Photography as Ethnographic Passport

JONATHAN S. MARION

This article explores photography as both social and cultural passport into the image-based world of competitive ball-room dance. First differentiating between the social and cultural accesses facilitated by my photography, I then usespecific images to explore the utility of photography in accessing, understanding, and representing the activity-basedglobalization of ballroom’s aesthetic standards and practices across time, place, and context. [Key words: ballroom/dancesport, ethnographic access, globalization, image-based culture, photography]

Introduction

This essay is grounded in the overtly image-basednature of competitive ballroom dancing andin my experiences as both anthropologist

and photographer. While it is always incumbent uponanthropologists to continually and critically reflect uponour use of images, this is especially true (1) amid theever-expanding ubiquity of cameras and photography,and (2) in situations where images are particularly sig-nificant.1 From cell phones to laptops, and GoogleImages to Facebook, the facility to create and dissemi-nate images demands reflection on how, where, andwhen we use photography as part of the anthropologicaltoolkit. More important, howeverFand inextricablefrom issues of both theory and methodFis the question‘‘Why?’’ Why use photography? To what ends, and withwhat ethical implications and considerations? While thisphoto essay cannot fully develop or definitively answersuch questions, it does illustrate how photographyserved me as both social and cultural passport into aparticular society and culture: the world of competitiveballroom dance.

While the social and cultural aspects of ethnographytypically go hand-in-hand, they are not necessarily co-terminous, and for analytical purposes I want todifferentiate between the two. In my case, photographyserved as both a social passportFallowing me access tothe world of ballroom dancingFand a cultural pass-portFfacilitating greater understanding and betterrepresentation. It is these two distinct but interrelatedtracks that I explore below in words and images, firstproviding some background and then turning to photo-graphic examples.

Photography as Social Passport

Photography facilitated my fieldwork, providing mewith a sociocultural passport into the world of competi-tive ballroom danceFalso known as dancesportFin theform of a culturally known role and function, namelythat of ‘‘photographer’’ (Marion 2007:116–118, 2008:10–11). Indeed, starting my fieldwork with minimaldance training, I was not a dancer, a coach, a judge, a DJ,an MC, or the family member of a competitor andquickly started to stand out at ballroom competitions as‘‘that guy always taking notes.’’ Being perceived assomething of a ‘‘ballroom stalker’’ certainly was not anauspicious start to my research, and this is where pho-tography facilitated my entree.

Recognizing that I would eventually want imagesfor future presentations and publications, in April 2002 Ifirst dusted off camera equipment that had been sittingin the back of my closet for several years and brought itto the Emerald Ball Dancesport Championships in LosAngeles. Carrying my 35 mm SLR, flash bracket, off-shoe flash module, external battery pack, and associatedcables clearly signaled a known status within the ball-room world: photographer.

More than just a recognized role, however, it was avalued one in the context of the largely image (in mul-tiple senses of that term) dependent and driven cultureof competitive ballroom dance. Beyond providing aculturally appropriate reason to be seen travelingthroughout the competition circuit, then, my images alsoserved as culturally valued capital with which I could‘‘pay’’ my way in a social world where image andappearance profoundly factor into success and standing.While the (possible) rapport afforded by the role of

Visual Anthropology Review, Vol. 26, Issue 1, pp. 25–31, ISSN 1058-7187, online ISSN 1548-7458. & 2010 by the American Anthropological Association. DOI: 10.1111/j.1548-7458.2010.01045.x.

photographer is neither unique to my fieldwork nor anew idea,2 what is noteworthy is how this dynamic wasamplifiedFin both scale and scopeFby the overtlyimage-based nature of dancesport.

Starting out only photographing dancers I had in-terviewed, I was able to repay these dancers for theirtime with something they found valuable. Almost im-mediately thereafter I was also able to begin barteringimages for interviews with other dancers who wouldapproach me floor-side at competitions. Expanding fa-miliarity with my name and work, I was soon, ifintermittently, providing images to industry mediasources such as Dance Beat (the U.S. dancesport news-paper) and Dance Notes (the leading U.S. dancesportnewsletter) and, later on, to Dance News (the UK dance-sport newspaper). In a related vein, photography alsoprovided a powerful point of entry with ballroom dresscompanies as I began working with and providing im-ages to major U.S. costume vendors such as RandallDesign and Lenique (both costume designers for Dancingwith the Stars), Designs to Shine, and Dore Designs. Thekey to understanding photography as a social passport tomy fieldwork, however, is not any one of these items, butrather the gestalt of their interrelationships in an indus-try where image and appearance are integral to statureand success.

