Embodied Subjectivities: Nine Young Women Talking Dance

The purpose of this paper is to examine nine Australian young women's embodied experiences of dance. The young women were all amateur dancers involved in weekly jazz, tap, and ballet dance classes at the same dance studio. In this paper, embodiment is defined as multidimensional (Burkitt 1999). The authors explore the ways the corporeal and the discursive converage to make possible particular experiences in dance and particular gendered selves. The analysis highlights the dominance of traditional notions of femininity and beauty in shaping the embodied experiences of these young women dancers. This paper discusses the need for conceptualizing the body's role in the production of gendered selves. Teachers can encourage students to question and challenge the dominant gendered discourse, while also recognizing the importance of the bodily investments of individuals in particular gendered identities.