Pleasurable challenges: competing with the ageing body and mind through Ballet for Seniors

ABSTRACT

Globally, people’s life expectancies are increasing and we are living longer than past generations. In Australia, people aged 65 years and older are expected to represent 22% of the country’s total population in 2057. At present, 65 years is the retirement age in Australia and, as a result, it marks the opportunity for many older Australians to start spending more time engaging in leisure activities. This article examines ballet class participation as one such leisure activity. Drawing from a case study of Queensland Ballet’s weekly Ballet for Seniors class, this article analyses the focus group discussions of 10 class participants (aged 46 to 82 years), class observations, and teacher interviews. One of the key findings of this case study was that more challenging class content led to a greater sense of satisfaction and pleasure among the class participants. It is proposed that part of the pleasure of dancing ballet as an older adult are the physical and cognitive challenges that are embedded in the structure of ballet.

KEYWORDS:

• Ballet
• challenge
• dance
• older adults
• play
• pleasure

Disclosure statement

Dr Anja Ali-Haapala was engaged by Queensland Ballet to conduct this research.

Notes

1. For example, the Royal Academy of Dance Australia list over 40 Australian dance studios that teach their licenced Silver Swans ballet classes (see Royal Academy of Dance Australia, n.d.). Non-syllabus ballet classes for older adults are offered by dance companies, such as Queensland Ballet (see Queensland Ballet, n.d.) and The Australian Ballet (see Willis, 2019), as well as private dance businesses, such as Dance Development Centre (see Dance Development Centre, n.d.), Dancing for Wellbeing (see Dancing for Wellbeing, n.d.), and RIPE Dance (see RIPE Dance, n.d.).

2. For example, a rotating tap and jazz dance class (i.e. 2 weeks of tap, then 2 weeks of jazz) for ages 55 years and over is offered by Sydney Dance Company (see Sydney Dance Company, n.d.).

3. For example, The Grey Panthers is a long-standing performance group with its members being predominantly over 60 years of age (see Tracks Dance, n.d.).

4. For example, the Over 50s Ballroom Dancing Club offers weekly ballroom dancing lessons and social dancing (see Over 50s Ballroom Dancing Club, n.d.).

5. For example, Brisbane City Council’s Fifty Plus Centre offers classes in clogging and square dance (see Brisbane City Council, n.d.).

6. For example, adult dance studio, Move Through Life, offers several ‘mature dance’ classes each week that are ‘a blend of different dance styles’ (Move Through Life, n.d.).

7. ‘Serious leisure’ and ‘successful ageing’ are concepts that have been frequently applied in this literature. ‘Serious leisure’, in opposition to ‘casual leisure’, is considered ‘the systematic pursuit of an amateur, hobbyist, or volunteer activity sufficiently substantial and interesting for the participant to find a career there in the acquisition and expression of its special skills and knowledge (Stebbins, 1992, p. 3). It is a form of leisure that involves perseverance, commitment and effort (Joseph & Southcott, 2019, p. 76). ‘Successful ageing’ is a difficult concept to define, given the complexity of later life and vast differences between individuals’ experiences (Brown et al., 2008, p. 74). However, it is generally thought to include elements of health, wellbeing, high function, and active engagement in social and leisure activities (Stevens-Ratchford, 2016, p. 291). Researchers have put forward arguments that the various social dance forms they have studied can be considered examples of serious leisure (Brown et al., 2008; Joseph & Southcott, 2019; Stevens-Ratchford, 2016) and successful ageing (Brown et al., 2008; Joseph & Southcott, 2019; Schneider & McCoy, 2018).

8. All explanations of French ballet terminology have been written in consultation with the Technical Manual and Dictionary of Classical Ballet (Grant, 2012).

9. The first action research cycle focused on understanding the existing Ballet for Seniors class in terms of pedagogy and the experience of class participants. The data collection methods used were class observation, class participant wellbeing questionnaire, class participant demographic questionnaire, class participant focus groups, and teacher interview. The purpose of the second action research cycle was to develop a modified approach to the Ballet for Seniors class, where the data collection method used was a teacher workshop. The third action research cycle operated as a trial of the modified Ballet for Seniors framework, where participating teachers applied the framework to the Ballet for Seniors class over a total of 7 weeks. This cycle included data collection through class observation, class participant wellbeing questionnaire, class participant focus groups, and teacher interviews.

10. Zurvas (Teacher, Action Cycle One) identified movements that she considered to be appropriately challenging and too challenging for the Ballet for Seniors class. Small jumps and balances on one leg in the centre of the room were considered challenging and would be occasionally included in the class. Similarly, movement sequences that travelled across the floor and ‘push[ed] the legs to do bigger steps’ (Tamara Zurvas, teacher, Action Cycle One) were considered to be appropriately challenging for the class. However, Zurvas identified grand battement (large beating action where one straight leg raised in the air), turns, and running as steps that she would not give in the centre of the room for Ballet for Seniors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Queensland Government. Grant;Queensland Government [Advance Queensland Knowledge Transfer Partnerships programme].

Notes on contributors

Anja Ali-Haapala

Anja Ali-Haapala – PhD, BFA (Hons). Dr Ali-Haapala studies how people engage with dance as audience members and dance participants. In 2017 she was the Project Lead for Creative Health at Queensland Ballet. In this role she led Ballet Moves for Adult Creative Health, aresearch partnership with Queensland University of Technology. She has contributed to research projects on the topics of dance audience reception, dance and health, and career transition for professional dancers.

Gene Moyle

Gene Moyle – DPsych(Sport & Exercise), MPsych(Sport & Exercise), PGDipPsych, BA(Psych/HMS), BA(Dance), DipDance(ABS), Head of School – School of Creative Practice, QUT Creative Industries Faculty. Professor Moyle is an ex-professional ballet dancer and registered sport and exercise psychologist who has focused on the application and research of performance psychology and performance enhancement across the performing arts, elite sport, and the corporate sectors. Her research has included projects that have explored outcomes and benefits of dance across various populations (including Parkinson’s Disease).

Graham Kerr

Graham Kerr – BSc, MPhEd, PhD. Programme Leader, Injury Prevention Programme, Institute of Health & Biomedical Innovation, QUT. Prof Kerr founded and leads the Movement Neuroscience Group at QUT. His research experience has ranged from fitness assessment and team selection of Olympic athletes to leading edge brain stimulation techniques for treatment of neurodegenerative disease. It has included research on improving posture, balance and gait in: children with joint hypermobility, athletes with leg injuries, people with venous leg ulcers, older people at risk of falling, people with tremor, people with Parkinson’s disease and older people at risk of dementia. More recently his research has included developing dance, exercise interventions and non-invasive brain stimulation techniques for the treatment of neurodegenerative disease.