Photography as Cultural Passport

Whereas functioning as a photographer facilitated socialrapport and access, the images themselves provided cul-tural entry and insight. Which images did competitorschoose, which did ballroom newspapers select, which diddress vendors prefer, and why? The answers to suchquestions provided powerful data for unpacking bothperson-specific and more general aesthetic preferences,values, and standards. Just as importantly, the ‘‘frozen’’nature of photographic images facilitated three relatedprocesses:

1. It provided a means to refine my own understand-ing of dancesport norms as informants (and others)would comment on my images.

2. It allowed for the creation of ‘‘side-by-side’’ com-parisons between couples.

3. It allowed for longitudinal comparisons and con-trasts of images of the same dancers over time.

More than just products of ‘‘belonging,’’ passportsalso facilitate it, allowing for both entry and exit. Indeed,as useful as photography has been in my research, it hasbeen at least as valuable in presenting my work atmeetings, in the classroom, and in publication. And howcould it be otherwise? As attention to neurological linksbetween visual perception, action, and emotion suggest(e.g., Nijland 2006), and as noted by neuroestheticistSemir Zeki, ‘‘it is no longer possible to divide the processof seeing from that of understanding’’ (Nijland 2006:38).Images thus invoke understandings in a way that wordsalone cannot.

FIGURE 1. Dominico Soale and Gioia Cerosoli, competing at the2005 Embassy Ball Dancesport Championships, in Irvine, CA.

& 2005 Jonathan S. Marion.

Jonathan S. Marion is adjunct professor at California State University San Marcos, where he teaches Visual Anthropology and Bodyand Identity. The author of Ballroom: Culture and Costume in Competitive Dance (Berg, 2008), Marion is an amateur ballroomcompetitor, part-time professional ballroom photographer, and co-administrator of http://www.Dance-Forums.com and http://www.SalsaForums.com. His research focuses on performance, globalization, embodiment and activity-based constructions of per-sonal and collective meanings and identities.

26 VISUAL ANTHROPOLOGY REVIEW Volume 26 Number 1 Spring 2010

Exploring Images

The image in Figure 1 comes from the 2005 Embassy Ballin Irvine, California, and depicts the signature scissor-kick opening pass of Dominico Soale and Gioia Cero-soli’s quickstep routine. Then the reigning World andBlackpool Amateur Ballroom Champions (now Profes-sional Finalists), Dominico and Gioia are an Italiancouple who compete in the United States once a year atmost. Indeed, with only two opportunities a year (once inthe United States and once at the British Open Champi-onships in Blackpool, England), it took me three years tofinally capture this image. Beyond the obvious difficul-ties of composing and capturing this peak instant mid-flight, I had to contend with the other competitors si-multaneously dancing on the floor, the judges standingaround the edges, and the limited vantage points avail-able to me amid the spectators’ seats and tables. Oncecaptured, howeverFand speaking directly to the deepconnections between photography and ballroom cul-tureFthis became one of my signature images,appearing in Dance Beat in the United States, DanceNews in the United Kingdom, and on the website ofDecaDance Photography (for whom I occasionally workas a guest photographer). This image has also proven a

powerful tool for explaining dancesport, including theheight, power, and posture generated by Dominico andGioia. Whereas video might better capture these dy-namics in action, the frozen image enables me to directattention to each characteristic in turn, and to highlightDominico and Gioia’s nearly perfect postureFa keyjudging criteriaFeven while hurtling through the air athigh velocity (e.g., Marion 2008:40–41).

