For the Washington Post magazine, a story about a sport that’s also a form of activism — same-gender ballroom dance.

Chasteen says that same-gender dancing doesn’t just provide a gorgeous aesthetic experience; it can also help open minds. Watching two men or two women dancing can be a shock at first to audiences more accustomed to the gender roles in traditional dance. But the creative and highly visual way same-gender dance allows partners to be passive and active, macho and flowery, in turn, can feel transformative, and not just on the dance floor. “We are activists,” Chasteen told me.