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THE BODY-SELF OF THE BALLERINA : IMPACT OF SOMATICS ON DANCERS’ BODY IMAGE AND SELF-ESTEEMThe ballet has always pursued a poetic ideal of the etheric body, meeting the criteria of beauty and virtuosity. According to research, teaching practices in ballet contribute to the distortion of body image, viewed from the outside, that dancers often compare to unattainable aesthetic ideals and ballet perfection requirements. In these comparisons, ballet dancers tend to develop negative body image and low self-esteem. However, somatic education, seldom used in traditional ballet pedagogy, focuses on the moving body experience, viewed from the inside, and on its self-regulatory process. This qualitative study had two broad objectives: first, to validate the impact of a somatic intervention program on body image and self esteem of five female college students, enrolled in a pre-professional ballet program. Second, to understand the psychosomatic factors involved in their body image and self-esteem. Data collection was done through a survey process. A thematic analysis of the results was made thereafter. This lecture includes a presentation of this research, a mini somatic workshop and a discussion with the participants on the promotion of mental health and dance/movement therapy.
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Jo-Anne La Flèche |
Jo-Anne La Flèche is a clinical psychologist. For the past thirty years, she has practiced psychotherapy with adults and teenagers, and has taught psychology in different medical and school institutions. She has always trained as a ballet dancer at semi-professional level and was actively involved in a Recreational Dance School for 17 years. She still takes classes regularly in ballet and ballroom dancing. In 2012, she obtained a certificate in Dance Pedagogy at Université du Québec à Montréal, fulfilling a long-time dream to combine her two passions in life. During her internship at l’École Supérieure de Ballet du Québec, she created a dance therapy program designed to help the students enhance their inner strength, self-esteem, and ability to dance with ease and artistic expressiveness. She later became their resident dance psychologist, giving workshops, therapy sessions, and teaching dance psychology. Since then, Ms La Flèche has pursued graduate studies in somatics and is about to obtain a Master’s degree in Dance at the Université du Québec à Montréal. Her research pertains to the use of somatics in the enhancement of body image and self-esteem. She also gives dance/movement therapy workshops to adults of all ages in the general community.
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