Angela Pickard

Schooling the dancer: the evolution of an identity as a ballet dancer

This paper explores how young ballet dancers’ bodies are constructed and narrated through their desire to become performing ballet dancers. The schooling of the balletic body engages the young dancer in embodying the discipline of ballet and in developing a particular belief in a performing body. The embodied set of acquired dispositions that are inscribed into the dancer’s body are, in Pierre Bourdieu’s terms, a core part of the dancer’s habitus. This paper is based on a longitudinal, ethnographic, empirical study of the experiences of 12 young ballet dancers, 6 boys and 6 girls. These young people were aged between 10 and15 years at the start of the study and were tracked over a period of four years during the process of ‘becoming’ a ballet dancer as they engaged in non-residential ballet schooling. Data was generated via a multi-method approach. Findings suggest that the young dancers must demonstrate a willingness to accept emotional and physical suffering for the sake of ballet as a performance art and body as aesthetic project. They must therefore attach positive meaning to their experiences as they learn to deny, re-frame or suppress negative emotions.

Crystallising experiences among young elite dancers

Crystallising experiences are defined as memorable reactions an individual has to some quality or feature of an activity or domain that yields a long-term change in the individual performance and their view of themselves (Walters & Gardner, 1986; Freeman, 1999). This paper explores the nature and consequences of crystallising experiences from interviews with 63 male and female ballet dancers, between the ages of 9 and 15, early in the process of their career development. The research was undertaken in two elite ballet schools, one in the North and one in the South of England, where the young ballet dancers participate in a non-residential ballet education and training programme during evenings and weekends. We suggest that such significant experiences and memorable moments are common occurrences among young dancers and that their affective responses to the experiences are significant and sometimes dramatic. Crystallising experiences tend to signal greater commitment, motivation, self-awareness and identity as a dancer. Consequently, crystallising experiences can have an important and powerful impact on dancers’ identification with a particular domain and their development within it.

'A shock of electricity just sort of goes through my body': physical activity and embodied reflexive practices in young female ballet dancers

Participation in physical activities, in and out of school, remains heavily influenced by social constructions of gendered behaviour. In addition, the body plays a significant part in the presentation of legitimate performances of physical practice and the construction of a physical ‘identity’. The consequence is that in formalized activities many girls (and boys) are provided little chance to experience the pleasurable aspects of physical activity, as well as the added benefits of bodily confidence and knowledge. We suggest that the association of dance with other artistic forms of expression provides an opportunity to contest taken for granted assumptions about sport and physical education. The material for this paper was drawn from observations and interviews conducted with young, female dancers, aged between 9‐ and 11‐years‐old, at an internationally renowned ballet school in London.

Ballet body belief: perceptions of an ideal ballet body from young ballet dancers

This paper explores what is perceived and believed to be an ideal ballet body by young ballet dancers. Such bodily belief becomes, in Pierre Bourdieu’s terms, a core part of a ballet dancer’s habitus. A four year longitudinal, ethnographic, empirical study of the experiences of 12 young ballet dancers, six boys and six girls, aged between 10 and 15 years at the start of the study, examined processes of bodily construction and ‘becoming’ a ballet dancer in non-residential ballet schooling. Data was generated via a multi-method approach although only individual and focus group interview data are used here. Findings suggest that the 12 young ballet dancers’ attempted to replicate and position themselves within what is perceived and believed to be an ideal ballet body shape and size. Ballet is a social practice which shapes the activity of the young dancer but is also shaped by that young dancer through a process of incorporation of the social into the body. The ballet dancer’s body and habitus is produced and maintained as the young ballet dancers’ accepted their bodies as an aesthetic project. It is argued that there is a strong connection between the size, shape and aesthetic of the ballet body and identity.

Dance and work special issue

Research in Dance Education – Innovations in Arts Practice aims to inform, stimulate and promote the development of research in dance education and is relevant to both learners and teachers. The de...