Under this weight: embodiment in dance choreography

In this chapter I place embodiment and the corporeal body as central to examination. I argue that the physical body is shaped by social and cultural practices. I apply Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of field, capital and habitus as a way of understanding beliefs about the body, connections between body, gender and identity and broader social and power structures. This chapter uses creative contexts of dance and choreography to explore how the embodiment of dance movement is inscribed on a group of individuals and how previously known ‘rules of the game’ (norms, expectations and values) as ballet bodies, can be negotiated, subverted or broken. I interweave the lived experiences of a group of five, white, female, adult dancers, between the ages of 19-26 years as they engage in a choreography project that is in contrast to their ‘usual’ habitus, preferred style and way of working. I examine how the dancers’ embody the choreographic style and underpinning techniques emotionally and physically and social relevance and meaning.