Gender and Sexuality in Dance Films

“In English, we have separate pronouns for male and female (his, her) and a whole slew of words such as mailman, milkman, manhole, and mankind that obviously carry a sexist bias” (Benshoff, Griffin, p. 206).

As a student in the communication department, I know that this is true and have made an effort to use words such as mailperson or humankind. Although I found that specifically in regard to dance movies, there is a form of female sexist bias in the noun “ballerina.” Chances of hearing the term “ballerino” in America are almost zero, although it is a term sometimes used in Italy. “Ballerina” sends the message that ballet is a female art, only perpetuating the thought that male ballet dancers are feminine and/or homosexual.

Released in the year 2000, “Center Stage” shows the struggles and successes of six dancers as they enter the American Ballet Academy, and how they learn to balance their professional and personal lives. Jody, Eva, Maureen, Charlie, Sergei, and Erik pursue their dreams of dancing professionally with a ballet company. Begin watching this clip at 5:00 until 6:10, and this will introduce the main male characters who are students at ABA in New York.



As you saw, Erik is homosexual but Sergei and Charlie are heterosexual. On a side note, Erik is also the only African American male—an example of combining two “token” qualities into one character. Now watch the following video between 2:30 and 3:10.



The fact that the girls made a point of asking, “Is he gay or straight?” makes one assume that there is in fact a high percentage of male dancers who are homosexual. When the girls learn that Charlie is straight, they get very excited— confirming that there must be a relatively low percentage of heterosexual male ballet dancers. There never seems to be a question about female dancers being lesbians… why the double-standard?

Although females are the main focus in Center Stage, the two directors of the final productions are both male. This shows male dominance over a largely female cast. Cooper takes advantage of Jody in their personal lives, and this also carries over into their professional lives. The following clip between 1:40 and 4:10 demonstrates this.



Another concept this clip shows is the “sensitive” male, which is sometimes seen as un-masculine. Balancing scenes such as this, is an aspect of competition between Charlie and Cooper—both trying to win over Jody, and both trying to one-up each other in dancing.

“Thus, Hollywood filmmaking, by drawing on certain representational patterns and formulas left over from previous decades, continues to marginalize women and women’s issues while both subtly and forthrightly privileging men and masculinity” (Benshoff, Griffin, p. 289).