1. Interpretative Phenomenological analysis
The role of puberty in the making and breaking of young ballet dancers: The dance teacher’s perspective
Siobhan B. Mitchell, MRes, MSc, University of Bath, UK
Anne M. Haase, PhD, University of Bristol, UK
Sean P. Cumming, PhD, University of Bath, UK
Copyright Colin Purrington (
Introduction
Physical changes associated with puberty may conflict with functional and aesthetic ideals for a career in ballet. The dance teacher is in a position to guide young dancers through the pubertal transition, although dancers rather than teachers are often the focus of research. This study explores the social stimulus value of the body in ballet as perceived by the dance teacher and how stimulus value may change during puberty. The term social stimulus value describes the interaction of different forms of stimuli, in this case the adolescent body, with sociocultural or personality variables (Petersen & Taylor, 1980).
Method
Ten dance teachers were interviewed. Inclusion criteria were age ≥18 years and a minimum of three years of experience teaching ballet. The teachers ranged from 24 to 62 years and included nine females and one male, consistent with the ratio of women to men in the ballet profession (Buckroyd, 2000). The teachers had a wide range of dance experience: four trained vocationally and danced professionally prior to their teaching career, three trained vocationally and then pursued teaching, and three entered directly into the teaching profession.
Findings
Theme 1: The Ideal Body
Theme 2: Puberty as a ‘make or break’ factor in dance
Theme 3: Teacher awareness of pubertal onset and the implications of timing
Theme 4: Teacher approaches to managing puberty in the dance environment
Functional Demands
Cultural Expectations
Secular Change
Cultural Differences
…there are young women who develop in a way where their bodies are suited to ballet technique and ballet training… there is an anatomical ideal where the mechanics simply work that way (P10)
Physical Change
Psychological Change
Career Path
Pain, injury, risk
I think it impacts if they’ve gone through puberty early and they’re very self-conscious… if you have a self-conscious performer then I think it hinders their progress (P3)
Obviously late as it can give them a nicer look for if they go off for auditioning and things like that and they're a lot smaller (P4)
Physical Signs
Psychological Signs
Impact of timing
Earlier is more desirable before the real load you know in terms of pointe work and really high impact work starts to kick in (P6)
Analysis
2. Examining meaning and evaluating individual self-reflections.
3. Emergent themes are derived from key phrases.
4. All transcripts are considered together and possible connections between themes are noted.
5. Derivation of themes by two other researchers to triangulate emergent themes and to ensure credibility and reliability.
1. Individual transcripts are read and experiences described by the participant summarised
Direct Approach
Indirect Approach
Passive Approach
I don’t allow them to focus too much on how they look it’s more about how things feel as long as they find a muscle, they feel a muscle they approach it from that way (P9)
Conclusions
Ballet teachers value slim, healthy and strong bodies in dancers. It is a less rigid ideal than that of the wider ballet world. The views of teachers also highlight their potential to play a role in moderating external expectations and individual aspirations in ballet. Further research is needed to apply this understanding to the dance classroom in order to create healthier training environments which are protective of psychological health and wellbeing. By inference, the improvement of teacher awareness of the biological and behavioural dimensions of puberty, a normal biological milestone, can serve to reduce perceptions of puberty as a negative event for development of young ballet dancers. Comments on the timing of maturation diverged from the general consensus that ballet favours girls who are later in maturation, and suggested potential benefits of earlier maturation which have not been systematically explored in the ballet literature. The comments emphasised that late maturation in itself was not necessarily an advantage in ballet as the period of most rapid growth may then coincide with increases in training load and intensity.
Interpretative Phenomenological analysis
Key References
Brooks-Gunn J, Attie I, Burrow C, Rosso J. T, & Warren M. P. The impact of puberty on body and eating concerns in athletic and nonathletic contexts. The Journal of Early Adolescence. 1989: 9:
Petersen A, & Taylor B. The biological approach to adolescence: Biological change and psychosocial adaptation. In J. Adelson (Ed.), Handbook of Adolescent Psychology. New York: Wiley, 1980.
Buckroyd J, The student dancer: Emotional aspects of the teaching and learning of dance. London: Dance Books, 2000.
Pickard A. Ballet body belief: perceptions of an ideal ballet body from young ballet dancers. Research in Dance Education. 2013: 14(1): 3-19.
Smith J. Beyond the divide between cognition and discourse: Using interpretative phenomenological analysis in health psychology. Psychology and Health. 1996: 11:
Brooks-Gunn J, Warren M. The effects of delayed menarche in different contexts: Dance and non-dance students. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. 1985: 14(4):
Smith J, Flowers P, & Larkin M. Interpretative phenomenological analysis : theory, method and research. London: SAGE, 2009.
Disclosures
The presenter has no financial disclosures that would be a potential conflict of interest with this presentation.