Espacios Protegidos

In this section, I argue that young people developed close friendships through talking, helping and supporting each other (practically and emotionally) before, during and after dance lessons and performances, thus enabling young people to get to know each other and establishing feelings of trust and care.

I argue that an important part of the process of young people becoming friends was getting to know each other through talking to each other informally, both about dancing (e.g., whether they were enjoying learning a particular dance routine, whether they were feeling nervous about a dance exam, what costumes they would be wearing for the school dance show) and about other aspects of their everyday lives (e.g., school, homework, GCSE or A-level exams, their family, holidays, fashion). For example, when conducting participant observation at the dance group, I noticed that during the 5-10 minutes before the dance class started young people had time to chat to each other (as well as the dance teacher, student and parent helpers, see Section 5.2.3) as they waited for everybody to arrive:

I walk through the double doors into the school hall. Alison, the dance teacher, is setting up the stereo. Some dancers have already arrived and are sitting on the benches talking to each other and to the student helpers. The atmosphere is friendly and relaxed [...]. I sit down on a bench next to Henry, who is telling his friend Ryan about a football match he played in last week. Liam is practising some dance moves on his own in the middle of the hall. [...] Annabel walks through the double doors. Claire spots Annabel, waves and walks over to her. The girls start chatting straight away. [...] I think that these few minutes before the dance class starts are a really important time when young people can get to know each other and catch up with their friends. (Fieldwork notes, Dance class)

The few minutes before the dance class started each week were an important opportunity for young people to build friendships through talking to each other informally, enabling them to get to know

each other better. At the secondary school and the dance school, I also observed that there were similar opportunities for young people to chat to each other informally before dance classes started whilst they were getting ready in the changing rooms or as the teacher took the register in the dance studio.

There was also often some opportunity for young people to talk to each other during dance lessons (although they were obviously expected to stop talking, listen and concentrate on their work when the teacher asked them to). For example, whilst participating in dance lessons at the dance school, I found that there was often time to talk to other dancers for a few minutes between exercises, or if the dance teacher asked to see an exercise in small groups there was time to talk to other dancers who were also waiting for their group to dance. At the dance school, Chloe (15) said that the ‘bonds’ between her and the other students with whom she was taking her ISTD Modern exam had become ‘a lot tighter’ as a result of talking to each other during their extra exam preparation lessons:

I think I quite like the exam kind of lessons, like the extra lessons [Emma: Yeah] because you become closer with the girls that you’re doing your exam with [Emma: Yeah] cos you kind of see them like twice a week for an hour and you kind of, when you’re not dancing you’re sitting there talking to them [Emma: Umhum], so [...] like the bonds become a lot tighter. I argue that by talking to other young people in her ISTD Modern exam preparation class Chloe had strengthened her relationships with them through getting to know them better. In addition to time before and during dance classes, there were also many other opportunities for young people to talk to each other, for example in the changing rooms after class, in the dressing rooms backstage at the theatre, or in the exam waiting room.

Furthermore, I argue that friendships were developed and strengthened as young people helped each other to learn and devise choreography. At the dance school, students often asked each other for help during lessons if they had missed a class and needed to catch up. Jasmine (15) explained:

Everyone in my classes at the moment are all really good friends. [...] Like, you all support each other, like if you miss a lesson and you’re doing an exercise [Emma: Yeah] and you’re doing it in groups, you can ask anyone and they’ll help you with it if you missed a bit.

The friendships that Jasmine had formed with the other young people were demonstrated and strengthened through the practical act of helping each other to learn choreography. The importance of practical acts of support in building friendships here resonates with Dyson’s (2010: 490) research on girls’ work and friendship formation in the Indian Himalayas in which she argues that friendships were ‘produced and affirmed’ as girls’ provided each other with practical assistance and support

(e.g., helping each other if they had finished early) during leaf collection work. At the secondary school, students spent time choreographing solo or group routines and, similarly, often asked each other for help if they got stuck. Lily (14) explained:

Yeah, yeah [we help each other with choreography]. Like er if someone says, “Oh what [can] I do for this bit?”, I’d be like, “Oh I can help you out that’s fine, I’ll tell you what to do”. Then they’ll go away and do it and they’ll be like, “Oh my God, that was a really good idea, why didn’t I think of that!?”.

Thus, the process of learning to dance not only involved students learning from the teacher, but also students teaching and learning from each other (see also Section 5.1.4 for a discussion of the importance of the body in this process). I argue that teaching and learning from each other was significant in the formation of friendships because it involved young people helping and supporting each other in a practical way, establishing a sense of trust (i.e. young people could trust their friends to help them to learn choreography if they were behind or to devise choreography if they were stuck) and demonstrating an ethic of care (i.e. their friend cared about their learning and progress). In addition to helping each other in lessons, dance performances were also an important time when young people supported each other. For example, when conducting fieldwork at the dance group I noticed that whilst waiting backstage to perform in a ‘Community Dance Show’, dancers supported each other practically (e.g., by practising dance choreography with each other, helping each other to put costumes on) and emotionally (e.g., reassuring each other that they would perform well, wishing each other good luck, congratulating each other when the performance was over). Helen, Ruby’s mum, confirmed:

They’ve all, as you observed, bonded as a group [Emma: Yeah]. They’re each other’s closest friendship group [Emma: Umhum]. And that’s particularly important because they have, when they’re off performing, sometimes with the travel and the waiting and the rehearsing [Emma: Yeah], they’ll have a whole day together [Emma: Yeah]. They’ll be backstage [Emma: Umhum] hanging out together [Emma: Yeah] and they encourage each other, help each other with costumes [Emma: Yeah] and help each other with nerves [Emma: Yeah]. You know, they, they really, buddy each other [Emma: Support each other, yeah] all the way through.

I argue that through providing each other with emotional support, a caring relationship was established between young people, and that this was an important component in the formation and maintenance of close friendships. These findings also support existing research that has shown how

emotional support is an important factor in developing close friendships within sport (Weiss and Smith, 1999, 2001; Weiss et al., 1996).

Furthermore, I argue that as well as helping and supporting each other with dancing (e.g., helping each other with choreography, supporting each other during shows), young people also provided each other with emotional support in relation to issues or problems in their wider lives. At both the dance school and the dance group, over the course of my fieldwork I observed a student in tears due to an issue at home or school (unrelated to dancing). On both occasions the young person’s friends quickly gathered round, offering support and reassurance. Miss Sally, the dance teacher at The Southern School of Dance, explained:

[I]t’s nice to see the students care about each other [Emma: Yeah]. That’s what I really like to see. The little friendships and, you know, if somebody’s upset or had a bad class, you can sometimes see their friends all rally round them. And they care [Emma: Yeah]. And I think that’s really important. Because in not, e-, sort of not every hobby or discipline do you get that [Emma: No]. You know [Emma: Umm], cos things can be so competitive and bitchy [Emma: Yeah]. And some of the dance schools can be really bitchy [Emma: Yeah]. I mean, that’s why we don’t touch competitions or anything, we don’t [Emma: Yeah] want that side of it [Emma: Right, ok]. We want it to be a positive experience for everybody.

Miss Sally felt that the dance class should not simply be a space where young people were able to learn to dance but also a space where they felt cared for and supported by each other, rather than in competition with each other, and it was for this reason that the school did not participate in dance competitions (both internal and external) (see also Section 5.2.3 for a discussion of the caring relationships between young people and their dance teachers). Miss Sally’s comments also highlight the connection between friendship, emotional support and care: friendships between young people were developed as young people demonstrated care for their friends through supporting them when they were upset.