes in traditional dance, than what outsiders see as “sexist” or unfair treatment. Cuban dance is a direct expression of the “unique” culture of Cuba, as it evolved through communism as well as striving to maintain its African roots. Certainly the influence of the highly sensual Rumba, Guaguanco, and other Afro-Cuban dances is evident in Casino today; however, the original form and purpose of the rueda de casino was to have a family style dance in the home. As popularity of the rueda spread into all neighborhoods and towns of Cuba, it developed again, as something to show off talent in creating new turns/vueltas. And the machista is always in competition while displaying his talents. I call it the “pavo real” or male Peacock! Every male is not machista and every dance is not sensual, but the unique characteristics of casino is “pura cubana.”
I do understand that the dance culture of Portland or even the US entirely, may want to “evolve” casino in a different direction than traditional Cuban style. I’m thankful to have Cubans as teachers in the US, as well as in other countries I’ve live in, and teachers who go to Cuba to learn their traditions. Rob Hilario has an excellent point: that no matter what dance you are teaching, please include that dancing is a connection between two people, and in that way, we are adaptable to others’ levels and styles. With great reverence, I admire what Cubans share with us, and have contributed to our culture. Dance is dance. A GOZAR!
Here’s a classic “Pavo Real” the peacock impressing the female, putting on a show for HER
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq9QskjFn8E
As a follower (who learned casino dancing in America and never visited Cuba) I have definitely observed that Casino is quite male-centric. So your article helps to put a lot of observations in perspective.
I was hoping to understand your perspective on how “we can take steps toward creating a more inclusive, welcoming, and gender-equal Cuban dance community”. I am hoping the answer is not that more women start learning to lead, because that would just mean emulating the Machismo of a male dancer.
I was precisely interested in this point and commented extensively on the Spanish language version of this post.
The first point to be made has already been made by Daybert and most commenters:
connection and empathetical feedback back and forth is crucial. Leading should mean listening to the follower and making the dance as appealing, suitable and enjoyable for the follower as possible, rather than having the follower as an excuse for shining or trying out dance patterns, trajectories and tricks in an irreductibly individualistic and egocentric way, regardless of the actual reality, reactions and wishes of the follower.
But I would wish to go beyond that and into some more specific detail and extend the debate to encompass very specific aspects of the structure of Casino. For that purpose I would suggest the notion of ROLE FLUIDITY and two possible meanings/implementations that I think would work best if complementary/alternating possibilities for addressing heteropatriarcal homophobic male-centredness in Casino. Indeed, I think role fluidity can play a part in rethinking and restructuring Casino to become a dance suitable for modern cosmopolitan social agents with strong egalitarian ideas and a healthy scepticism or even downright rejection of social gender constructs.
By role fluidity two things can be meant.
The first is a relaxation/blurring of the code at the level of connection and information transmission. by this I am thinking about the development of steps that can be suggested bodily and/or verbally by the follower, or directly led by them.
Concrete example 1: for the follower to decide to do an “exhíbe” and “rodeo” when it suits them rather than when the leader wants and proposes for that to happen.
Concrete example 2: when walking in side-to-side position, for the follower to suggest and lead a change of direction rather than go along with whatever trajectory the leader wants to describe in the design space of the dance.
Concrete example 3: for the follower to begin a Paseo after a Dile Que No, on their own, and for the leader to go along with that, rather than for Paseos only to happen when a leader thus decides. This could by the way bring the follower’s musicality into the game say if the leader misses on the impending beginning of a MAMBO section (where Daybert recommends doing Paseos in the relevant post), for the follower to make up for that. Four ears listen better than two guys!
Concrete example 4: for the follower to separate away from the leader and describe trajectories of their own, similar to what can happen in Salsa, which is non-canonical in traditional casino.
Concrete example 5: for followers to acquire a more conscious structural understanding of the music-step mapping, and the choreographic design and actively TELL the leader what steps should happen at some point or at all points, which can, in my experience, then be performed in full co-agentivity or something coming closer to that.
Now of course all of these examples could be argued to erode away part of the fundamental underlying principles of information transmission in active leads and reactive follows as we know them, as are canonical in Casino. Some might think that this would involve too big a structural change in the principles of the dance, and I would answer that that’s probably neither entirely wrong nor necessarily an argument in and of itself to oppose the implementation of these readjustments. They also require perhaps a more conscious and rational involvement of followers, combined with a need for both partners to diversify the range of skillset they are bringing into the dance. To that I say, that sounds just about right and that sounds like a common sense direction for change to me.
But that is just ONE POSSIBLE SENSE of role fluidity, one that I began thinking about based on ideas by an amazing Cuban and Casino instructor in Spain, Adriana Cid, director of La Casa del Casino there, who was theorising about these things way before I did.
