The presentation of self in the classical ballet class: dancing with Erving Goffman

Abstract

This article analyses the social interactions and behaviours evident within an adult, amateur ballet class in one of Scotland’s cities. Using an ethnographic empirical approach, the study utilises Erving Goffman’s model of dramaturgy to explore the impression management of participants from the ballet class. Evidence (data) was generated through a triangulation of methods enabling the following themes to be explored: vocabulary of ballet; ballet body idiom; and teacher–pupil dynamics. The creation of a grounded coding framework saw evidence emerge to suggest that the nature of the dominant ‘realities’ being presented and maintained are ones that reinforce and authenticate the dancers as embodied ballet students. Much ballet-related behaviour involves staged presentations of self, felt to be necessary for conveying the ‘correct’ impression or demeanour expected of a ballet dancer. This article explores the techniques adopted to foster, present and maintain these fronts, seeking to theoretically explain their contextual aspects.

Keywords:

• Ballet
• Erving Goffman
• impression management
• vocabulary of ballet
• body idiom
• teacher–pupil relationship

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Goffman stressed that front consisted of both the personal and situational. Personal front contributes to maintaining the situational front (witnessed, for example, when a doctor wears a white coat and is sympathetic and caring while in the hospital ward).

2. The corresponding author participated as a class member for two years in total, prior to research being conducted.

3. Goffman ([1959] 1990) preferred the term observant participant to participant observer and participant as observer, implying that, irrespective of levels of personal participation, all social interaction could be observed.

4. Perhaps, the clearest example is found in the young school child who bumps into her teacher in the supermarket. This ‘out of role’ meeting is often accompanied by an immediate curiosity expressed in thoughts like ‘what is she doing here?’ (as though teachers are only ever legitimate performers in the classroom setting).