Title

Female Self-Empowerment through Dance

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-2-2020

Abstract

In this article, utilizing the Graham Technique as a tool, I discuss strategies I use in my class to support dance as a way to challenge or transcend sanctioned female identities by shifting the focus from presentation to self-discovery, encouraging ownership of the movement, and exploring a range of physicalities that embody different aspects of the psyche, some socially defined as “masculine” or “feminine” movement. I engage with research coming out of psychology and neurobiology to support the exploration of a diverse range of movement qualities to cultivate both physical and psychological fluidity between expressions. I examine feminist scholarship that views the female body as being socially structured to adopt a physicality that is passive in nature, and frame Martha Graham and her technique in the attempt to defy socialized female comportment. This article seeks to find a connection between a woman's physicality and her sense of agency.

Publication Title

Journal of Dance Education

First Page Number

35

Last Page Number

43

DOI

10.1080/15290824.2019.1542700

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