The Evolving Feminine Ballet Body ed. by Pirkko Markula and Marianne I. Clark (review)

With the title The Evolving Feminine Ballet Body, one might – at face value – expect an historiographic analysis of this particular sociocultural archetype, if you will. Not so with this book, a co-edited volume by Pirkko Markula and Marianne I. Clark, consisting of contributions from a somewhat familial group of emerging-to-more-established researcher/dancers with ties to the local dance community and the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. Markula is a professor of sociocultural studies of physical activity, and her previous research provides a strong and persistent reference point throughout the contributions. The chapters hold a broadly social scientific disciplinary frame and feminist lens across the book, while drawing on literature from physical education, dance education, and dance studies. Here, "evolving" refers to certain specific and contextual mediatizations and negotiations of this oft-celebrated and sometimes vilified "feminine ballet body" in decidedly contemporary contexts.

The book provides a timely, though admittedly local and limited, contribution to the literature. As noted in the introduction, over the last ten to fifteen years, the profile of ballet has expanded from the contained private-studio-to-professional-dance-company context towards its active presence across popular culture from children's literature, to reality television, to the fitness industry. In addition, and likely fuelled in part by this expansion, the existing practice of ballet in dance studios, recreational contexts, and post-secondary programs continues to develop. Addressing these various contexts, contributions to the book are collected in two distinct sections. In the first section, Ballet in the Contemporary Media, three concise chapters offer analyses of media representations of the female ballet body: in children's fiction (by Kate Z. Davies), in the Canadian version of the dance reality show "So You Think You Can Dance" (by Markula), and in ballet-inspired fitness programs (by Markula and Clark). These are tight studies that all demonstrate how these mediatizations "reproduce dominant understandings" of the feminine ballet body. Of the three, Markula and Clark's chapter offers the most complex analysis and critique of the fitness industry's appropriation of ballet tropes to serve its consumerist and neoliberal economy.

The second section, Lived Experiences of Ballet in Contemporary Culture, usefully shifts the perspective by accessing the voices of dancers themselves across a range of contexts: from adolescents in the ballet studio (by Clark), to highly ballet-trained young women transitioning from the pre-professional studio to recreational contemporary dance practice (by Carolyn Millar), to adult beginner ballet pedagogy (by Jodie Vandekerkhove), to ballet pedagogy for integrated dance (Kelsie Acton and Lindsay Eales). Two chapters contribute specifically to under-researched contexts. Millar's work importantly focuses on the transition from pre-professional ballet student to recreational contemporary dancer, commonly a reckoning moment wherein, if the aspirant does not follow a professional career path, she drops dance entirely. Acton and Eales's conversationally structured chapter offers lived insight into pedagogical and ethical issues around offering ballet technique in integrated dance contexts, which include people both experiencing disability and not.

Overall, the contributions circle closely around the same researcher voices and a relatively contained literature. The authors' differing backgrounds and research experience can be traced in an unevenness – of analytical nuance and writing quality – across the various contributions. While the editors claim that the "research presented in this book reflects a range of theoretical perspectives," the chapters predominantly rely on a Foucauldian theoretical analysis that, while relevant, reiterates a singular perspective rather than a range. Some authors draw more strongly on dance studies literature than others, but overall references are to older, canonical texts; dance studies has developed a rich and complex discourse in more recent years that could have further supported these scholars' works. That said, for dance research coming from outside a dance studies context, the dance expertise of these authors grounds the work, giving it additional credence.

In summary, The Evolving Feminine Ballet Body is a...