In addition to an art form performed by professionals at theatre stages, dance is a popular
leisure activity. This special issue brings together research that further highlights what the
dancing body can do in various contemporary leisure contexts. The authors in the six papers
included in this issue have looked into the myriad ways dance reflects and upholds various
value systems, but also how it might shape and potentially disrupt and provoke such systems
in the cultural spaces of leisure scholarship and recreational dance communities.
These communities span over several continents. In their work, Barbour, Clark, and Jeffrey
(2019) reflect on women’s experiences of wellbeing in an intergenerational somatic dance class
in New Zealand whereas Ali-Haapala, Moyle, and Kerr (2019) highlight the pleasures of dancing
ballet in Ballet for Seniors class in Australia. In her Australian study, Tamara Borovica (2019)
explores how young women used dance as a way of knowing about their embodiment of womanhood.
Focusing on young dancers’ experiences in the United States, Karen Schupp (2019) illustrates the
increasing dominance of dance competitions as serious leisure. Stephanie Boulila (2019) analyzes
whether recreational salsa disciplines its participants into the compulsory heterosexual matrix
regardless of sexual orientation based on her research in several European countries. Finally, in
their research note, Lin, Bao, and Dong (2019) provide insights into the Chinese context of
recreational dance through their research on ‘Grooving Grannies’, the millions of older women
now dancing in public spaces in China.
To provide further context, I review what has previously interested researchers about dance in
various leisure contexts. These include analyses of the commercialisation of various dance forms
into popular culture; the increasing emphasis on competition in dance; gender roles in dance;
community dance; and dance that has been recreated as an exercise form.