Tag: dancing

Master of Research: Dancing with Diversity – Mapping the Evolution and Impact of Latin Dance in Australia

On By taniacreationsIn creations, English Australia, passions, The Dancing Bug, why1 Comment

I was at the Sydney Writers Festival in May 2024, and we discussed a world in pain.

We spoke at length about the effects of global warming, the devastation of wars, radical religious and political views. Ways of thinking around prejudices and inequality that we thought were disappearing but are rising again. We talked about isolation, that in Australia, 25% of households are of single occupancy, and that online dating doesn’t seem to be working very well. (ABS, 2021)

And yet, I go out every week, I meet and see hundreds of people who break barriers of age, colour, gender, background, abilities, body shapes… People who speak different languages and “would never be in the same room if not for one reason”, to invite each other… to dance…

In 2024 I was honoured to be accepted into a Master of Research program at Macquarie University, in Sydney, Australia. This is my Thesis:

Dancing with Diversity – Mapping the Evolution and Impact of Latin Dance in Australia

I grew up dancing ballet, jazz and contemporary in Brazil. When I came to Australia, I worked as a school manager at a Latin Dance company and fell, with passion and sometimes obsession, in love with Latin Dance. Immersed in the Australian Latin Dance community since 2005, I possess a unique vantage point to document central yet underrepresented events that have shaped the global Latin Dance community through an autoethnographic perspective.

In order to explore and analyse the Latin Dance sector, I engage in an ethnographic fieldwork practice. I will undertake interviews with 6 key personalities in the Latin Dance Scene who established companies and events in Australia. The interviews, analysis of archival materials and primary sources available will enable me to research and write the recent history of Latin Dance in Australia.

For my Master of Research project, I am mapping the current number of Latin Dance Schools, Venues, Music groups, and Events, in the community. I am focusing on 3 Latin dance styles: Bachata, Forró and Salsa. They are representative, most dancers dance at least one of these styles. Lastly, Sydney has regular parties, events, classes and groups for Salsa, Bachata and Forró.

My research questions are:

  • What is the recent history of Latin Dance in Australia, in the last 25 years?
  • In what ways is Latin Dance significant for Australian Society?
    • How does Latin Dance foster inclusiveness and which barriers does it break?
  • How significant is the Australian Latin Dance scene for the Global Latin Dance community?

Latin Dance came from Humble origins as documented by various scholars. Dormani; Carwile; Delgado; said that it was originally danced by the lower classes;Salsa scholars Cabanzo, Hutchinson, and Dormani, documented that it came out of the Latin American “barrios”, the immigrants’ hoods of America. Brazilian specialist in Forró, Fernandes, mapped a similar trajectory for the style when it came from the drought driven Northeast of Brazil to conquer the whole country.
The various styles became accepted by the middle and upper classes and took the world by storm creating a widespread fever, documented in literature by Borland, Wilson, and Sloat, to name a few.

There is a fair amount of Literature on Latin Dance, particularly overseas, but the academic discourse on the history of Latin Dance in Australia is limited, leading to a concentration of knowledge in specific styles and regions: such as Mathews’ PhD thesis on Samba de Gafieira, Couple Samba, with Rio Rhythmics Academy in Brisbane; Samba Queen Lillian Shaddick’s Master’s about Samba no Pé, individual Samba, in Sydney, Bendrups who writes on Latin Music and Dance in NZ and Australia.

This scarcity necessitates caution among scholars to avoid monofocal analysis. However rich the literature worldwide is, it’s not a widespread coverage, and where there are gaps, there are risks. That’s why we need more research and more literature, with more rigour. My research contributes original knowledge to this gap.

The media practically ignores Latin Dance. 

In this gap I hope to register some significant events and accolades that Australia has earned, and are unregistered. Such as:

  • The Sydney Salsa Congress that in 2009 had parties with about 4000 people on one dancefloor.
  • The Sydney Bachata Festival created in 2008, still running, that was the first International Bachata Festival in the world, and their creators were awarded by the government of the Dominican Republic for their contribution to the Dominican culture.
  • The concept of Brisbane as the Brazilian Dance Mecca outside of Brazil; mentioned by Mathews in her PhD thesis.
  • And the many international Samba, Salsa, Bachata, Reggaeton champions Australia has.

In a Post-Covid World, of lone households, where many people are so hungry for connection, I believe Latin Dance has much to offer. The benefits of dance have been documented in literature, for mental and physical health, for community, to serve as a conduit between cultures and generations. Studies in articles by Cone & Cone, Iuliano and others, Maraz and others, Aguiñaga and others, are a few specific to Latin Dance.

But the aspects that most fascinate me are the powers of connection, the breaking of barriers I mentioned at the start, and that scholars have registered, Wilson, Carwile, Varea, Arterianus-Owanga, Huthcinson, Renta, have written about this across the globe. Ethnographer Jewett calls the strong connection between couple dance partners, a “semblance of intimacy”, and that is another point for exploration in my research project.

