A body of work

Abstract

This article examines the paradigm of ageing regarding older professional dancers who prolong their careers, challenging the normative standards set down in western dance culture. With interest gaining momentum in introducing dance to an ever-increasing ageing population, it seems ironic that the older professional dancer continues to be undervalued or often invisible. The established aesthetics that persist within classical ballet, but less so within contemporary dance, supports the rejection of the bodies of these disenfranchised dancers, who embody a palimpsest of lived danced experience. It is undoubtedly an example of corporeal politics, the lack of exposure of seeing older dancers performing, a loss of identity tempered with the dilemma of the acceptance of youth and intolerance of decline. The aim is to acknowledge through film documentation and interviews the artistry these older dancers embody and to commend the positives surrounding ageing.