A fall from grace? Examining retired ballet dancers' experiences with body image and embodiment throughout the life course

According to master choreographer George Balanchine, the ‘ideal ballet body’ for women is to be tall and incredibly slender, with small breasts, small hips, long limbs, and a short torso. Women ballet dancers often experience negative body image and embodiment due to these narrow ideals, although how ballet training shapes and constrains women’s long-term body image and embodied experiences following retirement, and how women ballet retirees story such experiences both verbally and artistically, has to date been underexplored. From the lens of narrative constructionism, one life history interview and two body mapping sessions were conducted with five retired women ballet dancers (15 sessions) and two overarching themes were constructed using narrative thematic analysis. Participants experienced ongoing body dissatisfaction and negative embodiment due to the lasting internalization of ballet body ideals, particularly amidst navigating the aging process. In the body mapping sessions, many participants redrew their traced bodies to appear thinner and added symbols such as mirrors and measuring tape. The women concurrently experienced positive embodiment and body image in terms of aesthetics, functionality, and ballet values, using glitter and bright colours on areas of their body maps that they felt satisfied with, although these experiences remained contingent on obtaining and maintaining traditional ballet body ideals. These findings illustrate how ballet training can impact women’s relationship with their bodies long after retirement from dance, and denote the importance of centering pedagogical approaches that support dancers’ positive body image and embodied experiences both during, and following retirement of, ballet training in Canada.