August Article

Gender and Movement

As we look at photographs in Jaques-Dalcroze’s books, trace the history of his method, or look at its practitioners today, one fact stands out across time: there are more women than men. This is a field in which women and girls vastly outnumber men and boys not only as teachers, but in many venues, as students. The same is true of modern dance, ballet, Pilates, and even ballroom dance. Is it something about movement itself (apart from sports) that repels so many men?

In a completely unscientific survey, I asked men why relatively few of them dance (not that dance is the same as Eurhythmics, but the similarities pardon the question, since it’s easier to explain). I heard a range of answers, including, “We weigh more, alcohol affects us less.” But the answer I heard most was that they were afraid of looking silly. Does that equate to fear of looking “feminine,” I asked? Women are just “better at it,” they often replied, not quite answering the question.

In our culture, men and women move differently. Without delving into anthropology or theories on “body language,” it’s apparent that we distinguish between “masculine” and “feminine” modes of basic pedestrian movements and postures – walking, sitting, and gesticulating, for example.

Think of actors learning to walk in the opposite gender’s modality. It’s not often easy. (Try it!) Women may feel their torsos and hips “locked” and their arms straighter when they walk like men; men are likely to feel an unfamiliar lateral movement as hips take on a side-to-side mobility, and notice joints from shoulder to wrist loosen and flex in new ways.

Why is this important to our work? As our focus is to experience music through the body, the fullest range of movement potential allows the greatest possibilities for physical/musical experience. In addition, understanding the range of movement qualities, postures, muscular characteristics and socio-emotional issues linked to gender helps us to observe and teach our students more effectively.

Observations

Some of the gender differences in movement arise from physiology, particularly differences in pelvic structures, upper body musculature, and relative distribution of weight. But social conditioning and gender identity play a role, as well. 

Watch how men and women sit, for example. Men are likely to keep their knees apart, or cross one ankle across the opposite knee; they may stretch an arm out to the back of the chair beside them; on airplanes, they claim the armrest. Women seem more likely to curl up or cross their legs, and fold one or both arms across themselves. In other words, men tend to make themselves as large as possible, while women often contain themselves in a small and/or defensive posture.

There may also be a centuries-old issue at work, carried over from a time when women were advised to appear weak, languid, unmoved and unmoving. (There’s plenty on that in Advice From the Attic!) That could also be one explanation for why more women seem to find such joy in the freedom to expand and take up space in movement, whether in dance or Eurhythmics.

There is also a self-conscious form of vanity at work, particularly in dance. (Oh, those mirrors!) More than one ballet teacher admonished the class to avoid the “am I pretty yet” mindset, reminding us we were studying movement! But dance is a visually-perceived art form, and somehow ballet in particular carries a “feminine” image, despite its athleticism. Whether as a cause or as a result, men are in the minority in ballet classes (and consequently much prized by teachers, choreographers, company directors).

Of course there are exceptions. I have a friend who says he’s probably the only Marine who left Vietnam and used the G.I. bill to go to ballet school. He went on to a successful performing career, despite getting in some trouble for enjoying his role as “rooster in the henhouse” among the ballerinas.

Professional Roles

Balanchine one said that in the world of ballet, women are the flowers and men are the gardeners. The same phenomenon exists in education in general: while most teachers are women, a far greater percentage of men who enter the field become administrators. This may reflect a long-standing tradition of underpaying traditional women’s work (once considered “pin money”) as well as an old hierarchy wherein men are doctors and women are nurses, men are executives and women are secretaries, men are principals and women are teachers. 

That hasn’t entirely disappeared in dance or Jaques-Dalcroze education today. Indeed, ballet directors and choreographers have traditionally been men, while most dancers were (and are) women. Modern dance brought a stark change in the 1920s and 30s, as so many of its pioneers were women: Ruth St. Denis, Doris Humphrey, Mary Wigman, Eleanor King, Martha Graham.

In the Dalcroze world, a similar skewing may apply, although perhaps not to the extent it occurs in dance. Dare I say that most adult classes and DSA events are attended by women predominantly, and in percentage, there may be a disproportionate representation of men as master teachers or teachers in higher education. While this may reflect the “principal/teacher” model, women seem to be holding their own in our field, as well. What schism there is may result as much from issues affecting all fields – including childrearing and financial considerations – as from subconscious stereotypes.

Suggestions for Teaching

That said, it’s important for women to know how to teach boys and men, and for men to know how to teach girls and women, to increase the reach of the method overall. As it happens, my children’s classes at Levine are mostly boys in a ratio of about 8:2. (The girls’ mothers are never thrilled about that.) On the other hand, when I taught Eurhythmics in a different job where my title was “Dance Director,” I had mostly girls – and they came to class wearing tutus!

Young boys aren’t particularly concerned about looking silly or feminine. In general, as long as they’re engaged and active, they’re happy and move freely. But older boys can be extremely self-conscious. And girls, despite their numbers, aren’t free of discomfort, either. Here are some ideas for approaching both.

Four suggestions for teaching boys and men:

1. Never approach movement with apologies or warnings (“Now this may seem weird” or “I know this may make you a little uncomfortable, but”). Just jump in with the expectation that all will participate and love it.

2. Be careful not to demonstrate with movement that may seem “feminine.” While physical modeling is one of my stronger teaching skills, I have to be careful with it (having been told that even in hip-hop dancing, I “look like a ballerina”).

3. Find opportunities to feature boys/men in the class to demonstrate, without putting them on the spot or embarrassing them. For that moment, focus on what they’re doing well, and make only a minor, easily remedied correction, if any.

4. If you sense discomfort (a common symptom is boys/men literally distancing themselves in little laughing groups), steer away from free spatial movement awhile in favor of more structure. Group activities where all students are doing essentially the same thing in a set spatial design often help boys feel successful, focus on their part of the group more than themselves alone, and relax. (For example, seated exercises in unison or set patterns, or simple formulaic rhythmic activities in two lines or two concentric circles.)

Four suggestions for teaching girls and women:

1. If there are just a few boys or men in the class, avoid a tendency to over-focus on them alone. Treat the class as a group of individuals, not a seesaw weighted by gender.

2. Inclusion is important. Be sure girls and women get an equal chance to be heard, to share ideas, to “go first,” and to “be the leader.” If you use characters in stories, songs, or other roles, don’t make every character a “he.”

3. Never condescend to women and girls intellectually, dismiss their input in the class, or assume their adult role is teaching children. Convey your respect for them as individuals, and your confidence in their abilities beyond your tutelage.

4. When musically appropriate, challenge women and girls (in a supportive way) to find and explore strong, percussive, broad, “loud” movements. It’s not always as easy as it may seem.

Someday, cultural norms and stereotypes won’t need to be addressed in our work. But in our lifetimes, it’s likely we’ll need to remain sensitive to the dynamics of gender identity, how they influence both students’ participation in movement classes, and what they require from us as teachers.