AN EXAMINATION OF HOW EUROCENTRIC DANCE HAS DISTORTED THE SELF-IMAGE OF BLACK WOMEN

Abstract

Due to lack of research, the nuanced experiences of Black women training in the discipline of ballet, have been overlooked. As a result of lacking academic examination, the disorientation of Black women has continued at the hands of foundational and cultural principles found in Eurocentric ballet. This research is a qualitative study of scholarship paired with auto-ethnography to highlight the mental and physical damage Eurocentric ballet has caused Black women. The presented scholarship employed an afrocentric approach in an effort to accurately articulate and validate the experiences of Black ballerinas.