Dancing under spots
Square dancing as the process for Chinese elderly women reclaiming urban public space
Y. Luo (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
M. Tenzon – Mentor (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
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Abstract
In open squares, parks and residential neighbourhoods, when the sun sets, groups of Chinese mid-age and elder women are often seen dancing together to music in public space. This activity is called square dance. Square dancing now is the most popular fitness and social activity among elder women in almost every city and town in China, although many people keep expressing discomfort with the dancers. The criticism of Square dance and its core participants——elder women——reflects the social debates over how public space should be used in Chinese urban environment. The paper begins from a historical perspective, constructing a timeline of the development urban public space usage and women’s behaviour in these spaces, analysing the people and places of square dancing, to argue that square dance is a method for elder women as a vulnerable group to reclaim the discursive power over urban space. Square dancing is not just a fitness/leisure activity, indeed, it is an natural outcome resulting from both the long-term urbanization and women’s pursuit of spatial rights in the context of China.