Toward a Feminist Ballet Pedagogy: Teaching Strategies for Ballet Technique Classes in the Twenty-First Century

Abstract

Classical ballet technique is commonly taught through the use of authoritarian practices and normalizing aesthetic values, but the construction of the ballet dancer as a docile subject in opposition to an all-knowing instructor might impede ballet's progression. In this article I explore my development of a feminist or democratic ballet pedagogy that transforms the ballet studio into an environment that engages individual participants’ learning styles and life experiences, and encourages experimentation and collaboration. Using data collected from students enrolled in my ballet technique courses, I examine a pedagogical approach in which alternative teacher–student relationships are created and practiced. My intervention on tradition uses the classroom as the site in which to interrogate ballet's traditional teaching methods and values, and I seek an approach for the twenty-first century that preserves rigor and is invested in the maintenance of the form at the same time that it generates and uses best practices.