An Asian, Caucasian, and African-American walk into a Salsa class. Of the three, one is the instructor. Which one?
However, before you guess, here’s a little background about the three dancers.
All three are male, in their mid-20s or early 30s.
The Asian lived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia until he moved to Austin, Texas with his mother and father when he was 14. In high school, he was a swimmer and cyclist.
The Caucasian was a former high school running back, baseball player, and wrestler who grew up in a rural community in the Missouri.
The African-American lived with his grandparents in Kansas City. Other than a six-month stint in boxing, he has no athletic background. He was, however, a five-time spelling bee champion in elementary school and student of the year at the alternative high school he attended.
OK, now guess. Which one of the three is the Salsa instructor?
The answer is the Asian.
“I started taking dancing lessons in 2002, a year after I graduated from college,” says Allan Chow, Salsa instructor at Isle of Capri Casino. “Even though I started out to learn Argentine Tango, Salsa found me. I was naturally drawn to Salsa because of the younger crowd, more opportunities to dance socially and to participate in a professional dance team and to teach.”
The answer, however, isn’t the point. It’s more about what you guessed and why?
When I listed their ethnicities — Asian, Caucasian and African-American — did you lean towards the African-American automatically, based on the association with dance and rhythm? On the other hand, when you read that the African-American had no athletic background and five spelling bee titles, did you eliminate him? If so, why?
Alternatively, what was your reaction when you found out the Caucasian was from a rural community? Did that make you doubt his salsa skills?
How about your initial thoughts when you pictured an Asian in a salsa class? Was that an easy association for you to make? Did you pick him from the beginning? Did you guess change when you learned he was from Austin, Texas?
Be wary that what you perceive as the truth is true. For example, the immediate thought that an African-American has better rhythm than a Caucasian or Asian, and is therefore a better dancer, or that a person from Texas is more likely to salsa then someone from Missouri because of the greater Hispanic influence.
While we may not always be aware of the stereotypes that play into our judgments, it’s important to see how easily an Asian, Caucasian, and African-American walking into a salsa class can shake up our thoughts about opinions.
Comments
Asian Salsa Dancer
For some reason when I read this article I thought it was a trick question to who was the salsa dancer. So I actually guessed that it was the Asian that was the salsa dancer. We would usually assume that the African American would have the better dancing skills. It is weird how our society decides what abilities each ethnicity has. Good or bad.