However, role fluidity can ALSO mean doing away with the sexual gender based preemptive assignation of roles. In short: for MEN to dance BOTH as leaders and as followers, and for WOMEN to dance BOTH as leaders and as followers.
My hypothesis is that this would not only create a significantly more inclusive environment and practices but that it would have at least three big positive impacts on the experience, understanding and structure of the dance:
1-It would have a tremendously positive methodological and pedagogical effect in providing first-hand understanding of what is happening at the other end, thus increasing reaction and anticipation skills and connection between partners. Theres ample evidence in pedagogical and anthropological science for this claim. But you don’t even need to go to scientific evidence, KIZOMBA is canonically taught that way in Spain, with everyone learning to an extent both roles for pedagogical and methodological purposes.
2-It would effective multiply by 2,5 individual’s experience of the Casino phenomenon, at least duplicating your expressive and structural possibilities. Why on earth would you want to confine yourself to just half of the phenomenon????? that’s something everyone takes for a given that baffles me. If we want to be curious, modern, intelligent, tuned in 21st-century explorers of human possibilities in a world so big, so diverse, with such a tremendously diverse heritage of thoughts and ideas through time and space, how can we so passively accept barriers to exploration of the realms of dance, confined to a little patch of well-known land?
3- Indeed it would open up extremely exciting avenues for structural innovation and addition, by putting ROLE-SHIFTING-STEPS at centre-stage (think Adrian Valdivia and Amanda Gill), hence the 2,5 above. This amplifying the possibilities of structural combinations would not only foster what in my experience is the summit of connectedness and partner-listening, namely transitioning from one end to the other of the information transmission in fluid and accurate ways, it would for example open up the possibilities for Rueda de Casino to include creative, innovative, mind-blowing role-shifting sequences. In my mind this has the possibility to make Casino 3 times as attractive and mind-blowing, and perhaps even deliver a fatal blow on any other dance that so many people choose over Casino. We barely begin to fathom how much more we could and should be doing but aren’t while dancing.
4-Beyond these three structural reasons, I believe it would be a necessary step towards a fully inclusive and non-sexist approach no Casino, complementary to the first sense of ROLE FLUIDITY. Indeed I believe it would solve the core of the UNIDIRECTIONALITY problem which is one of the main features of machismo and the oppressive unegalitarian features of Casino, and I believe we would go a very long way towards massively reducing it by overcoming sexual gender assignation of roles. Now it is perhaps not enough, since unidirectionality is not the only dimension, there is also COSIFICATION, OBJECTIFICATION, backgrounding of women/followers, and those are perhaps better addressed and dealt with through the first sense of ROLE FLUIDITY.
I Believe we need and deserve to implement both senses. Let me explain why I believe that from a very personal perspective:
The approach whereby women say they don’t want to engage in leading but rather just want the leaders to be more empathetic, and conversely the approach where men agree for leading to be more follower-centred but don’t agree to become followers themselves seems to be to be very clearly HETEROCENTRIC. Although I fully understand and endorse the need for follower-centred, empathetic approaches to leading, it does NOT do away with the overall pattern of UNIDIRECTIONALITY in the creation, transmission and reception of energy/information. Unidirectionality is a problem that homosexuals have been addressing for millennia and specially gay men have suffered massively and theorised massively about the need to go beyond the unsuitable heteronormative expectations about assuming just one role, whether sexually or socially. I believe the heterosexual community should pay heed to this tradition of BIDIRECTIONALITY. You might discover that it is way cooler than what you had before, or at the very least it might make Casino a hospitable place for men who feel uncomfortable with binary strict gender expectations (which is a category that extends way beyond homosexual men).
RE ROLE-SWITCHING STEPS:
This could by the way have a number of applications of better musicality in dancing. It could be used when Formell and Los Van Van use a Licencia de Clave, adding beats to the regular 4 count. It could be used when Pancho Amat or Septeto Santiaguero shift between 2-3 and 3-2 patterns of clave within one and the same song. Since partner switching steps involve turning around the dancer’s relative 1 and 5 they can also be used as a way to reorient your dancing to the phrasal 1 of the music, for switching from dancing “con la clave” to “con el uno”. And I don’t have enough technical knowledge to make a more mature statement, but these things seem clearly to have a big potential in the realm of musicality-oriented Casino dancing.
As a follower (who learned Casino dancing in America, and never visited Cuba), I have felt oftne that Casino is quite a bit male-centric. Your article boldy puts a lot of my observations into perspective!
I would like to know more from you as to how “we can take steps toward creating a more inclusive, welcoming, and gender-equal Cuban dance community.”
I am hoping the answer is NOT ‘by more women learning to lead in Casino’ – because I believe that would still leave followers serving as an embellishment, while female leads just end up emulating the ‘Machismo’ characteristic of being a lead a Casino.
