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Identity Pending...
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My socio-cultural research on women and ballet draws from Michel Foucault’s post-structuralist theories about power, identity and the self. I examine the experiences and opportunities that women have to continue dancing past the age of 18, as they navigate the often fraught transition to adulthood from their adolescent ballet training selves. In Foucauldian theory, the self is constantly changing and recuperating in relation to context; there is no one “true self”. As I think about my research participants, I ask what happens to them when they finish their training programs at age 18, but still wish to continue dancing as an adult? How do they remodel and transform their selves in response to societal pressures to either be a ballerina or leave dancing behind entirely?
This image was captured during a session where adult ballet dancers were experimenting freely; this one drew me in due to its speculative nature. She has chosen not to show her face, and although she is wearing a classical ballet leotard, her hair is loose and free and her arms are not in a classical ballet position. Her identity is neither classical ballerina, nor is it a non-dancer, it is pending.
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- Date created
- 2024-06-01
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