Strictly signals return to traditional gender role?

Strictly Come Dancing is back – but why do we love ballroom dancing so much?

Women enjoy being led around the dance floor dressed in sparkly, glamorous outfits, and men enjoy parading an attractive woman about says new research which suggests ballroom dancing offers participants the chance to return to traditional gender roles.

“In ballroom dancing it is the man that leads the woman. It is all about the woman looking attractive and being shown off by their male partners,” said Dr Vicki Harman, a sociologist from Royal Holloway. “This mimics traditional gender stereotypes of a powerful male and an attractive but less assertive female.”

“In everyday society these stereotypes are considered very dated yet they continue to be acted out on the dance floor.” Harman believes that ballroom dancing offers a clear example of ritualised performance of genders, but should not be seen as a desire to return to these traditional roles.

Both men and women interviewed said that they enjoyed dancing as it gave them the opportunity to learn a new skill, listen to music, make new friends and do regular exercise. However, despite the rise in popularity, there is still a shortage of men taking classes – meaning they get to pick and choose their partners.

“The relative lack of men in ballroom dancing puts them in a more powerful position in terms of partnership selection,” Harman said. “While women can and do partner women, having a male partner was seen as the ‘ideal’.”

One dancer interviewed said she’d rather dance with an inexperienced male that an experience female: “You want to dance with a guy, even if they’re not very good. It’s nicer, you just feel like a girl. You want to be led. It sounds ridiculous, but there’s a whole kudos. It’s better to dance with a guy.”