Female body towards a gender-neutral aesthetic

Abstract

How does the dancing body shift conventions of representation to understand how cultural representation becomes embedded in the female body? What are the difficulties that feminists (dancer/choreographers) face when conceptualizing gender as performance? Is it possible to perform gender-­‐neutrality through dance performance? Provided that in dance there is evidence of gender neutrality, what are the interpretations of body image and power? Is the aesthetic of a muscular build of the female dancer another construct that serves to yield to the dominance of a patriarchal society? All these questions are presented in this dissertation that deals with the application of dance performance as a way of interpreting feminist beliefs. The analysis of works by Lea Anderson and Navala Chaudhari may propose a potential to succeed as works that embrace feminist agenda to represent feminine identity.