Expanding understandings of wellbeing through researching women's experiences of intergenerational somatic dance classes

Abstract

Engaging a feminist ethnographic methodology, this article offers a discussion of women’s embodied experiences of wellbeing in intergenerational somatic dance classes. Somatic dance classes aim to develop embodied awareness, support ease and freedom in movement, and offer opportunities for creativity, agency and reflection. Drawing on in-depth interviews, observation and autoethnographic vignettes, three themes emerged from the empirical material that expand understandings of wellbeing as a fluid and dynamic experience, reveal the value for women in moving for movement’s sake, and identify the significance of intergenerational contexts for moving together. As a consequence, this research offers insight into ways in which women participating in somatic dance classes have re-interpreted wellbeing practices, ‘re-claiming’ wellbeing from circulating neoliberal, self-improvement and productivity agendas, and instead, dancing into wellbeing.