The Complex Duality of Body Surveillance in Dance: The Helpful and Harmful Aspects of Sociocultural Environments

Introduction: The structure of many forms of dance training encourages high levels of body awareness and scrutiny, promoting extensive body surveillance. Robust literature links body surveillance to poor body image. This association may contribute to the particular vulnerability that dancers have to negative body image and eating disorders. Yet, most body surveillance research has not studied dancers, for whom surveillance is thought to be necessary to develop and perform skills. At the same time, research has found positive levels of body image in several dance forms and settings. This study, then, sought to examine the relationship between dancers’ body surveillance, body satisfaction, body appreciation, dancer body image, body image coping strategies, and dancer identity. Method: Eighty-one college dance majors completed several measures to assess these variables. In addition, qualitative data came from open-ended questions on the survey and from interviews with eight students which investigated specific ways in which body surveillance emerges in dance learning spaces. Results: Quantitative results revealed that students had generally positive body image yet high levels of body surveillance. Surveillance was the strongest predictor of body image satisfaction and partially or fully mediated most of the correlations between the other dependent variables. Qualitative results highlighted the duality of body surveillance in dance via pedagogical structures of mirrors, attire, and language. Conclusions: Findings demonstrate the dual influences of objective (focused on technique) and subjective (focused on appearance) aspects of body surveillance in dance that are related to body image, suggesting avenues for further investigation. Results also support the judicious use of mirrors, allowing clothing choice or limiting clothing requirements to those focused on function, and avoiding body appearance comments and reinforcing in words and actions that all bodies belong in dance.