In this power of connection may lie great potential. I agree with this reporter who was listening to salsa in many Eastern languages in the middle of a war region, and thought that Salsa could contribute to world peace.

On the dancefloor, I find what the author Julia Baird calls a sense of awe, in her bestseller “Phosphorescence”, I find it watching other dancers, through the intimacy of my dances, the connection with the community and the people. That is why I keep going back to the dancefloor, to seek connection, to experience the complexities of multiculturalism, inclusion, and the beauty of a world united.

This is what I want to foster with my thesis, create a groundwork by studying and highlighting the benefits of Latin Dance to society in Australia, contributing to the global dialogue and stimulating future conversations.

MRES_DandingWithDiversity_TC_ForWebsite_ReferencesDownload

For any questions, my student credentials are:

Master of Research – 2nd Year – Faculty of Arts | MCCALL – Macquarie University – Sydney, Australia

tania.crivellenti@students.mq.edu.au – tania.crivellenti@hdr.mq.edu.au

The Department of Media, Communications, Creative Arts, Language, and Literature (MCCALL) is one of the largest and most diverse departments at Macquarie University.

When did I Start Writing?

On By taniacreationsIn when1 Comment

At a certain point in my life I came to the conclusion that I wanted to be a writer. I find  it hard to remember how or when exactly I got to that point. Probably, a turning point happened when I was about 25 years old and I wrote a short-story that was selected as a finalist for an anthology book. By then I had decided that being a ballet dancer wasn’t for me after all. At 17 I had dropped out of my dance uni degree and moved to advertisement and marketing. At 25 I had been working at a large multinational corporation that was draining my blood.

One day I was driving alone to work, from the car radio I heard a voice saying:

“Writing is your major gift”. I’m aware the phrase is a bit strange but I cannot change the voice from beyond just to fit the English grammar, so I will leave it as is, the closest translation.

That moment I made a decision (based on a voice I imagined because I was delirious of boredom, most probably, but who cares, right?). I had been trying to write more and more and I realised I had to find a way to have a good quality of life to have energy left for writing. If you check the post “why Australia?” you will see how that brought me to Sydney’s beautiful shores.

Although, the decision was made when I was an adult, the more I search for when I started actually writing, the further back I go.

My best friend pointed out to me that none of her childhood friends wrote a story about the time they caught the maid making out with the security guard. I was telling my friend how terrified I was of this maid because she found my story and was very upset at me. Lost in my anguish cause by the upset maid I didn’t realise that most kids don’t write about stuff like I did all the time.

When I first learnt what poetry was, I also sold some poetry to my grandfather which I never delivered because I was then as I am now: hopeless at poetry. I did try though, ended up writing a few lines without an end. I ate my payment in candy and that was that.

I remember the look in the face of my fourth grade teacher when instead of delivering a writing assignment with one page, as I was supposed to do, I delivered twelve pages. Just because I couldn’t cut the story short, stop it in the middle, I had to take the character walking all the way from school to work… Poor teacher, she was a mean one but I’m not sure she deserved that punishment.

A few years later my beautifully-bummed high-school teacher published a book with short-stories, I had a story there. (Beautifully-bummed because as a Brazilian teenager, like all other Brazilian teenagers, I was obsessed with the roundness of people’s behinds around me and such youngish teacher had very nice buttocks that would shake firmly when he wrote on the blackboard.) [Two more notes: I’m still obsessed with round buttocks and at the time it was an actual back board, where you make all that effort to write with chalk.]

While I was on my dancing career path I only thought I would write a book when I retired, I wasn’t really thinking, probably from lack of food, the brain didn’t work very well. I’m grateful to say that I added things up before starving to death and changed my mind. This is my reasoning:

I am not flexible enough to be a prima ballerina + I live in a third world country quite worried about food and health, not art + I can never eat + I am always fat = bad idea.

Once I stopped dancing professionally — I still dance for pleasure — I started writing more, I’ve always had ideas, many, many ideas for being so, even if I had to give up writing about the maid’s kisses.

The Dancing Bug and the Virus

On By taniacreationsIn Orble Post, The Dancing BugLeave a comment

Photo: Jaime Jesus (LDA) & Tania C in Brisbane Brazilian Dance Congress 2008

When I say the word “Addiction” with a capital A, I’m pretty sure you think cocaine, pot, alcohol, smoking.

Well if you are reading this blog, maybe not.

Worse than all those vices there is one that is more than addiction, it is both an attitude and one unescapable fate… it’s a virus. Exactly: Latin dancing.
There is always a carrier. The calamity is huge, because in each school you can find at least one (carrier I mean) locally you can see lots of them on stage at the Sydney Salsa Congress.

It all starts innocently, you don’t know how much of your life is about to be turned upside down, and what is worst: by yourself! You choose the course that is closer to your end of work time, anywhere from 6 to 7:30pm, considering the transit time. Once a week, for no more than 10 weeks. You feel safe and secure that is all about having a bit of fun. It’s during the week; it is not going to disturb your precious weekends.

