Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T06:06:54.353Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Somatic Authority and the Myth of the Ideal Body in Dance Education

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2014

Jill Green
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Recently, the field of somatics has provided dance scholarship with a growing body of literature. Research has been conducted in the areas of dance science and education. Dance medicine and somatic education scholars have been able to help dance teachers find ways of using the body effectively in technique classes. For example, Glenna Batson (1990, 1993) and Sylvie Fortin (1993, 1995) have investigated the role of somatics in the improvement of technical dance skills. Further, Fortin (1995) has investigated learning and teaching theory as applied to somatics and dance pedagogy.

As a somaticist and educator, I acknowledge and appreciate the impressive work conducted by these researchers and educators. However, my current work moves somatics into another direction. I am interested in looking at somatic theory and practice through a socio-cultural lens. I am particularly interested in investigating how the body is shaped by society and the dance world, in which performers constantly strive for perfection.

Type
Articles
Information
Dance Research Journal , Volume 31 , Issue 2 , Fall 1999 , pp. 80 - 100
Copyright
Copyright © Congress on Research in Dance 1999

References

REFERENCES

Adler, S. A. 1993. Teacher education: Research as reflective practice. Teacher & Teacher Education 9/2: 159–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alter, J. 1986. A field study of an advanced dance class in a private studio setting. Dance Studies 10: 49–97.Google Scholar
Batson, G. 1990. Dancing fully, safely and expressively—The role of the body therapies in dance training. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance 61/9: 28–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Batson, G. 1993. Stretching technique: A somatic learning model—Part I: Training Sensory Responsivity. Impulse: The International Journal for Dance Science, Medicine, and Education 1/2: 126–140.Google Scholar
Behnke, E. A. 1990–1991. Moving into a somatic future. Somatics: Magazine-Journal of the Bodily Arts and Sciences 8/1: 48–52.Google Scholar
Bogdan, R. C., and Bilden, S. K. 1982. Qualitative Research for Education: An Introduction to Theory and Methods. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.Google Scholar
Bordo, S. R. 1989. The body and the reproduction of femininity: A feminist appropriation of Foucault. In Gender/body/knowledge: Feminist reconstructions of being and knowing, eds. Jaggar, A. M. and Bordo, S. R., 13–33. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Bordo, S. R. 1993. Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Brant, M. 1995, October 23. Pumping irony: Thin meets gym. Newsweek: 88.Google Scholar
Brightman, P. 1997, March. Sacrificing “Self” for Artistry: The Problematic Education of Women Dancers. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, Illinois.Google Scholar
Dallery, A. B. 1989. The politics of writing (the) body: Ecriture Feminine. In Gender/Body/Knowledge: Feminist Reconstructions of Being and Knowing, eds. Jaggar, A. M. and Bordo, S. R., 52–67. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Denzin, N. K. 1989. The Research Act: A Theoretical Introduction to Sociological Methods (3rd. Ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Dimen, M. 1989. Power, sexuality, and intimacy. In Gender/Body/Knowledge: Feminist Reconstructions of Being and Knowing, eds. Jaggar, A. M. and Bordo, S. R., 34–51. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Eisner, E. 1990. The meaning of alternative paradigms for practice. In. The Paradigm Dialogue, ed. Guba, E. G., 88–104. Newburry Park, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Ellsworth, E. 1992. Why doesn't this feel empowering? Working through the repressive myths of critical pedagogy. In Feminisms and Critical Pedagogy, eds. Luke, C. and Gore, J., 90–119. New York: Rutledge.Google Scholar
Fortin, S. 1993. When dance science and somatics enter the dance technique class. Kinesiology and Medicine for Dance 15/2: 88–107.Google Scholar
Fortin, S. 1995. Toward a new generation: Somatic dance education in academia. Impulse: The International Journal for Dance Science, Medicine, and Education 3: 253–262.Google Scholar
Foucault, M. 1979. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. New York: Vintage.Google Scholar
Foucault, M. 1980. An Introduction. The History of Sexuality. Vol. 1. Trans. Hurley, R. New York: Vintage.Google Scholar
Gallop, J. 1988. Thinking through the Body. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, J. 1993. Fostering creativity through movement and body awareness practices: A postpositivist investigation into the relationship between somatics and the creative process. Ph.D. diss., The Ohio State University, 1993. Dissertation Abstracts International, 54 (11), 3910A.Google Scholar
Green, J. 1996-a. Moving through and against multiple paradigms: Postpositivist research in somatics and creativity—Part. I. Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Physical Education 1/1: 43–54.Google Scholar
Green, J. 1996-b. Moving through and against multiple paradigms: Postpositivist research in somatics and creativity—Part II. Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Physical Education 1/2: 73–86.Google Scholar
Green, J. 1996-c, April. The Student Body: Dance Education and the Issue of Somatic Authority. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (National Dance Association), Atlanta, GA.Google Scholar
Green, J. 1996-d. Choreographing a postmodern tum: The creative process and somatics. Impulse: The International Journal for Dance Science, Medicine, and Education 4: 267–275.Google Scholar
Green, J. and Stinson, . 1999. Postpositionist research in dance. In The Art of Research: Systematic Inquiry in Dance, eds. Fraleigh, S. H. and Hanstein, P., 91–123. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.Google Scholar
Guba, E., and Lincoln, Y. 1989. Fourth Generation Evaluation. Newburry Park, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Hammack, F. 1997. Ethical issues in teacher research. Teachers College Record 99/2: 247–265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
hooks, b. 1994. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Irigary, L. 1985. This Sex which is not One. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Jaggar, A. M., and Bordo, S. R. 1989. Introduction. In Gender/Body/Knowledge: Feminist Reconstructions of Being and Knowing, eds. Jaggar, A. M. and Bordo, S. R., 1–10. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Johnson, D. 1992. Body: Recovering our Sensual Wisdom. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books and Somatic Resources.Google Scholar
Kvale, S. 1983. The qualitative research interview. A phenomenological and hermeneutical mode of understanding. Journal of Phenomenological Psychology 14: 171–196.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kvale, S. 1989. To validate is to question. In Issues of Validity in Qualitative Research, ed. Kvale, S., 73–92. Sweden: Student Literature.Google Scholar
Lather, P. 1986. Issues of validity in openly ideological research: Between a rock and a soft place. Interchange 17/4: 63–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lather, P. 1991. Getting Smart: Feminist Research and Pedagogy with/in the Postmodern. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lather, P. 1993. Fertile obsession: Validity after poststructuralism. The Sociological Quarterly 34/4: 673–693.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lincoln, Y. S., and Guba, E. G. 1985. Naturalistic Inquiry. Beverly Hills: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marques, I. 1995. A partnership towards art in education: Approaching a relationship between theory and practice. Impulse: The International Journal for Dance Science, Medicine, and Education 3/2: 86–101.Google Scholar
McWilliam, E. 1993. ‘Post’ Haste: Plodding research and galloping theory. British Journal of Sociology of Education 14/2: 199–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McWilliam, E. 1994. In Broken Images: Feminist Tales for a Different Teacher Education. New York: Teachers College Press.Google Scholar
Shapiro, S. B. 1996. Toward transformative teachers: Critical and feminist perspectives in dance education. Impulse, The International Journal for Dance Science, Medicine, and Education 4/1: 37–47.Google Scholar
Stinson, S. 1993. Journey toward a feminist pedagogy for dance. Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory 6/1: 131–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilshire, D. 1989. The uses of myth, image, and the female body in re-visioning knowledge. In Gender/Body/Knowledge: Feminist Reconstructions of Being and Knowing, eds. Jaggar, A. M. and Bordo, S. R., 92–114. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar