I saw this interesting abstract from a longer article and found it thought provoking:
Justine Coupland, Centre for Language and Communication
Research, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3EU, Wales, UK.
Abstract
Bodily display and self-awareness
are generally mediated by restrictive ideologies of youthful beauty. ‘How do I
look?’ is therefore a salient question in terms of personal ageing. Dance makes
bodies watchable, while ageing has been claimed to make bodies ‘unwatchable’.
Ethnographic research conducted amongst a group of older dancers provides an
opportunity to study these ideological tensions empirically, by analysing the
discursive representations of older dancers and their teacher. ‘The mirror’ is
a productive theme in the data, giving access to understandings of
(un)watchability of more and less literal sorts. It proves to be the case that,
while dance as a practice for older women remains fitfully tainted by
culturally dominant ageist assumptions about the body and ageing, it also opens
up far more emancipating ideologies. Older dancers’ articulation of these
ideologies are suggestive of how embodied ageing can be reconstrued, well
beyond dance contexts.
No comments:
Post a Comment