Le danseur "optimisé". Formation intensive et bonne santé: un pas de deux contradictoire?

Abstract

This paper explores the social construction of health in the dancer’s pre-professional training and the modalities of dancing body knowledge’s embodiment. It is based on several months of ethnographic study in a renowned french dance school, which established a dancer health monitoring with a dedicated department. This article goal is to investigate the new modalities of the dancer training and to analyse the health vision put in practice in this social manufacture of excellence. After an important prevention and raising awareness program, some modifications in the learning process have been observed, with the support of medical expertise, seen as a vector of performance. Dance is, however, the embodiment of social technique and values, which may be in conflict with moral and physical integrity. The concept of social construction of suffering and health, specific to each social group, is a relevant tool to analyse this paradox.