You start thinking the music is a bit strange but it feels nice, this Latin dancing thing. In 8 weeks, if you are not immune, you are doomed. By then, you would have gone to at least one dance party, you do a workshop and the party starts, you see… all those people, having so much fun, the spins, the movements, you don’t know but that is when the virus gets active in you blood stream.

You cannot precise what is happening to you, your pupils grow bigger, your breathing gets accelerated, you try to not look but simply can’t. The lights are bathing you, the rhythm is making your chest feel like a drum, it’s like you are spinning yourself and you are praying: please ask me to dance (if you are a girl) or, please ask her to dance (if you are a guy and you are talking to yourself).

And if you do… poor you…

Then you are back to the classes and they get started on this tracing thing, such a simple and subtle movement. Not everyone realizes the power behind it, but a proper tracing! The hands that don’t leave the other’s body when you break apart: even the simple ones, through the arms for a turn, can send shivers down anyone’s spine, it doesn’t need to be sexual, it’s simply sexy.

Did you realize how much power dance can give to someone? Most of the guys Latin dancers are not too tall, and yet they appear giants on stage and dance floor. And the girls, all ladies are absolutely wonderful when they dance feeling it from within. People that you wouldn’t notice on the street can make you find them incredible with one single spin ending with a body roll. Can you see it?

If I close my eyes I can see that and much more.


When you move to the second level you want to do two hours of dancing and retake the first level as a revision.

All that craving for some nice tracings and you discover the shines!

So you shine… the power grows in you (as does the virus) and you find out those precious moments where you can do whatever you want. If you find at least one partner that looks you in the eye as you do it, it feels like he or she is really dancing with you, and the world can end with the music, you will be forever hooked to this dancing.

When you go to the third level you forget all about getting home early, you start thinking that weekends are to be enjoyed in full and you browse the internet for the parties and regular venues. If you have kids the babysitter will be grinning for nothing with the hours she is getting.
You start spreading the virus yourself, bringing friends and working colleagues to the classes, and there you go doing the beginners one more time just to do it with this or that friend.
As it wasn’t enough, you discover the new styles, generally people start with Salsa (these dances all have at least one capital letter) and then the floor is opened under their feet when they find out about the others, the happy ones such as Merengue and Cha­Cha, and the sexy, closer ones, as Bachata and Lambada/Zouk.

The “Doomer” is usually a performance course. It is when things turn inescapable, incurable.

The virus is a happy thing in your body, eating away your food and giving you an unexpected burst of energy.

I’ve seen lots of people loosing 10, 12 kilos in some months, myself for example.

By the time the performance gets near, thinking patterns are completely screwed, starting to rehearse at 9:30pm (till 11:30 or more) feels normal by the second week, you see a bright sunny Sunday and instead of imagining a nice day on the beach you simply think: better go early to the beach, carry all my stuff, so I can be early at the rehearsals.

You start meeting partners for training at the most strange hours, lunch breaks are perfect, why would you need to eat? Your days get to be measured by how long you will have to endure before your next dancing.

Everyone at the dance school knows you by name and when you do your bookings they are done by the bunch: level 5, 6 & 7 of salsa, level 2 & 3 bachata, level 1 & 2 for zouk, performance course, that special workshop, its like a shopping list!


Ah (sight) the workshops… all the extra money you earn goes to a special account called: dance. And dance shoes!

When you look in your wardrobe you don’t find any passage to another enchanted witch-world, but you do find seven (SEVEN!!!) pairs of dance shoes! Then you have costumes hanging around the house, masks, ribbons, spears and all sort of funny things. Unexpectedly you have your chance of becoming famous.

We did this choreo where the choreographer decided to paint in gold some half naked guys (they were wearing proper trousers but had nothing on the torso), after that the girls would refer to some in particular as “the golden men”; they found their moment of glory! (So did the girls by the way!)

When you have been to the stage you don’t even blink anymore if your teacher says: let’s rehearse on the holiday Saturday at 7:30pm. You only think: Yey! We can go dancing after that!

You forget all about travelling, spending more than two days off dancing that would have been hell. All you can say is: don’t fight it, you cannot win! During the end of year holidays (fifteen excruciating and long days) all you can think about was: thanks heaven for the choreo training! I will survive!

If you have seen yourself while reading these words I will tell you one thing: good luck!

Or better: “Break a Leg! Merde! Merda!”

21 Orble Votes

Dancing for Life 

On By taniacreationsIn Orble Post, The Dancing BugLeave a comment

. . . Writing is my call, dancing is my bliss… 

This is me, dance addict, currently wallowing in Latin dancing, exploring Sydney’s Bachata, Zouk and Salsa dance floors. Previously Ballet, Jazz and Contemporary Dancer.
I was born in Brazil and have been in Aussie land for five years now. This is my promised land and never before I had so much fun. 

I hope you like my writing, my dancing, and my loving of life.

As a dream said to me the other day: “follow the fun”!

35 Orble Votes