Mambo and Maggiorate: Italian Female Stardom in the 1950s

Elisa Uffreduzzi, in “Mambo and maggiorate: Italian Female Stardom in the 1950s,” examines how female Italian film stars used the provocative mambo dance to express their sexuality and independence. The depiction of this Latin American dance in some of Italy’s most renowned films allowed actresses to challenge cultural prescriptions that sought to regulate female behavior. Because it calls for alternating between male and female leads, the mambo’s structure also allows for a certain equality between the sexes, reflecting the post–World War II transformation of Italian society. Thus, perhaps unconsciously, the mambo became a powerful symbol for Italian women, as it countered the female’s passive position even beyond ballroom pair dancing.