Ballet Empathy (Somatic Perspective in Ballet) : a research on the use of somatic tools in ballet classes

Abstract: Traditional ballet training and somatic practice have different approaches regarding how the body moves. Ballet has a specific structure where traditions and conventions affect how a body moves connected to an outside perspective, concerning how a teacher, student, or audience sees the body. On another hand, somatic has an approach that permeates the body that encourages the inner perspective, in respect of how the student understands his movement. The purpose of this study is to find out how a ballet pedagogue can use somatic tools to improve the student’s abilities regarding the technique. This is related to the use of a teaching method that includes a somatic approach. The idea is to use colors, as a somatic tool, in a ballet class, and find out if this can support the student's technique, in addition, to understanding how the participants negotiate colors with their body´s needs. My research is an empirical study that consists of a few workshops with different groups, ages, and abilities and includes an informal survey of the participants. The content analysis will be collected from the informal survey conducted after the workshop. In my research, I find that the participants felt that they got some improvement by using color as a somatic tool and this approach could be a help for their ballet technique.