Dance with Me: Ballroom Dancing and the Promise of Instant Intimacy By Julia A. Ericksen. New York University Press. 2011. 294 pages. $30 (cloth)

Extract

Ballroom dancing has become quite the cultural phenomenon in the United States. Film and television frequently feature ballroom dance, and an increasing number of Americans are becoming social and competitive ballroom dancers. The artistry, romance, and physical demands of ballroom dancing make it a compelling leisure activity and spectator sport. It is a rich field for sociologists to mine for insightful nuggets about gender, sexuality, sport, ­leisure, and relationships. Julia A. Ericksen notes that ballroom dancing is underanalyzed by sociologists, and she sets out to correct this error. She entered the field of ballroom dance and has come back from that world with an exhaustive description of the complicated relationships that men and women, professional and amateur, must negotiate in order to achieve the intimacy of ballroom dance.

Dance with Me: Ballroom Dancing and the Promise of Instant Intimacy is a labor of love for Ericksen. As a ballroom dancer herself, her heart and soul is on each page of this book. This aspect of the book is both a strength and a weakness. The passion with which Ericksen writes is infectious and enjoyable—and her full engagement certainly offered her a glimpse into the experience that a mere observer could not fully appreciate. Yet, at times I couldn't help but wonder if her own enchantment with dance prevented her from writing a more steely-eyed and tightly organized book. I found myself frustrated in the first fifty pages or so as she bounced around from personal reflection to a general introduction to ballroom to vignettes from her research to a description of her research design. It is not until page 46 that the data and analysis begin in earnest.