Sonia York-Pryce, Queensland College of Art Part of CW15
Today’s focus on a youth-orientated consumer culture weighs heavily in the current dance world and for some who are approaching forty, retirement is perceived as the legitimate choice. Should this still be the case? The findings in the research indicate there is a deep-vested interest in the lived body experience of mature dancers, their worth to Western contemporary dance culture, their peers and their corporeal value. This Western cultural norm has engendered prejudice towards the physicality of mature dancers’ bodies, disregarding a lifetime of embodied dance experience. Which is the preferred or appropriate body to perform, the youthful or the mature? By investigating through film and photography, from a dancers’ perspective, I aim to highlight the mature mover and conserve their visibility in the dancer-world.