Title: A Fall From Grace? Examining Retired Ballet Dancers’ Experiences With Body Image And Embodiment Across The Life Course
Thesis Supervisor: Dr. Erica Bennett
Committee members: Dr. Meridith Griffin, Dr. Moss Norman
Defence Chair: Dr. Desi McEwan
Abstract: According to master choreographer George Balanchine, the ‘ideal ballet body’ for women is to be tall and incredibly slender, with small breasts, small hips, long limbs, and a short torso (Langdon, 2012). Women ballet dancers often experience negative body image and embodiment due to these narrow ideals; yet, how ballet training influences dancers’ relationships to their bodies following ballet retirement remained unexplored. The purpose of this study was to examine i.) how women’s history with ballet training shaped and constrained their body image and embodiment over time and following retirement, and ii.) how women ballet retirees storied their long-term body image and embodied experiences both verbally and artistically. Adopting narrative constructionism (Smith & Sparkes, 2009), I conducted one life history interview and two body mapping sessions with five retired women ballet dancers (15 sessions). Through narrative thematic analysis (Riessman, 2008), I constructed stories for each participant and three overarching themes across these stories. The first theme, Act I, The Battle: Deeply Rooted Ballet Ideals and the Changing Body examined participants’ ongoing body dissatisfaction and negative embodiment due to the lasting internalization of ballet body ideals, particularly amidst navigating the aging process, as many participants redrew their body maps to appear thinner. The second theme, Act II, Waltz of the Snowflakes: Recognition of Positive Ballet Embodiment examined participants’ positive embodiment and body image in terms of aesthetics, functionality, and ballet values (artistically demonstrated by participants’ use of glitter and bright colours on certain areas of their body maps), yet these experiences remained contingent on traditional ballet body ideals. The third theme, Act III, Pas de Deux: Tensions of Traditional and 21st Century Ballet Pedagogy explored participants’ concurrent perpetuations and rejections of traditional ballet values in their teaching practices and views toward the (slowly) evolving ballet world. These findings illustrate how ballet training can impact women’s relationship with their bodies long after dance retirement, can inform future arts-based research in physical cultural and sport psychology studies, and denote the importance of centering pedagogical approaches that support dancers’ positive body image and embodiment both during and following retirement of ballet training in Canada.