Dressing for the dance: Aesthetics, ageing and gender in modern square dance

This article examines clothing practices within the square dance community in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, whose members are mainly older adults in the 60–80 age range. What square dancers call ‘traditional dress’ is no longer required and is, even, overtly criticized by those seeking to update the image of square dance, but it remains the favourite of long-time dancers. Our focus is on the pleasures and practices of this clothing, with particular attention to sensory experience and to the activation of the clothing within forms of gender performance among older adults. Wearing traditional dress offers rich resources for aesthetic and physical expression and, for women in particular, an opportunity to assert forms of femininity that are otherwise seen as off limits to older women.