Dancing Gender: A History of Ballet

What forces have shaped the aesthetic and symbolic power of classical ballet? The ballet body is marked physically and ideologically, through rigorous discipline and culturally-specific notions of beauty, power, virtue and control. Gender plays a role in all of this, and in this class, gender studies serve as an essential critical lens onto ballet history. We’ll trace the evolution of ballet from the Renaissance to the present, delving into the behavioral and body codes that define the technique and focusing on how ballet’s gender binary has been challenged, affirmed and renegotiated. We’ll discuss how the ballet studio has functioned as both a haven and hazard for LGBTQ+ artists, and specifically how trans and nonbinary dancers are carving space for themselves within ballet’s time-worn gender conventions. Special emphasis on the evolution of contemporary ballet will inform and enrich the students’ experience as audience members in a variety of dance settings.