The Pregnant Body in Contemporary Dance
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
RIPE WITH MEANING: THE PREGNANT BODY IN CONTEMPORARY DANCE by Marney Debenham Schaumann A thesis submitted to the faculty of The University of Utah in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts Department of Modern Dance The University of Utah August 2010 Copyright Marney Debenham Schaumann 2010 All Rights Reserved The University of Utah Graduate School STATEMENT OF THESIS APPROVAL The thesis of MarneyDebenham Schaumann has been approved by the following supervisory committee members: Pamela Geber , Chair March 1,2010 bate Approved Satu Hummasti , Member March 1,2010 Date Approved Eric Handman , Member March 1,2010 Date Approved and by D a White ' Chair of __________::..:: o.::llll= '-:..:...::: .::.: =----_________ the Department of Modern Dance and by Charles A. Wight, Dean of The Graduate School. ABSTRACT During the last thirty years research about dance and dancing bodies had provided a fertile ground for discussion and investigation. Significant presentations have been made about the subject, innumerable articles have been written and a multitude of books have been published that address the dancing body as viewed from the perspectives of identity, race, power, politics, social status, gender, sexuality, and so on. One relatively unaddressed area in this ever-expanding discussion are perceptions, attitudes and biases that are held about dancing pregnant bodies, particularly the implications of these bodies in the studio and on stage. As a unique, altered body, the dancing body has been silent in the wings, marginalized, perhaps even 'put away'. Until it is aesthetically/physically regarded as being ready to be brought into sight it will remain an elusive and enigmatic moving form. Through interviews, this thesis investigates how the pregnant dancing body is understood and experienced in the studio, on stage, in the workplace, and culturally, by women who have "been there." To context their responses this thesis will address, at a rudimentary level, the pregnant body from a historical perspective and use literature from the field of gender studies to provide a contemporary understanding of issues that arise when a woman who dances becomes pregnant. Through research, analysis, a creative project, interviews with dancers who have been pregnant and continue to dance, and through personal reflection (I gave birth to a son during the writing of this thesis) I assert that a pregnant dancing body is a disruptive, challenging, yet able dancing body with its own unique story. It is ultimately through the women themselves, whose words and voices add the most relevant insights into the growing body of literature in the disciplines of dance and gender studies that we engage with a field of inquiry in such a personal yet universal way. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................. vii INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1 Chapters 1 THE FEMALE BODY ..................................................................................................2 Body Cultures ................................................................................................................2 A Body that Stimulates Myths and Fears ......................................................................5 Othered: The Unstable Womb .......................................................................................6 Methods of Control ......................................................................................................11 2 DANCING BODIES: BODIES SPEAK .....................................................................18 Bodies that Matter ........................................................................................................19 Two Bodies: Contained and in Control .......................................................................20 Bodies for Sale: Beautiful Bodies ................................................................................22 3 PREGNANT WITH MEANING: BODIES THAT MATTER ...................................28 Looking Is Not Simple: Multiple Interpretations of the Pregnant Body .....................28 The Pregnant Body: Bodies that Matter.......................................................................30 The Body Back ............................................................................................................34 Disconnect: Being Is Not Simple .................................................................................38 4 THE DANCING PREGNANT BODY: A DISRUPTIVE BODY ..............................40 A Challenging Body ....................................................................................................41 Public/Private ...............................................................................................................52 Childcare: The Elephant in the Room ..........................................................................77 ‘Ripe:’ Birthing a Creative Endeavor ..........................................................................80 OTHER WORKS ...............................................................................................................93 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................95 EPILOGUE ........................................................................................................................99 REFERENCE LIST .........................................................................................................104 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I thank my husband Clarke for supporting me in this journey and believing in me even when I didn’t believe in myself. I thank my parents, Professors Pat and Kathie Debenham, for encouraging me to persevere over the years, and for seeing the potential in my work long before it came to complete fruition. I thank my thesis committee for working with me in spite of time away from school. I thank my interview participants for sharing their stories. I thank Liz Harris, Christine Settles, Sandy Otting, Laura Gourley, Jason Wernli, Lisa Smith, and countless others who volunteered to baby-sit so that I could finish writing. And lastly, I thank my wonderfully adorable Oliver, without whom I would not have found the desire and inspiration to begin again and to finish birthing what I started long ago. INTRODUCTION Swelling; burgeoning; round; protruding. When you hear these words what body comes to mind? Would you be surprised that I am describing a dancing body? Words more often associated with dancing bodies might be thin or muscular. This is the challenge of the pregnant dancing form: it does not conform to traditional expectations of dancing bodies, and yet it is capable of being a dancing body. The pregnant body is a peculiar body. It is a common body, a natural part of life, a body to be over looked. It is also a startling body, a unique occurrence, a body to be looked over and scrutinized. It is exactly this paradox that draws me to question this body in the field of dance. If this body is so ambiguous, so loaded and so neutral in society at large, what is this body in the world of contemporary dance? While not often seen in concert dance, the pregnant body forces viewers to confront preconceived ideas about what dancing bodies should look like, move like, and be. On a deeper level, the pregnant dancing body asks us to confront what a dancing woman should be. To investigate this complex life event, I interviewed thirty women with experience in both dance performance and academia. Through their stories and my own personal experience I hope to broaden the scope of the female experience in the field of modern dance and open a dialogue about one of life’s truly transformative experiences. CHAPTER 1 THE FEMALE BODY Body Cultures In the past three decades the body, in all of its symbols, representations and meanings, has become a popular topic in dance, sociology and philosophy (among other disciplines). Through various investigations researchers seek to analyze what the body can mean and what certain bodies signify in particular and why. Just as people live in varied cultures around the world, I posit that as individuals we live in various body cultures, as well, and more often than not we live simultaneously within multiple body cultures. Through an on going series of identifications and dis-identifications, body images are created (Weiss 1999). As a woman, a dancer, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and as a mother, I see my body differently as a result of each of these subcultures in which I live. Gail Weiss argues our bodies and how we make sense of them through our body image “are not discrete, but form a series of overlapping identities” (Weiss 1). Our body images are not cohesive, nor do they operate in a uniform way in our everyday existence. She argues that a “multiplicity of body images” are “copresent” in each individual and are “constructed through corporeal exchanges within and outside of specific bodies” (Weiss 2). I identify strongly with this statement. As a dancer I see my body through my dancer eyes; I judge my body against what I feel is expected of dancing bodies. 3 Sometimes I feel my body is in “compliance,”