Romance and sexuality in Japanese Latin dance clubs

Abstract

In urban Japan, it is not just public expressions of affection or touch between adult men and women that are uncommon, but opportunities for dancing among adults are very limited in Japanese daily life. This article explores the choreography of ‘parasexuality’ – delimited yet intensified sensuality – that is created through sensual touching among salsa dancers. While public expression of intimacy is highly charged and best avoided in Tokyo, I argue that the bracketed ‘pleasure zone’ of Latin dance legitimates and intensifies sensual interactions in the form of explicitly tactile ‘parasexuality’ for both men and women. What marks salsa as a romantic fantasy space is the disembeddeness of sensuality and sexuality from everyday routines, on the one hand, and participants’ individual expression of aesthetic pursuits that liberates them from the responsibilities of everyday gender ideology, on the other hand.

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