Genderqueer Partnerships in Mainstream Media: Santra & Piia
Author Anne Amen examines how gendered partner dynamics influence dancers’ and audiences’ perception of ballroom, and how meeting these aesthetic expectations influences the “believability” of a dance. This will be done through a series of case studies, each examining a same-sex couple that competed on a mainstream TV show. Amen will analyze the aesthetic and choreographic choices of each and discuss how these decisions impact the audience’s perception of the couple’s connection to each other.
This series of case studies is part of Amen’s university paper “The Rainbow Connection: Genderqueer Partnerships in Ballroom Dance”.
THE GREATEST DANCER: SANTRA & PIIA
The Greatest Dancer is a talent-search, competition-style TV show that premiered on BBC One in 2019. Competitors depend on audience voting and approval to advance and ultimately win the show. Santra and Piia are a married couple from Finland. Aesthetically, they choose gender-normative costuming, but take advantage of the nature of Latin dances and their specific choreography to present a more equally balanced power dynamic in their partnership. While it is unclear whether the lead’s personal style leans this masculine/androgynous, the choice to wear a black suit coat with trousers while the follow wears a typically glittery, short-skirted dress enforces the immediate impression of the couple as heteronormative – the element of genderqueer expression in this choice is that this aesthetic is achieved basically through drag.
Choosing to dance a jive allows Santra and Piia to present a greater sense of lead-follow equality throughout their partnership. The quick, electric steps of the jive, danced to very fast swing music, require the more upright, symmetrical frame seen in the majority of Latin dances. Unlike many of the other Latin dances (cha-cha, rumba, samba, paso doble), jive has a minimal emphasis on sensuality, especially for the follow. Movements are meant to be flashy and extroverted, less focused on building an intensely emotional mood between partners. Santra and Piia also spend a great deal of time out of frame, dancing side-by-side while performing similar footwork. They connect in frame briefly for the lead to turn the follow, or to perform moves that are highly symmetrical. When the judges join the competing couple at the end of their routine, they blur the line between lead and follow even further, as Santra and Piia both lead one of the judges – the follow demonstrates that she is also capable of performing the lead role.
The audience reacts very positively to this dance. The camera cuts away from the dance at times to pan over the viewers who are voting on each audition. Audio clips specifically catch comments hoping the couple will perform well, expressing approval for their skill once the dance begins, and encouraging each other to vote so the couple can advance. The comments under the YouTube video (embedded) are also largely positive – only a few comments disparage the all-female couple, and a large percentage express approval for the dancers and the routine. A prevalent point of discussion is how fun the routine looked: it was enjoyable to watch, and the dancers seemed like they were having a good time.
It is unclear the extent to which this positive reaction is a result of audiences seeing, to some degree, what they might “expect” from ballroom with the image of a heteronormative couple. Their choreography also expresses extroverted, audience-engagement centered priorities, rather than focusing on building a sense of intimacy between partners – this lack of sensual coding in a dance performed by a same-sex couple likely makes the routine more “palatable” to viewers who may otherwise fall into the heteronormative expectations of a ballroom dance couple. In a show where doing well banks on the approval of a large percentage of the audience, these choreographic choices focusing on a sense of energy and fun can win over the voting viewers and present a partnership dynamic of equality and camaraderie that is widely relatable and less specifically coded for the romance and courtship commonly portrayed in ballroom dancing.
by Anne Amen
Anne Amen is a musician, writer, and ballroom dancer focused on the connections between her art forms: how dance tells a story, how music makes movement audible, and how words speak through rhythm, flow, and gesture. She first discovered ballroom as an undergraduate at St. Olaf College, and has since competed, taught group classes, and led social dance organizations since 2018. Anne currently competes with the Badger Ballroom Dance Team while pursuing a master's degree in trumpet performance.
