In her article “The Moment When It All Comes Together: Embodied Experiences In Ballet”, author Anna Aalten presents a critique of the one-sided analysis of the misogynist nature of ballet, in contrast to the history of research describing ballet as oppressive. She also attempts to make a contribution to a more embodied form of theory, discussing the ways in which ballet offers women the chance to transcend the discontinuity of body, mind, and emotions. To address these ideas, Aalten focuses on the topic of the “construction and representation of gender in social relations and body practices in ballet.” Her project attempts to answer the question “what is the relationship between the symbolic and material, between representations and embodiment in ballet?” To answer  this question, she collected a wide range of data, ranging from acta and reports of acts, to hidden social patterns. Aalten collected this data in a several ways. She observed different body practices during rehearsals and performances, and collected the life stories of female dancers through interviews. Though the specific type of data analysis method is not described in the article, Aalten clearly used some form of qualitative analysis to draw conclusions from her data. Her results were nuanced. Though the early data she collected seemed to confirm the idea of the stereotypical, oppressed role of women in ballet, her eventual conclusion was that the role of women was very complex, and while ballet did have oppressive elements it also provided a great number of opportunities for women. Personally, I found the research project to be interesting and thoughtful, but also felt it was less specific and detailed about the different parts of the project than i would have liked. Still I enjoyed reading about Aalten’s work, and appreciated her willingness to present her results as being complex, rather than attempting to demonstrate a clear-cut pattern.

The European Journal of Women’s Studies 11.3, August 2004, 263-276