Reflections on reflections: mirror use in a university dance training environment

Abstract

This article explores aspects of the dancer-mirror relationship from the dancer's perspective and examines the various ways the mirror may impact on dancers' experiences in particular training environments. The essay foregrounds a small group of female university dance degree students' own words about training with and without mirrors in contemporary dance technique classes and considers their descriptions alongside the existing literature. Ethnographic-style interviews with six dancers were conducted and key themes which emerged upon analysis inform the essay. Although contemporary dance is the focus, content is applicable to other Western theatre dance styles and training environments.

The Mirror and Ballet Training: Do You Know How Much the Mirror’s Presence Is Really Affecting You?

“…One possible result of this conflict is a dancer's inability to trust sensory experiences and effectively self-correct. (Ehrenberg 2010) This aligns with Brodie and Lobel's assertion that "over reliance on visual cues may interfere with the ability to attend to kinesthetic cues" (Brodie and Lobel 2008, 24). Jill Green, a dance scholar and somaticist, conducted a study examining how dance education influences students and body perception.…”

Dance, ageing and the mirror: Negotiating watchability

“…Contemporary dance is said to emphasize internal kinaesthetic sensibility (Ehrenberg, 2010;cf. Cheney, 1989), understood as a dancer's ability to embody dynamically the emotions and stances of her performance, in addition to her ability to reproduce the more technically correct lines and movements of a dance genre.…”

Designing for Ballet Classes

“…The mirror is used as guide for dancers to see how they will be seen from the audience as well as providing constant feedback about the dancer's body and their performance during training [51] [49]. Often, dancers lack the ability to effectively use the mirror in what is described as the "dancer-mirror feedback loop", where dancers lose the knowledge gained from the mirror immediately upon correcting themselves due to the inability to remember the kinesthetic sensation when they saw the error [18]. According to Radell, when dancers utilize the mirror extensively in their training, they do not develop proprioception or the understanding of where their body is in a space, which ultimately hinders the development of their kinesthetic sensibilities, thus affecting their potential performance skills [56].…”