Ladies Take the Lead
PROBLEM
Despite some dance teachers' best intentions, women in heteronormative partner dance spaces experience social pressure which hinders their ability to learn to lead.
GOAL
To remove the pressure to follow that most beginner women feel in Latin partner dance classes.
OUTCOME
An experiential dance workshop for women where all participants practice both leading and following in a supportive, feminine space.
TOOLS
Miro
Procreate
Illustrator
Premier Pro
VideoAsk
Keynote
DURATION
10 weeks
CLIENT
MFA thesis
Role & Collaborators
MY ROLE
Lead designer
WHAT I DID
Expert interviews, workshop design, branding and marketing, asset production, team direction
COLLABORATORS
Valentina Giovannini: dance teacher
Christine Nieves: videographer
Ismael Fernandez: photographer
Elisa Gonzales: music consultant
Ben Rigney: audio tech assistance
Emilie Baltz: experiencial design advisor
Recap
DURATION
30 seconds
Ladies Take the Lead is an experiential workshop for women in Latin partner dance.
Designed in response to women’s struggle in traditional partner dance classes, this workshop allows all participants to practice both leading and following
in a supportive, feminine space.
research
Problem
The pressure to follow gets in the way of women leading.
In Latin partner dance, the gender norm dictates that women take the role of the follower and men the role of the leader. This norm gets reinforced in the structure of partner dance classes, where dancers are asked to stick to a single role. Given the often leader-heavy class demographics, the single-role class structure puts women leaders at a disadvantage.
User interviews
Women perceive leading as intimidating.
Key insights from user interviews were that women perceive leading as challenging, intimidating, and ultimately not fun. Most commonly, beginners "cave" into the pressure of the gender norm and opt out of leading in class out of the need for comfort. If women don't automatically fall into following it's because they "stand their ground".
Experience strategy
A women-only experience to provide support and holistic skills.
Research insights revealed an opportunity to create a women-only experience using switch-role class mechanics and a holistic curriculum that trained participants on soft and hard skills, all in a supportive, feminine environment.
development
Collaboration artifacts
Tools for communicating the concept to the team.
I shared a rough storyboard and a detailed event agenda with my photo/video team and other collaborators. These tools made communicating the concept and expectations for the event clear and acted as the very first low-fi prototype.
Branding and marketing
A feminine tone disrupts perceptions of leadership.
Inspired by queer brands like Lex, I designed
a friendly and proud but distinctly feminine brand. I liaised with local partner dance teachers and organizers to advertise on print and social media. Eventbrite was the event's main hub for sign-ups and customer communications. I tested all assets and props, before final production.
Experience prototype
I gathered a small group of friends and tested the music, workshop agenda and facilitation approaches. The biggest takeaway was that the music needed to be more energetic.
Participant interactions and music are the biggest drivers of energy.
implementation
Experience journey
The three key phases of the experience were discovery, generosity, and becoming. These were capped by an intake form and an outtake reflection.
Tying reflection, dancing, and community with goals in mind.
Participant reactions
Energizing, challenging, and fun—when's the next one?
Dancers' reactions during and after the experience were highly positive. Qualitative data gathered from the outtake survey revealed participants' improved mood and new insights about leadership. There was explicit interest in future workshop availability.
Takeaways
Next steps
1. Experiences that require a strict user journey for completion can not be time-based (particularly if they are free). Lateness will fundamentally alter the experience of latecomers. To make highly-controlled story-based experiences less risky, they should be self-guided, like those of a museum.
2. While I would love to believe that gender demographics do not affect our actions and emotions, I left this experience convinced that it does have an impact. Creating a women's-only partner dance space had a fundamental impact in the energy of the event.
3. There is an opportunity to continue altering gender dynamics beyond single-gender demographics.
4. Integrating verbal reflection as part of the workshop helped participants develop rapport and empathy with others incredibly quickly.
I'd like to create a similar experience with switch-role mechanics that is open to dancers of all genders, OR create an experience with single-role mechanics where women lead the whole class and men follow the whole class. I think that testing these class dynamics in a safe and supportive environment might be even more enlightening, humbling and transformative for individual dancers and the Latin dance community at large.