Dancers and wider dance fraternity I have a question, has Dancehall's dance genre gone genderless? There once was a clear distinction between dance moves appropriated for females versus those for males to perform, with females customarily having the option of also executing male street dance moves. However in recent times if we should examine closely the movement structures of the latest dance steps, style of dress including hair, it appears the dancers are practising 'genderlessness'.

'Genderlessness' sees males now performing and even creating dance moves using structures that were/are more traditionally aligned with female or feminine gendered dance steps. These include the sensual and sometimes sexualised rotation and or pulsation of the hip, groin, chest/breasts and derieres. Look again at the following: rum ram, stookie, and melody dance steps, also scrutinise emerging Dancehall steps that relies on rounded shoulders, upwardly tilted chins and spring like jumps with pointed toes seemingly mimicking actions of a Ballet dancer. It was not so long ago that male dancers in the dance-halls as guided by the island's wider socio-historical customs frowned on such dance genres and its movement structures when performed by males. " A batty man dem," "a sissy dat" and "faggots," were some tersely choice words, so what has changed? Dr Donna Hope's Man Vibes publication also discourses this change. Is it globalisation, acculturisation, or simply a community coming to terms with what was just nonsense paraded as manly-ness and even godly-ness?

The argument can be made too that this is not entirely new as dance steps such as the bogle among others invented by Mr Wacky can also fall into this category. He heavily relied on smooth rhythmic chest and pelvic thrusts earning him much of his long lived admiration. It is also an unconfirmed rumour that the butterfly was actually created by a man. Perhaps in the near future males will soon execute the power up and charge, tempa wine and hot wuk, yikes!

Since most street dance moves now sit squarely in the middle, that is neither distinctly feminine or masculine gendered, the females now more than ever happily perform all dance moves, in fact this is also a way for them to demonstrate that they are indeed dancers and not just 'go go winers', 'splitters', 'drop deaders' and 'bum flickers'! (you get the point)

Certainly both male and female Dancehall dancers do execute 'sexy' dance moves but the proliferaton of these movement structures by male dancers has increased in recent years. Gone is the rube bwoy era that gave rise to the ragamuffin dancers and dancing including the, pedal and wheel and one foot skank among others. During that time it was rare to see females in the dance-halls actually copying those male or masculine gendered moves. Jamaica does have a long history of males sensually moving their waistlines in dance with many of our folk dances evidencing just that. Jonkonnu which is one of the islands earliest street dance session has a tradition of male masquerades portraying female characters including the famous 'belly woman'. There is also the popular male dancing duo called dancing grannies, who dresses/ed in garbs belonging to elderly women including their panties.

Our male street dancers also seem to have embraced the metro-sexual fashions that transcended Europe into North America championed by top acts such as Kanye West, Usher, Chris Brown, Trey Songz and of certainly Pharrel. 'Skater boy' fashion ethics characterised by coloured skinny jeans, bedazzled baby tees have seemingly collided with Dancehall's 'out & bad' era postured by Nadia Ellis, questioning whether a queer/gay lifestyle has crept into the dance-halls. As much as Elephant Man and fellow Scare Dem crew mates sang about 'bad man no dress like girl...." they are representative of the 'genderlessness' change in Dancehall, and while Bounti decry's "cyan believe say tight pants come een again..." many female dancers are left amazed as to how they even dance in such tightly fitted pants. The change is so significant that it even affects the language, previously males referred to close fitted pants as 'gun mout' but now they are just as comfortable with calling their wear skinny or tight jeans, just as the ladies do.

Braided coloured hair is common in African culture and therefore what became known as the 'scarisha or 'scare dem' hair style where one's braided hair points skywards could also be seen as ancestral lineage. Also too the adornment of coloured beads in the hair first popularised by Kadillac dancers, every now again can still be spotted in the dance-halls worn by males. Believe it or not males and females now sport mohawks of varying degrees, multi coloured hair, false locks and other weaves, smartly groomed eye brows and even eyeliners.

So here we are in 2011 as Jamaica's street dance culture and the wider Dancehall is exhibiting 'clearly' blurred gender bending tones. For sure the Dancehall has always been and remains about celebration and contestation, so perhaps the dancers are simply reveling in their right to express themselves as they see fit while challenging Dancehall's outdated modus operandi (usual customs)?

Let me be clear I am not making a statement as to whether I am for or against the change/s but rather as a budding cultural studies scholar I am observing and interpreting a major transformation in Jamaica's street dance culture. Feel free to make your own observations and leave comments.

By Maria Hitchins

Dancer/Choreographer

Currently pursuing a Master of Philosophy Thesis in Cultural Studies at U.W.I. Jamaica