Attending the Blackpool Dance FestivalFthe mostprestigious ballroom competition in the worldFand al-ready recognized as a dancesport photographer, Florida-based vendor Designs to Shine hired me for shoots in2003 and 2005–2007. Figure 2, from the 2006 shoot,features Anna Trebunskaya and Karina SmirnoffFmostwidely recognized from ABC’s Dancing with the Stars3

Fand exemplifies the interrelationships in dancesportbetween dancers, dress and costume, commerciality,public prestige, and photography. Appealing to dance-sport’s glamorous side, panel 2A features high-fashionevening gowns where panel 2B displays dancesport‘‘practice’’ wear (clothing meant to emulate the move-ments and styles of competition costumes). Also ondisplay by Anna and KarinaFin conjunction with thedressesFare the appearance and performance (2A and2B), poise (2A), and athleticism (2B) that are all part and

FIGURE 2. Anna Trebunskaya and Karina Smirnoff (both of Dancing with the Stars) modelingEvening Gowns (A) and Practice Wear (B) for Florida-based Designs to Shine in Blackpool,

England. & 2006 Jonathan S. Marion.

Photography as Ethnographic Passport MARION 27

parcel of dancesport aesthetics. Finally, this imageattests to the social and cultural translocality of dance-sport as Russian-born and San Francisco–based Anna

and Ukrainian-born and New York–based Karina aremodeling for Florida-based Designs to Shine while inBlackpool, England, as professional U.S. competitors.

FIGURE 3. Professional Smooth competitors Paul Cloud and Borbala Bunnett. & 2008 JonathanS. Marion.

FIGURE 4. Warren and Kristi Boyce (left) and Paolo Bosco and Silvia Pitton (right), each dancing a‘‘Contracheck’’ in International Standard at the 2005 Embassy Ball Dancesport Championships, in

Irvine, CA. & 2005 Jonathan S. Marion.

28 VISUAL ANTHROPOLOGY REVIEW Volume 26 Number 1 Spring 2010

Well-illustrating that it is context and not contentthat makes a photo ethnographic, the image in Figure 3has led three lives. Like much of my dancesport photog-raphy, the image (as seen on the left) was shaped by thevisual culture of competitive ballroom4Fthat is, thetypes of composition and framing in demand by com-petitorsFand the dancers depicted purchased a print ofthis image and the rights to post it on their website. Thisis its first life. This image’s second life is as a SemifinalistImage in the 2008 Anthropology News Fieldwork PhotoContest, where (speaking to the same translocality notedfor Figure 2 above) it appeared with the following titleand caption:

Globalization at a Glance

Illustrating the body-based translocal culture ofdancesport, English born and trained Paul Cloudand Hungarian born and trained Borbala Bunnetthave participated in over 200 competitions in 10countries (USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Hungary,

Germany, Japan, France, Holland, Russia andUkraine) and have over 15 years of teachingexperience.

The image’s third life is as seen on the right side ofFigure 3, where it was used (with my permission) to helpadvertise the University of California Riverside Dance-sport Team’s 2009 collegiate competition, featuring aprofessional show by Paul and Borbala.

The images in Figure 4 come from the 2005 EmbassyBall in Irvine, California, and show competitors Warrenand Kristi Boyce (left) and Paolo Bosco and Silvia Pitton(right)Fboth World and Blackpool Amateur BallroomFinalists at the timeFeach performing a ‘‘Contra-check.’’5 Continuing the translocal theme noted forFigures 2 and 3, the side-by-side comparison allows theviewer to see the deep activity-based similarities be-tween English-born Warren and Estonian-born Kristi(dancing for England) and Italian-born Paolo and Silvia(dancing for Italy). In juxtaposition to each other, theseimages also help identify limits and ranges of dancesport

FIGURE 5. Michael Malitowski and Joanna LeunisFWorld and Blackpool Professional Finalists atthe time, now World and Blackpool Professional ChampionsFperforming their Rumba at the2005 Ball in Irvine, CA (left) and the 2005 British Open Dancesport Championships, in Blackpool,England (right). & 2005 Jonathan S. Marion. Note: The drastically different skin tones are a resultof very different shooting conditions and are not accurate reflections of the dancers. I was on theedge of the floor for the image on the left, allowing my flash unit to saturate the image, whereas Iwas located much farther away at Blackpool, where my flash was not able to overcome the dis-

tance (and mixed lighting).

Photography as Ethnographic Passport MARION 29

costuming through the drastic gender difference in cos-tuming: the men’s near identical tailsuits, and thedifferent cuts and colors of the women’s still somewhatsimilar gowns.