So well said.
The whole “dame una” object terminology rubs me the wrong way, as do a number of combinations, and the inconsiderate leads who would sooner twist your arm off than risk not looking awesome.
I am also struck when I am in a rueda with only Cuban men, how quickly they degenerate into not hearing the women in the rueda AT ALL, as if they are actually a lone group of men throwing around inanimate objects. If a mistake is made how fast they are to place blame and publicly humiliate the offender. That must be exhausting for them.
If only I didn’t love rueda so much. 💙
That is spot-on. But good news perhaps is that names of steps have a long tradition of fluid variability and diversity in Cuba itself. We could extend and redirect that open-ended nature and come up with innovative terms, that make sense within the context of Spanish language and the general principles of the dance, but place the focus on what’s happening not on what a MALE agent is doing ONTO a FEMALE patient.
We could be using less agentive verbs like CAMBIA, or use a reciprocal verb form such as DENSE which implies co-agentivity, or use agentivity unmarked adjectives such as SIGUIENTE or OTRA (perhaps alternating with OTRO if you want linguistic gender fluidity in as well), among many other possibilities instead of DAME UNA or BOTA UNA. We could be saying HACIA AFUERA or CAMINATA or instead of EXHÍBELA. I could conduct a more detailed survey of possibilities for this using linguistics and discourse analysis, my field of research, these are just ad hoc examples to examplify the point at hand.
Very interesting article. I love Casino dance and I cant deny there is all these involved, not to mention all these rumba figures like “vacúnala” applied to the casino dance.
Someone accurately reply here that a good connection with your partner is the key to avoid most of these macho traits.
I agree with all of what’s been said. I am a salsa instructor and we do not say men and women in class, nor we do have people classified by gender, but by role. As a result, we do have men who dance as a lead and men who dance as a follow, and women who do both roles VOLUNTARILY (this is important, as sometimes women are forced in some classes to lead because of the numbers). Then, when we get to the social dance floor, these very same students keep their role.
Yes, we get stared at a lot. We live and dance in Madrid. Spain has changed a lot lately, mainly in terms of laws regarding sexism and gender, but still the salsa community has a lot of people who have been educated in a extremely sexist way. Needless to say when I dance with a man I get the same stares (being a man myself).
Two anecdotes from not long ago:
– One guy was interested in our courses and wanted to join, but in his request he asked if all the follows were women as he didn’t want to dance with men. Of course we didn’t sign him up.
– I was dancing with a girl at a club, then when I asked for another dance (1 hour later) she told me she couldn’t, as her boyfriend was there and “it was up to him to decide” and “he decided not to allow her”. This has happened countless times, particularly when I go to certain clubs.
I think the best we can do is to keep doing what we are doing, working towards non-sexist dancing and showing it on the dance floor.
As always, great post Daybert!
Pero ustedes bailan salsa no casino, no? En la comunidad de bailes cubanos de Madrid y España en general es aún más fuerte la homofobia y el machismo, tanto de gente originaria del Caribe Hispano como de hispanos peninsulares como de gente aleatoria de otras partes del mundo. Parece un tema de transmisión cultural sistémica inconsciente. Yo de cada 10 veces que le pido a un hombre bailar casino conmigo menos de 1 me dice que sí y al menos 9 me dicen que no pueden por principio, porque eso es antinatural, contracultura o por cualquier paja mental que se les ocurra como racionalización de su extrema ignorancia y falta de apertura. Alguno al menos ha sido honesto y me ha dicho que le da asco, cosa que se aprecia, gente que al menos es consciente de que la razón es visceral y primitiva y no necesariamente resultado de las leyes absolutas del ordenamiento del universo. En la comunidad salsera de cada 10 hombres a los que le pido bailar son unos 8 los que dicen que sí y sólo 2 los que dicen que no. Cómo se llaman y dónde están ustedes, cuando me pase por Madrid me gustaría ir a bailar unas salsas. Aunque me enfoco 98% en el casino, me encanta bailar salsa de vez en cuando sobre todo de follower.
Third way feminism in social dancing? Believe me, i will avoid these types much more then they will avoid my “toxic masculinity”. This is by far the worst article on this great blog.
Hello, in this video you can find..dos hombres bailando casino—como una pareja.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjED-tYK3QU
The blog post never claims it doesn’t happen, but rather states that it is a rare sight to see two men dancing together. Thanks for sharing!
Me dancing casino with my friend (two males). Not instructional or demonstrative of anything, just recreational.
Brilliant article! To me, peak machismo is “vacunala” of Cuban rumba, which people often break into during casino.
Just the idea that the man should toss his invisible semen at a woman’s crotch to impregnate her, without consent and by surprise, and then that the women should just block her crotch, giggle and wag her finger at him is problematic to say the least.
I throw that shit right back.