LGBT+ mainstreaming on strictly come dancing: Queering the norms of ballroom dancing

Wong, Yen Nee

Abstract

This paper proposes that LGBT+ mainstreaming on reality television programme Strictly Come Dancing creates space for audience demand for radical, authentic representations of same-sex desire and intimacy, both of which challenges normative representations of ballroom dancing. Integrating concepts of normativity and authenticity explored in existing scholarship, I argue against the encountering through a defensive stance, of reality TV’s normalization of queer narratives to promote authentic, inclusive representation. Focusing on dance-themed British reality TV programme for family entertainment, I draw on a queer reading of 285 newspaper articles on Strictly Come Dancing’s same-sex dance partnerships and 35 interviews with LGBT+ equality dancers in the United Kingdom, to conclude that active engagement with mechanisms of normalization can open up spaces for a reclamation of queer representation in its authenticity. The article makes a contribution to media and cultural studies and queer television scholarship through a troubling of anti-normativity, proposing a working with normativity to achieve queer inclusivity.

Citation

Wong, Y. N. (2024). LGBT+ mainstreaming on strictly come dancing: Queering the norms of ballroom dancing. Media, Culture and Society, 46(4), 816-833. https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437231219141

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 1, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Dec 24, 2023
• Publication Date: 2024
• Deposit Date: Dec 30, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 4, 2024
• Print ISSN: 0163-4437
• Electronic ISSN: 1460-3675
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 46
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 816-833
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437231219141
• Keywords: anti-normativity, authenticity, ballroom dance, LGBT+, reality TV, same-sex strictly come dancing, sexuality, queer intimacy, equality dancing
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/3440330