Where Figure 4 contrasts different couples in thesame competition, Figure 5 contrasts the same couple attwo different competitions. While always subject tovariations in how it is performed, Michael and Joanna’sdancing is Michael and Joanna’s dancing whether inCalifornia or Blackpool. This continuity of contentacross venues is, of course, the other side of the translo-cal coin: not only do dancers from across the globeperform dancesport in similar ways, but the same danc-

ers perform dancesport in similar ways across the globeas well.

Figure 6 juxtaposes images of Felipe and CarolinaTelona across place and time, depicting the same actionin their Cha Cha routine in 2004, 2007, and 2008 (panelsA, B, and C, respectively). This side-by-side comparisonachieves two interrelated purposes. First, it shows changesto the Telonas, grooming and costuming over time (es-pecially Carolina’s). Second, and more importantly, ithelps document technical dancesport judging criteria.When I first showed the image in panel A to others in2004, initial reactions varied:� Nondancers commented on Carolina’s physique.

FIGURE 6. Seven-time American Professional Rhythm Finalists Felipe and Carolina Telona competing at the2004 Yankee Classic Dancesport Championships in Boston (A and D); the 2007 San Diego Dancesport Championships inSan Diego (B and E); and the 2008 International Grand Ball in San Francisco (C and F). & 2004, 2007, 2008

Jonathan S. Marion.

30 VISUAL ANTHROPOLOGY REVIEW Volume 26 Number 1 Spring 2010

� Beginning dancers commented on her speed (as seenin the blur of her skirt).� Experienced dancers noted that her head-angle was

too far forward relative to her body-axis.

This head-angle to body-axis discrepancy is illus-trated in panel D, and panels E (2007) and F (2008) allowviewers to trace the development and tighter alignmentover time.

Photography as Ethnographic Facilitation

Ruby notes that ‘‘culture can be seen and enactedthrough visible symbols embedded in behaviorFges-tures, body movements, and space use’’ (2000:240). Thematerials above provide examples of this from dance-sport, and demonstrate the utility of photography inunpacking such cultural content. Overall I have sug-gested a model for thinking about photography as both asocial and a cultural passport. While interest in and de-mand for images by dancesport competitors, media, andvendors all expedited my fieldwork access, just as im-portant are the cultural understandings facilitatedthrough these images. As the discussions of the imagesin this essay make clear, these dynamics certainly inter-twine; but they are not one-and-the-same, and there issomething to be gained in giving each its due reflectionand consideration.6

Notes

1 This significance can be due to any number of things, bethey political, personal, professional, spiritual, or some-thing else altogether.

2 Collier and Collier’s (1986) concept of camera as can opener,for example, makes a similar point.

3 As of April 2010, Anna Trebunskaya has competed in Sea-sons 2, 5, 9, and 10, and Karina Smirnoff has competed in

Seasons 3–9, In a related vein, I ended up attending thepremier of Season 4 as Karina’s guest after she e-mailed toask if I had any photos of her readily available for a projectshe was working on at the time.

4 For a broader argument of just this pointFthat visualmethodologies should be informed by ethnographic under-standing of the visual culture at handFsee Pink (2007:ch. 2).

5 These images come from the same competition as Figure 1,with all three couples competing against each other at thisevent.

6 Ultimately I do not take this model as reality, but rather as atool that opens up conceptual space for thinking aboutthese issues, the same point made by Ruby in noting that‘‘theories are neither true nor false; they are merely useful’’(2000:251).

References

Collier, John, and Malcom Collier1986 Visual Anthropology: Photography as a Research

Method. Albuquerque: University of New MexicoPress.

Marion, Jonathan S.2007 Which Way to the Ballroom? Suomen Antropologi.

Journal of the Finnish Anthropological Society32(2):110–123.

2008 Ballroom: Culture and Costume in Competitive Dance.Oxford: Berg.

Nijland, Dirk J.2006 Ritual Performance and Visual Representations. In

Reflecting Visual Ethnography: Using the Camera inAnthropological Research. Metje Postma and Peter I.Crawford, eds. Pp. 26–49. Leiden: CNWS.

Pink, Sarah2007 Doing Visual Anthropology. 2nd edition. Thousand

Oaks, CA: Sage.Ruby, Jay

2000 Picturing Culture: Explorations of Film and Anthro-pology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Photography as Ethnographic Passport MARION 31