ABSTRACT

The image of dancing into the spotlight alludes to glamor, which clouds the artists’ back-breaking work and practice. Meanwhile, there is scant research on the lived experiences of professional female dancers. To address this gap, this study explores the lived experiences of eight Vietnamese professional female dancers who are married with children. The findings reveal their enormous challenges in their professional, social, and personal lives to stay in the profession and navigate their roles as partners and mothers in their families. Their stories were unmasked in the hope to foster a deeper understanding between dancing careers and the public, and provide insights into the female dancers’ challenges in keeping the dance body in shape after pregnancy and childbirth, which is hardly featured in dance scholarship in Vietnam.

摘要

在聚光灯下翩翩起舞的形象暗指魅力，这给艺术家们辛勤的工作和实践蒙上了一层阴影。同时，对职业女性舞者生活经历的研究却很少。为了解决这一差距，本研究探讨了八名已婚并育有子女的越南职业女舞者的生活经历。调查结果揭示了她们在职业、社交和个人生活中面临的巨大挑战，以留在职业中并驾驭她们在家庭中作为伴侣和母亲的角色。揭露她们的故事是希望加深舞蹈事业与公众之间的了解，并深入了解女舞者在怀孕和分娩后保持舞蹈身材所面临的挑战，这在越南的舞蹈奖学金中很少见。