The Experiences and Meanings of Participation in Ballet among Senior Citizens

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to to examine the meanings and values of participation in ballet lessons in the life course of senior citizens based on the experiences of senior ballet students. Dance as an art of instinctive human movements helps the elderly promote their health, emotional satisfaction, and life stability and thus lead a rich life in old age in qualitative ways. Dance is a natural act of establishing one's identity and ego through physical movements and expressing one's inner emotions through the active uses of the human body. Ballet has many different values. Dance movements share many similarities with general exercise, thus holding high utilization value as means of exercise prescription at the preventive level. For this purpose, the investigator adopted the qualitative case study method. Subjects were selected according to purposive sampling, one of qualitative sampling methods to select research participants fit for the given topic, or criterion-based selection named by Goetz and Le Compte. They participated in ballet lessons at a cultural center in Seoul for a year(twice per week) or longer. Data was collected with an in-depth interview, participant observation, and document materials for total 12 weeks. The subjects got to learn ballet as they developed interest in new leisure activities after years of appreciating ballet performances. Learning ballet, they experienced changes to their bodies including the right posture and healthy and beautiful body. As they learned ballet, they gained self-confidence and got to have expectations for a second life.