Open AccessOn-Time Maturation in Female Adolescent Ballet Dancers: Learning From Lived Experiences
Author(s) -
Siobhán Mitchell,
Anne M. Haase,
Sean P. Cumming
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of early adolescence/the journal of early adolescence
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.085
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1552-5449
pISSN - 0272-4316
DOI - 10.1177/02724316211036752
Subject(s) - ballet , ballet dancer , context (archaeology) , interpretative phenomenological analysis , psychology , developmental psychology , vocational education , lived experience , dance , visual arts , qualitative research , sociology , art , pedagogy , history , psychoanalysis , social science , archaeology
This study employed semi-structured interviews and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to explore experiences of on-time maturation in nine adolescent ballet dancers from across three vocational ballet schools in the United Kingdom. Two themes were identified as central to their experiences: ‘A right and a wrong way to grow’, and fitting in and moving forward. Instead of perceiving themselves as ‘average’ and experiencing a relatively easy pubertal transition, on-time dancers described unique challenges associated with a fluctuation between fitting in and not fitting in within their social context. The implications of on-time maturation in this context are complex and do not appear to follow the same trajectory as early maturing ballet dancers nor on-time non-dancers.