The 'Female' Dancer aims to question dancers’ relationships with ‘female’ through the examination and understandings of biological, anatomical, scientific, and self-social identity. The volume gathers voices of dance scientists, dance scholars, somatic practitioners, and dance artist-educators, to discuss some of the complexities of identities, assumptions and perceptions of a female dancing body in an intersectional and practically focused manner.
The book weaves a journey between scientific and somatic approaches to dance and to dancing. Part I: 'Bodily Knowledge' explores body image, hormones and puberty, and discussions around somatic responses to the concept of the gaze. Part II: 'Moving through Change', continues to look at strength, musculature, and female fragility, with chapters interrogating practice around strength training, the dancer as an athlete, the role of fascia, the pelvic floor, pregnancy and post-partum experiences and eco-somatic perceptions of feminine. In 'Taking up Space', Part III, chapters focus on social-cultural and political experiences of females dancing, leadership, and longevity in dance. Part IV: 'Embodied Wisdom' looks at reflections of the Self, physiological, social and cultural perspectives of dancing through life, with life’s seasons from an embodied approach.
Drawing together lived experiences of dancers in relationship with scientific research, this book is ideal for undergraduate students of dance, dance artists, and researchers, as well as providing dancers, dance teachers, healthcare practitioners, company managers and those in dance leadership roles with valuable information on how to support female identifying dancers through training and beyond.
Edited by:
Claire Farmer,
Helen Kindred
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
Weight: 610g
ISBN: 9781032466897
ISBN 10: 1032466898
Pages: 302
Publication Date: 31 May 2024
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Primary
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming
Introduction Claire Farmer and Helen Kindred PART I: Bodily knowledge 1. Growing up in dance: Experiencing the pubertal transition in leotard and tights Siobhan Mitchell 2. Female dancer hormone health Nicky Keay 3. Female dancers: food, nutrients and body composition Jasmine Challis 4. Ballet culture and body image in recreational dance training Rebekah Wall 5. A somatic approach to audiencing Carolina Bergonzoni 6. Embodied experience of bodies with breasts Amelia Millward and James Brouner PART II: Moving through change 7. Strength training considerations for female dancers Claire Farmer 8. Pelvic floor considerations for female dancers through the lifespan Brooke Winder 9. Improvising with the pain(s) of endometriosis Kate March 10. The pregnant dancer Chloe Hillyar 11. Fascia illuminated May Kesler 12. FEMALEtraces Helen Kindred and Sandra Sok The embodied archive of the self Celia Shaw Morris PART III: Taking up space 13. Sustaining a dance career as a parent Lucy McCrudden and Angela Pickard 14. Dancer (noun)—mother, daughter, sister, colleague, partner, warrior, sorceress, friend Erica Stanton 15. Are you a leader? The L word that women in dance fear Avatâra Ayuso 16. Coming out is a protest: A score for ritual queer emergence Kars Dodds 17. Geometry of gender: Analysing the anatomical specifications of a Bharatanatyam dancer Shreya Srivastava and Shilpa Darivemula PART IV: Embodied wisdom 18. Foregrounding (the) self in dance practice Gemma Harman and Jayne McKee 19. There’s wisdom in them bones—Moving beyond the shape Janine Cappello 20. The trees, my pelvis and dancing through a life Celeste Nazeli Snowber 21. Dancing to live Stella Eldon 22. Body scapes: Celebrating seasonality of well‑being in somatic dialoguing with the natural world Anna Dako in collaboration with Martina Polleros SCORE—FEMALEtraces Helen Kindred and Sandra Sok
Claire Farmer is a senior lecturer in Dance Science at Middlesex University, UK. Helen Kindred is a senior lecturer in Dance at Middlesex University, UK.
