It's Giving and Giving and Giving: Ballroom and the Beginner's Mind

Abstract

This is the first time anyone has written about combining Voguing with the Beginner's Mind of Zen Buddhism. It might be hard to think how these two subjects relate because one is about movement, and the other is about meditation. Having already been interested in Buddhist philosophy and the Ballroom Scene (specifically vogue), I wanted to delve deep into the theories of gender to analyze sexual identity as they are happening in ballroom and see how it redefines the meaning of binary gender roles. Instead of a perfect binary spectrum, does ballroom break it down and reevaluate gender identity? This research focuses on using the Beginner's Mind while learning to vogue to give a better learning experience and ultimately empower the dancer.