In the ballroom, a redefinition of 'couple'

E. Marx

As the ballroom dancers glided in unison, mirroring each other's pulsating movements to a midtempo Latin beat, a couple in black body-hugging costumes caught the audience's attention. Screaming "Go 201, go 201," the onlookers cheered the pair on as they whirled across the room in an athletically sensuous display of high leg kicks, grinding hip turns and pirouettes. The couple, one of 24 teams dancing in the preliminary round of a ballroom dancing contest at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, captured second place in the Latin division. Only the couple's sex _ both are men _ hinted at controversy. In letting the dancers, Russell Halley and Jorge Guzman, participate in the competition in April, the organizers of the M.I.T. event for the first time permitted two men to dance together at a championship level. Mr. Halley and Mr. Guzman are also pushing against limits set by the United States Amateur Ballroom Dancers Association, which requires that a competing couple consist of a man and a woman. The two dancers say that the rules are archaic and that they have proved that two men can dance powerfully and still be artistic. Moreover, they ask, if questions of gay identity and inclusion are being engaged in the workplace and in the bonds of marriage, then why not in professional and amateur sport?