Samba Showgirls: Cross-cultural practice in Australian popular dance entertainment

Abstract

The popularisation of Latin American dance genres in societies outside of Latin America has long contributed to evolving and appropriated styles. This research looks at such a case: the ‘Samba Showgirl’, the cross-cultural dance practice of Brazilian ‘samba no pé’ in an Australian environment. This hybrid is the result of bringing, what is at its origin, an Afro-Brazilian dance practice into the bodies of jazz and ballet trained commercial dancers. Beyond the hybridisation of samba in Australia, the way in which practitioners engage with this imported dance form is examined. Here we see how ideas of authenticity are caught up in notions of exoticism, how commercialising the form contributes to the way it is presented, and how aesthetic values of dance differ between Australia and Brazil. This research contains both ethnographic and biographic data, collected through my engagement in the Australian samba scene as both a working dancer and performance studies researcher. Performance observations, attendance at workshops and classes, qualitative interviews, as well as online analysis, have contributed to the research findings. This thesis explores the embodiment of a dance tradition in a culture and context far from its origin. I aim to explore how these performances and their participants engage with and affect broader discussions around performing in cross-cultural settings.