Engendering Bodies: Somatic Stories in Dance Education.

This paper examines specific pedagogical themes, findings, and implications for dance education. The focus is on the topic of educating the student body in dance. The paper draws on a preliminary introduction and analysis from a previous study and accompanying course which pointed out a common dominant focus in dance education (an externalized view of the body). That view tends to objectify the dancer's body and requires students to strive to achieve a specific look while being corrected so that the students perform proper dance technique. The term somatic authority as used in the paper is defined as a focus on and affirmation of what the body looks like or how it should behave. The dance education students in the study often defined somatic authority as a sense of personal engagement in the learning process and an ownership of the body. The paper also discusses the reflexive analysis of participant responses that were sometimes in conflict with the assumptions and ideas of the study. It concludes with a consideration of agency and other implications for dance education. (Contains 15 references.) (SM)