Definition
Dance holds an interestingly multilayered position in relation to age and ageing. Western theatre dance, in particular, has often focused on youthful physicality and, as such, takes part in an unquestioned marginalization of older bodies (Dickinson 2010; Lipscomb and Marshall 2010; Schwaiger 2012). However, artistic dance, specifically contemporary dance, is also a site for inventing ways of experiencing and presenting human bodies in movement beyond the normative understandings of beauty, prowess, and youthful virtuosity (Benjamin 2010; Brayshaw and Witts 2014; Hoghe 2005). As such, contemporary dance has a unique potential to question or dismantle stereotypical body and age-related images and values that are not only a part of dance but also our everyday culture (Cooper Albright 1997; Nakajima and Brandstetter 2017; Ross 2009).
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Martin, S. (2019). Ageing and Dance. In: Gu, D., Dupre, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_257-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_257-1
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