Embodied Experience of Recreational Neo-Burlesque Dance

Abstract

This qualitative study explored the cultural phenomenon of solo recreational neo-burlesque dance at the junctures of psychology and self-identified women’s sense of autonomy, embodiment, and sociopolitical stance under a patriarchal system of oppression. Under patriarchy, women are often made illegible, lacking a sense of their own being and meaning, by the inscription of societal and cultural expectations as well as historical interpretations. This research considers the socio-historical pathologization and objectification of women, and the agency and reclamation of their bodies through the embodied feminist resistance practice of neo-burlesque dance. While the focus of this research used patriarchy as a backdrop, disrupting and disturbing patriarchal systems is an intentional action to destabilize the interwoven structural systems of oppression (racism, ableism, colonialism, capitalism, and imperialism).