Sponsors:

• Online Kizomba lessons at Learntokiz.com!
• The Super Bowl of Urban Kiz Festivals in North America, The Neo Kizomba Festival!

Intro Song:

• Hear From You by Branko & Sango

Key Points:

• Women have gained much more freedom to be defined by something other than their relationships with men. A woman’s place in the world is no longer necessarily defined by being someone’s daughter, someone’s wife, and/or someone’s mother..
• This shift in gender roles has also necessitated redefining what it means to be a man. Many heterosexual couples, married or not, are making an effort to relate to each other in different ways than their parents did. Men are choosing and being encouraged to take on more of the emotional and physical labour involved in parenting and homemaking.
• There is an apparent double standard in the dance world, where male teachers do not need to know how to follow to be successful, but female teachers who wish to teach on their own need to be able to lead and follow with a high degree of proficiency.
• Many dance teachers are doing a wonderful job of emphasizing how consent is involved in every second of a social dance. The dance is a conversation between the lead and the follow, and it should not involve the lead commanding the follow to execute certain movements. Instead, the lead requests certain movements from the follow.
• Unlike most other teachers and coaches, social dance teachers are not regulated in any way (no one gives you a license to teach, there are no regulations that you must follow). This means that no one sets your professional boundaries for you, and so as you transition into this role, you need to set boundaries for yourself. These boundaries might look different than the ones you set for yourself when you were a student and/or social dancer.
• Consent is not something that is only given by women to men.

Links:

• [PODCAST] The Shift Of Gender Roles in Today’s Dance Scene
• Canada Zouk Festival
• Neo Kizomba Festival Safe Space Policy
• Brene Brown On Vulnerability

• [ARTICLE] How The Lack Of Touch Is Destroying Men
• [ARTICLE] The Hidden Epidemic of Men Who Are Raped by Women
• [ARTICLE] 7 Reasons So Many Guys Don’t Understand Sexual Consent

Resources:

• USA: RAINN Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline – 800 656 4673
• Varies by province – Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime is a good place to look for services in your province: crcvc.ca/links

Follow Caitlin:

• Facebook: Caitlin Ferguson
• Instagram: @caitcharlotte