Year of Graduation

2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

MFA: Dance

Directing Professor

Jeffery Bullock

Abstract

Diving into the past and researching for the future, this thesis explores the development and perpetuation of hyper-sexualized adolescent bodies through the competitive dance scene. Drawing on dance theorists, educational theorists, and embodied research (i.e., the author’s body archive), this thesis explores how the competition gaze is performed for and by a capitalist patriarchy. Specifically, this thesis critically reflects on the author’s career as a young competitive dancer in the greater Los Angeles, California, area during the 1990s and 2000s, as well as a competition dance instructor and K-12 educator for two decades, and how those personal experiences have shaped her understandings of self, femininity, and ethical pedagogy. This thesis is a call to action for educators to investigate their pedagogical practices more critically, diversify their curricula, and expand their own understandings of gendered and racialized perspectives. All teachers have an imperative, as bell hooks explains, and it is “when as teachers we teach with love, combining care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect, and trust, [that] we are often able to enter the classroom and go straight to the heart of the matter.”

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Performance Access Statement

If you wish to see the creative piece or performance that accompanied this thesis, please complete the Request Form, and you should receive a response from the Dance Department within two weeks.

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