Frozen landscapes: a Foucauldian genealogy of the ideal ballet dancer’s body

Ritenburg, Heather

doi:10.1080/14647891003671775

Cited by 28 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…The imagined audience created by various technologies adds a new dimension to the existing issues that dancers have traditionally had with body image and the quest, or longing for, the ideal dancer's body (Barr and Oliver 2016;Ritenburg 2010;Zeller 2017). This new dimension for students in private sector studios is the result of a combination of limiting feminist pedagogy in the digitally surveilled studio and the addition of participation in SNSs fostering new standards of beauty.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To Foucault, 'people under surveillance tend to internalize the surveillance gaze, modify their behaviour and question their identity in order to conform to a given social norm' (Dryburgh and Fortin,96). The use of CCTV in private sector dance studios enhances the already asymmetrical power relationship that exists between the stakeholders including studio administration, parents/clients, teachers and students, as well as the panoptic environment of the dance studio (Berg 2015;Ritenburg 2010). Dance students' identities are formed as they modify their behaviour to conform to studio expectations that are amplified by the imagined audience.…”

Section: Theoretical Underpinning: Surveillance Power and Identity Imentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Extending the first argument from vertical surveillance of CCTV to the constant horizontal surveillance created by dancers' interaction with social media, the second argument explores how the imagined audience plays a role in reinforcing dance's established exclusionary aesthetic, as dancers adapt their images to meet perceived audience expectations. As part of a long-established tradition in Western concert dance training, selfobjectification is used as a teaching strategy including using the mirror for self-correction as well as upward comparison to peers (Barr and Oliver 2016;Ritenburg 2010;Zeller 2017). Online horizontal surveillance is equally Foucauldian in its fundamental ability to facilitate various asymmetrical relations of power and cause identities to form in response to self-regulation.…”

Section: Horizontal Surveillance: Flattening the Hierarchymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The matrix of in-studio embodied relationships in dance education conventionally relished by dancers, teachers and choreographers is changing with the use of new technologies. Traditionally, the dance studio is a panoptic environment where expectations are well defined and dancers are taught to self-regulate behaviour through constant surveillance by teachers and peers, as well as self-surveil through the use of the mirrors (Barr and Oliver 2016;Berg 2015;Ritenburg 2010;Zeller 2017). However, the addition of closed-circuit television (CCTV) used in private-sector studios, which can be live-streamed, causes the level of dancers' performativity in the traditionally panoptic environment to be amplified in response to the ever-present digital extension of self through media (Berg 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Manifestations of surveillance in private sector dance education: the implicit challenges of integrating technology

Berg

2020

Research in Dance Education

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This paper seeks to illuminate the challenges of integrating new technologies in private sector dance education and explores the formation of digitally mediated identities in adolescent female dancers. Autoethnographic research is supported by Foucauldian theory as well as surveillance and social media scholarship. Research examines how the imagined audience, produced by live-streamed closedcircuit television (CCTV), perpetuates the status quo in systems of Western concert dance education and creates new dimensions in dance competition culture. The values of the dominant class are embedded in institutional systems of training. Structural systems of oppression exclude marginalized groups and maintain the status quo. The argument is extended to include how the imagined audience produced by social media plays a role in reinforcing dance's established exclusionary aesthetic, as dancers create online identities to meet perceived audience expectations and build cultural capital. The discussion explores ways in which the imagined audience exacerbates current concerns in the field of dance education. Existing socioeconomic and institutional barriers perpetuate patriarchal values and reinforce gender expectations. In a post-pandemic world, teachers and students will negotiate new dimensions in dance education produced by manifestations of surveillance as this technological mediation will continue to be the norm.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theoretical Underpinning: Surveillance Power and Identity Imentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Horizontal Surveillance: Flattening the Hierarchymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Manifestations of surveillance in private sector dance education: the implicit challenges of integrating technology

Berg

2020

Research in Dance Education

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“…Foucauldian works on embodiment and power examine the types of bodily surveillance ballet dancers succumb to (Dryburgh and Fortin, 2010) and their physical experiences of daily pressures posed by the slender-body ideal type (Heiland et al, 2008). Lastly, Ritenburg (2010) conducts a genealogy of the Balanchinean conception of the female balletic body especially prevalent in North America, through looking at the impact of text-books and images on ideas about the ballerina's physicality. However, none of the above studies locate the issue of power in social class.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dance, class and the body: a Bourdieusian examination of training trajectories into ballet and contemporary dance

Tsitsou¹

2014

SJoP

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This article is a result of a small-scale interview-based study that explored the social conditions of ballet and contemporary dance production in the city of Glasgow. This study draws on interviews given by twelve professional dancers and choreographers, both freelancers and company based, who for the purposes of this research offered to share their experiences of studying and making dance. More specifically, this article aspires to map the social conditions of possibility of dancing and making dance, drawing on the class condition and career trajectories of those individuals who became dancers. With the aid of Bourdieu's (1984; 1990; 1993a) concepts of 'capitals' (economic, social, cultural and physical), 'habitus' and 'trajectories', this piece of work will discuss how class conditions give or limit access to vocational training as a career pathway to dance. It is argued that, although the social origin of this sample presents relative variety, dance is an activity that demands different types of support, which are eventually more accessible to those social groups with more assets.

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Body dissatisfaction, ideals, and identity in the development of disordered eating among adolescent ballet dancers

Ohashi

Wang

Shingleton

et al. 2023

Intl J Eating Disorders

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ObjectiveLittle is known about how female adolescent ballet dancers—a group at high‐risk for the development of body dissatisfaction and eating disorders—construct body ideals, and how their social identities interact with body ideals to confer risk for disordered eating. Using a novel body figure behavioral task, this study investigated (1) whether degree of body dissatisfaction corresponded to severity of disordered eating thoughts and behaviors, and (2) how ballet identity corresponded with ideal body figure size among adolescent ballet dancers.MethodsParticipants were 188 female ballet dancers ages 13‐18 years who completed self‐report measures of study constructs and the behavioral task.ResultsLinear regression models indicated that more severe body dissatisfaction was positively associated with increased disordered eating thoughts and behaviors (p < .19), except for muscle building (p = .32). We also found that identifying more strongly as a ballet dancer was correlated with having a smaller ideal body size (p = .017).ConclusionFindings from this study suggest desire to achieve smaller body sizes is correlated with more severe disordered eating endorsement and stronger ballet identity. Instructors and clinicians may consider assessing the extent to which individuals identify as a ballet dancer as a risk factor for disordered eating and encourage adolescent dancers to build and nurture other identities beyond ballet.Public significanceEating disorders are debilitating conditions that can lead to malnutrition, social isolation, and even premature death. Though disordered eating thoughts and behaviors can affect anyone, adolescents in physically demanding and body image‐driven activities including ballet dance are particularly vulnerable. Investigating how factors like body dissatisfaction and strength of identity are associated with disordered eating among high‐risk groups is crucial for developing effective prevention and intervention methods that minimize harm.

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Frozen landscapes: a Foucauldian genealogy of the ideal ballet dancer’s body

Cited by 28 publications

References 18 publications

Manifestations of surveillance in private sector dance education: the implicit challenges of integrating technology

Manifestations of surveillance in private sector dance education: the implicit challenges of integrating technology

Dance, class and the body: a Bourdieusian examination of training trajectories into ballet and contemporary dance

Body dissatisfaction, ideals, and identity in the development of disordered eating among adolescent ballet dancers

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